Saw a very strange looking animal tonight.

A Nutria looks like a Muskrat on steroids

The black Possum theory is a possibility too

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Black possum as I have seen a few of them. My cousin does taxadermy and he has one mounted. Then maybe the nutria as I have never been around them.

I vote for the muskrat or black opossum. I've also seen some black opossums when I was trapping. There are some real black muskrats but they are supposedly only in the Delaware coastal area.

muskrat , the color may be a bit differant

I think OP should call Animal Planet. That way the people on the show Finding Bigfoot can finally find the proof they need.

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Whatever it is, I bet it tastes like chicken.

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Y'all are too funny, lol.

After thinking through all the possibilities, I'm inclined to think it was someone's ferret that got loose.
The bald tail is what threw me, but maybe it had some kind of medical issue before it escaped and that's why the tail was bald or shaved.

It had really thick, fluffy, dry hair - jet black. And it was about 5 times skinnier than a muskrat, and 10 times as fast.
So I'll convince myself that someone's ferret got loose and we don't have a mutant species of rodent breeding nearby now, lol.

Hmmmmmmmmm.........maybe, if it got into a meth lab.......

Around here your strange animal is called a mugwump.
When his mug is on one side of the centerline, his wump is on the other side.

Thanks for the distributin map CK3. I had NO idea they ranged out of the South. I do know they are capable of some unique sounds and mimics.

So it seem that the Nutria somehow got airmiles to head up northwest.

If large black and ferret-like, I would say it was a Fisher Cat.

It's correctly called a Fisher, not a Fisher "Cat", and that is the most likely choice. Mange or injury could acount for a hairless tail. Neither muskrat, nutria nor opossum move or behave as described.

I've seen plenty of muskrats hop and bounce when on land. I'm a fur trapper and have seen more muskrats on land than you could imagine and when you find a muskrat on land a little way from the water he will run like the dickens, hopping and bouncing as fast as he can to get back to that water. It's kind of funny. I've seen them jumping 1 1/2 feet in the air as they go bounding back toward the water, sort of like a rabbit. When they are found away from the safety of the water and fear for their life, yes they do move and behave exactly as described. Now the opossums, I've not seen them run that way but if they're being chased and desperate I wouldn't put it beyond them to make a flying leap for safety. They are more agile and fast than you might think. I've dealt with plenty of them also. And by the way they both taste great! The muskrat is all red meat like beef, the most tender pot roast imaginable and the opossum all dark meat like a chicken leg.

don't think there are fisher cats that far south

I`ve seen Fishers here,and I`m in the tn mt`s,right over the nc line.
What was the habitat in which you saw this animal?Was it near water?The Fisher I saw was near a creek.

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I just want to know if it was Muskrat Suzy or Muskrat Sam!

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LOL!!! Oh my god... That one left me in tears! I couldn't even tell my husband the joke because I couldn't stop laughing..

Sasquatch?, Now I ain't eaten one of them. I couldn't say if it was red meat or like dark or light chicken.