What lurks beneath my house? Footprint offered.

We've just moved into a new house amid the northern California redwoods. At times, our terrier is going nuts, pawing and clawing at the deck. The plumber who was working under the house today saw footprints, which he thinks are not the local common wildlife: raccoon, badger, skunk. There are mountain lions in the area, but very rare. I have been staring at various pictures online, but nothing definitive. Does there happen to be anyone here who could make an educated guess? [About 1 3/4 inches across]

Thanks.

Footprint

 

Are you still in the Bay Area or are you out in the remote wilderness somewhere?

My guess (no more than that) is that these might be dog tracks. Their appearance and size seem consistent with that. I'm assuming that dogs (whether feral or a neighbors) are more common around human habitations than mountain lions.

 

You use a MAC? No help for you!

I looked up a list (far from comprehensive) of wildlife in the bay area (if you still live there):
Mammals of San Francisco Bay Area : sfbaywildlife.info. Perhaps it will help you brainstorm for a species you haven't thought of. I wonder if you could provide more footprint pictures? Also try this, it's a diagram with measurements of different dog-like tracks.
http://www.desertusa.com/june96/coyote_dog_wolve_fox_prints.gif
According to your measurement the track most resembles a fox. Whatever it is, it's small if the track is that size, so I wouldn't worry about it too much . There are foxes everywhere, right?




This is a page on how to tell the difference between dog and lion tracks:
http://mdc.mo.gov/discover-nature/wildlife-sightings/mountain-lions/description-signs
DOGPAW:

Lion Paw:



And here is your picture:

 

I can't tell in the picture if claw marks are present or not, do you have that information? It seems to be the best identifier between young/small dog and cat.

Lion tracks show four toes on the front foot and four toes on the hind foot. The retractable claws do not show in the prints. Lion tracks can be over four inches long.
- http://www.bear-tracker.com/cougar.html

 

That was fun pretending to know anything about animal tracks, now back to bed for me.

 

I vote Chupacabra

 

Oh man, it's so obvious now. How could I have missed it! Everyone knows that they put paw print ceramics over their hooves to fool people into blaming the coyotes!

 

That looks like a picture of some dirt to me.

 

I agree it is a child Chupacabra, clearly not an adult.

 

But like many horrible "mythic" creatures, the young ones are the worst...

I fear Dr. Bear is probably a goner.

 

I think it is EL Cucui.


Abner

 

Thank you all [well, mostly all] for the good information. Our neighbors say most likely a fox. We've sold the house-of-18-years, and are dividing our time between the Mendocino coast [house in the redwoods] and a Berkeley condo. The chupacabra or fox [or whatever] is in the redwoods . . . but the week after we bought the Berkeley condo, a full-grown mountain lion was shot by police in Berkeley a block away, very near Chez Panisse.

 

Well, if the neighbors say fox, and the diagram I posted before indicates that the size is correct for a fox I'd say you and your family are probably safe.

 

Put out some dog food or tuna at sunrise or sunset and see what animal is attrected to it.

 

*runs away screaming*
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!