Catbat legend rekindled in remote India

New Delhi, India

The Indian Catbat, largely considered to be a fictional entity, has staged a surprise comeback in rural Indian folklore following an absence of 150 years. Sightings, and subsequent reports of a roadkill specimen has led to skeptical representatives of the international scientific community making the four day pilgrimage from New Delhi to the densely forested district of Arunachal Pradesh in the East.
Locally coined 'BAgha Machchhara' - literally translated to 'Flying Tiger' - the leathery winged catlike species was generally considered to be purely mythological, a physical specimen of which has never been captured. Only one obscure and far from convincing plaster casting of skeletal remains exists in the vaults of the New Delhi Natural History Museum and those who have examined it have regarded this as an elaborate hoax.
Legend dictates that the nocturnal creature preys on swine and
last provoked international intrigue in the mid 19th century when
domesticated dogs were targeted by the beast as a result of local wild boar populations being decimated by a ruthless parasitic infestation.

Sightings were reported but unsubstantiated by British colonial explorers at the time. The plaster cast of remains was thought to be counterfeit. The specimen was found in the possession of the unidentified, dismembered body of a Brit, who appeared to have met his ironic end as the victim of a large tiger attack. (Picture: "Catbat strikes" - artists impression)