Animal control officers have determined upon further investigation that the two skinned animal carcasses found lying in a creek-bed off Pond Run Road in Pierce Township Nov. 28 were wild coyotes.

After the initial examination by a staff veterinarian, Clermont County Animal Control originally thought that the mutilated animals skinned and dumped in the creek were dogs of German Shepherd mix. Those preliminary findings have now been amended.

Animal Control officers Wesley Ramsey and Deborah Wood were called to pick up the animals in the creek after anonymous phone calls were made to the Pierce Township Police Department.

The condition of the bodies made the initial identification difficult; Animal Control and its staff mistakenly believed the fresh corpses to be those of dogs.