Earl Tuttle of Tuttle Family Poultry maintains a six-legged apex predator is responsible for significant losses to his flock. Harlan’s Creek Sheriff’s deputies have not ruled this out. They have also not ruled other things in.

HARLAN’S CREEK, WV — Earl Tuttle, 58, owner and sole operator of Tuttle Family Poultry on Route 9, is reporting the loss of an estimated forty-seven chickens over six consecutive weeks, which he attributes to the Wampus Cat, a six-legged felid of documented Appalachian origin known to the Department of Cryptid Affairs as a Class C Rural Predator. Tuttle filed his most recent incident report on Thursday morning. He also filed one on Wednesday. And on Tuesday. Deputies confirm all three are substantially similar.

According to Tuttle’s written statements, the attacks follow a consistent pattern: coops are found disturbed before dawn, a low sound described variously as a yowl, a shriek, and in one report ‘a noise I am not going to try to spell’ precedes each incident, and no physical remains are recovered. Tuttle notes that the creature appears to take the chickens in groups of between four and nine, which he describes as ‘organised.’ This detail has been forwarded to the DCA’s Regional Wildlife Assessment team. A spokesperson confirmed they had received the forwarded detail.

Community Notice

Tuttle Family Poultry, Route 9. The sign has been repainted twice since April. The feathers are original.

The Restraining Order Question

Harlan’s Creek Sheriff’s Deputy Linda Crews, who has responded to four of the six reported incidents, noted in her most recent field report that the matter is, in her words, ‘not straightforward.’ Deputies confirm that a restraining order filed by Earl Tuttle against his former wife, Darlene Tuttle, née Frasier, was active from October of last year through March 31st of this calendar year. It expired, by standard legal process, four days before the first chicken went missing. Deputy Crews stated that this timeline has been noted. She did not state what, specifically, it had been noted for.

I know what a Wampus Cat sounds like. I know what Darlene sounds like. I am telling you those are two different sounds and I stand by that completely.

— Earl Tuttle, Tuttle Family Poultry, Route 9

Darlene Tuttle, reached by phone, declined to provide a formal statement but described the allegations as ‘classic Earl’ and noted that she has been in Gatlinburg since the third week of April attending a regional ceramics conference, a claim she says is supported by a hotel receipt, seventeen Instagram posts, and what she describes as ‘at least a dozen witnesses who all have eyes.’ She also noted that she does not, to her knowledge, have six legs, and considers this point relevant. A DCA spokesperson confirmed the agency has not been asked to assess this.

What The Record Shows

WTC has obtained records confirming that the Wampus Cat has been documented in the Route 9 corridor on two prior occasions — in 2019 and in 2014 — with livestock disturbances reported in both instances. Dr. Amelia Cross, WTC’s consulting cryptid biologist, reviewed Tuttle’s incident descriptions and noted that the pattern of group removal, pre-dawn timing, and absence of physical remains is ‘entirely consistent with established Wampus Cat foraging behaviour,’ adding that the creature’s sixth limb functions as a secondary stabilising appendage during prey transport, which she says ‘explains the capacity for higher-volume removal per visit.’ She then said the word ‘efficient.’ The remark has been logged.

The behaviour is textbook. The animal is working a route. I would not describe that as reassuring, but I would describe it as consistent.

— Dr. Amelia Cross, WTC Consulting Cryptid Biologist

Earl Tuttle has requested that the DCA deploy a field assessment team to the property. The DCA has confirmed the request is in the queue. The queue, a spokesperson noted, is currently operating on a six-to-eight week assessment window due to ‘elevated rural advisory volume across four states,’ which Tuttle described as ‘not helpful given the chickens are leaving now.’ He has in the interim installed two motion-activated floodlights, a perimeter of cedar oil recommended by an unspecified internet forum, and a handwritten sign on the coop door that reads DO NOT. The sign does not specify what should not be done. Tuttle says that is intentional. Authorities continue to urge caution.

This is Hal Ridgeway. The investigation is ongoing. The chickens remain unaccounted for. The ceramics conference has been independently verified as real, though WTC notes this does not, by itself, resolve all outstanding questions. Reporting continues.