Welcome to Pencoon Watch, the only pencoon sitings site on the planet. Here you will find answers to all your pencoon inquiries and perhaps learn more than you wanted to know. "What exactly is a pencoon?" you might be wondering. Glad you asked!  Penginous Raconious is a rare animal found only in remote locations across the American Midwest. As its name suggests, it is a complex mixture of both penguin and racoon species. "How could this happen?" would be the next obvious question. To be honest, we don't exactly know. Legend has it that a careless zookeeper was travelling through the wooded hills of Northern Indiana one spring many years ago. Somehow his vehicle was overturned and the precious cargo, a flock of penguins, was loosed on the unsuspecting countryside. Defying the laws of nature, the local racoons bred with the flightless water fowl and thus a new creature came into the world.

Attempts to breed pencoons in captivity have yielded no results. Question still remains as to whether baby pencoons are born alive or are hatched from eggs. We do know that pencoons are unable to continue breeding amongst themselves, the same as mules Grown pencoons range in size from six inches up to three feet in height, depending on the species of penquin from which they were born. They are excellent tree climbers and swimmers and have been known to burrow extensive tunnels in the ground that often offer passage to bodies of water.

WHEN PENCOONS ATTACK! Pencoons are not naturally agressive critters. However, they are wild animals and should not be appoached or tampered with in their natural habitat. Few are the reports of pencoon attacks, yet they have been known to mutilate and disembowl the occasional livestock that has strayed from the safety of its herd. There are no known cases of people being killed by pencoons, but the disappearances of various locals in suspected pencoon territory have been attributed to the animals. It is theorized that if a pencoon is cornered, as with racoons, it becomes hostile. There is evidence from skeletal remains of retractible claws in the powerful forelimbs that could be used for hunting, defense, digging, and climbing.

artist's rendering

PLIGHT OF THE PENCOON Sadly, these rare and mysterious creatures are in danger of extinction.  Pencoons are hunted for their pelts and tender meat, which is superb when spit roasted over an open barbecue pit and basted with lemon and butter sauce adding just a pinch of oregano and basil then served with roast potatoes and fresh steamed vegetables.  The perceived threat that they pose to farmers and ranchers has left them victim to unprecedented attacks via trapping, poisoning and poking with a stick.  Educating the public to this dilemma will preserve the pencoon population until such a time as when their numbers can increase by means of illegal experimental cloning.                                                              photos courtesy of Pete Sherwin,                                                                                                   copyright 2002, 2003.