THE "SAURIAN MONSTER.”

Ashburton Guardian, Volume V, Issue 1399, 5 November 1886, Page 3

THE "SAURIAN MONSTER.”

The following is the detailed account of the visit of the “ -aurian Monste-” to a siaughteryard in the Waikato, the par ticnlars being supplied to the Auck’aud Herald by its Hamilton correspondent : The saurian mons'er has turned up again, and is the cause of no little exoitem>n r . On Sunday Messrs Qualtrongh an' 1 "'bite’s emp'oyes ki'led beef and sheep and left throe hanging, averaging about 70'b each, ueir the door inside the slaughterhouse, 'he beef being away at the bank. The were hu 'g each with a ho- k through the ii e 8 of both htud legs, and the bw>ks strung on an Iron bar, the heads of the sheep being eighteen inches from the flo <r. The do >r is in two halves, the lower one being tied simply wiih flrx A slaughterman i ■ charge lives with bis f imily in a cottage cl>se by, and the slaughterhouse anc yards are on Gas leton’s o rel, where the repti'e was first, seen. -When the boys went to the slaughterhouse on Monday men.tog to bring the meat into Hamilton, they L> nd ihat one if tie sheep—that nearest the d or—had been pu ltd down, hoo a and all, on to the flo >r, andjrn'v the b >nes, stripped of the flesh, were to be seen, s me of the smaller bones being literally crushed t o pieces,. From the creek to the slaughterhouse—about twenty five yardi—is very muddy, and the footmarks of the creature, which hart entered the slaughterhouse by drageing open the lower half of the do >r, which was merely tied wl h fix, c uld be seen Imprinted in mud on 'h w oden flier, Mr Qaaltrough and Mr Castleton procured facsimiles of these footprints, which are unlike those of any known animal, being a round centre pad like that of a ’dog with three flit toes, and abou 1 -. four inches across. The other sheep end berf were untouched, as probably the animal had found the sheep sufficient, a few por.nds cf me.it being s ill on one side of the ribs. Mr Qualtrough has had the lower half of the doorway removed and a sliding panel made the whole width to fit into a double runnel on each door j imb, which is raised and lowered by a rope. Last night Mr White and another eat up in a loft above the door to watch for the return of the animal, prepired to crop the sliding door as soon as it had entered the e'aaghterhoasc, and so seenye it aliva. They heard a tramping outside, but saw nothing until this morning, when the same Footprints as were seen an the floor on Monday were again found in the mud round the building. A strict watch will be set in hopes of capturing this an’mal, which is creating quite an excitement in the district.