When I pulled up to my house today I saw a large animal in my back yard. I startled it and it ran in a large hole. I have seen it many times before and I still can't identify it. It's large and black or dark brown. It looks like a giant rodent. It didn't appear to have a tail and it runs pretty fast. The little dude is also pretty chubby. He is larger than a cat or a small dog. I live in Indiana and I don't live near any bodies of water, if that helps.
Yea its probably a ground hog. They can do some serious damage if you don't get rid of it.
Sounds like a woodchuck, sometimes called a ground hog.
Where I grew up, in upstate NY, they are very common. People shoot them for sport and farmers are usually happy to have them do it.
Some hunters call them whistlepigs because when they have their head down eating, if you whistle they pick up their head. Bad idea for the woodchuck.
Badgers, occasionally referred to as brocks, are short-legged, heavy-set omnivores in the weasel biological family, Mustelidae.
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The body colouration is a striking combination of silvery grey or whitish upperparts (from the top of the head across the back to the base of the tail), and black or dark brown sides and underparts.
They can run pretty fast, Up to 25 to 30 km per hour for short distances
Thanks for your question. While there are various ground squirrels, gophers and other rodents that make burrows, I think that the large hole was made by a badger, due to the size of the hole.http://www.american-badgers. com/says that the badger rarely stays in the same place for long and often builds a new home or takes over a new burrow from another animal.
http://www.nsrl.ttu.edu/tmot1/taxitaxu.htm says that the badger has few natural enemies and is a ferocious fighter, being usually more than a match for any dog. One badger successfully defended itself in a fight with two coyotes. I would advise you to keep your dog away from the burrow, or to keep it on a lead, as long as you are sure the abadger is on your property.
