It’s been a shocking couple of weeks for a small TV station in Alexandria, Minn.
The ABC affiliate KSAX-TV became an overnight sensation after a photo of a hairless piece of roadkill was posted on its Facebook page on Aug. 1. Since then, the photo has turned heads and stomachs around the country.
The TV stations website received more than one million visitors while its Facebook page collected hundreds of comments from people trying to figure out what the animal was, according to the Poynter Institute.
“Let’s call it the Lake Country Chupacabra,” wrote Julie Ehresman Sieban, of Sauk Centre, Minn., referencing the mythical blood sucking monster native to Puerto Rico.
“Looks like a badger with a bad case of mange,” said Kayla Fisher of Alexandria.
“It is a possum,” wrote Dolly Adamek. “I would know. I hit one last year.”
The TV station had the animal examined by retired University of Minnesota biologist Dave Hoppe who was 95 percent sure it was a badger, according to KSAX.
“It’s probably emaciated,” said Hoppe in an interview with KSAX. “It hasn’t had a good meal in a long time. So, I thinks that’s part of the misshapen (carcass).”
While news about the roadkill spread across the internet, KSAX concocted a promotion to have meteorologist Mark Anthony tased by Alexandria Police if the TV station received 3,000 “likes” on Facebook. The promotion was apparently a success.
Anthony actually did get tased, according to KSAX — to help promote National Night Out, a crime prevention event.
Now that the roadkill mystery has been solved, KSAX can return to its regularly scheduled programming.
