WALES – Leo Michaud feels like the main character in a cheesy horror movie.

On the night of Aug. 12, something crept out the darkness behind the 46-year-old’s home and attacked his Doberman pinscher. The attack was savage. The dog’s head was ripped open. Her neck appeared to have been chewed.

The 16-year-old Doberman named Dutchess did not survive the mauling.

“She was all torn up,” Michaud said. “She was ripped apart. I had to put her down.”

A week later, nobody can say for certain what kind of creature is responsible for the attack. What’s worse, the animal may still be living in back of Michaud’s home just off Route 126. After discovering Dutchess mauled and bleeding, Michaud found a den a short distance away from her doghouse.

The den is a hole in the ground covered by a heap of branches, twigs and pieces of lumber. It is bigger than the doghouse and quite sturdy. After finding it in sparse woods roughly 30 feet behind his home, Michaud suspected immediately that the den was home to whatever killed his dog.

A few nights after Dutchess was clawed and bitten, Michaud got a glimpse of the creature. What he saw startled him. It was a large animal, black, gray and brown with wild eyes and a bushy tail.

“The thing was right in the middle of the yard,” Michaud said.

The animal glowered for a moment and then ran away, disappearing into the den. Soon after, Michaud began looking at pictures of wild animals fitting that description. After looking at several, he developed a suspect.

“It looked like a wolverine,” Michaud said.

Experts on wolverines agree that they are feisty animals. But the possibility of those creatures running amok in Wales is very unlikely. Wolverines are known to thrive in Canada, but not in Maine. And while the animals are known to scrap with larger animals, a wolverine going toe-to-toe with a Doberman would be extremely unusual.

“They are obviously very capable fighters,” said Dr. Clinton Long, one of the founders of the Wolverine Foundation in Kuna, Idaho. “But even an adult male, to fight and wound a full grown Doberman, it’s just not very likely.”

Maj. Thomas Santaguida of the Maine Warden Service is almost certain the animal that killed Dutchess was not a wolverine. He suspects a smaller but even nastier creature common in the Maine woods: the fisher.

“These are very, very mean animals,” Santaguida said. “They’re ferocious.”

It would be easy for someone with an untrained eye to confuse a wolverine and a fisher, Santaguida said. The animals have similar heads and body shapes. But the fisher, the only animal on land that will kill and eat a porcupine, is common in Maine and it is also known to go after cats and dogs.

“They are very aggressive,” Santaguida said. “They are very mean. They will hassle a house pet.”

Michaud admits he does not know much about wolverines or related animals. All he knows is that something vicious may be living behind his mobile home and it makes him nervous. He has two teenage children who often roam in the yard. The creature’s den is only 40 yards from to the entrance to Oak Hill High School.

“It’s a little too close,” Michaud said.

According to Santaguida, fishers are bad news to other animals, but they will almost never attack a person. In fact, the animals are probably more prevalent then most people realize.

“They live very nearby without people even knowing it,” Santaguida said.

Michaud said he contacted the Maine Warden Service to report the beast behind his house. An animal damage control officer tried to trap the animal, but those attempts failed. Michaud even tried to destroy the den himself by ramming his car into it. The den proved to be more sturdy than expected.

Now Michaud just wants to know what is living behind his house and how he can get rid of it.

“I’ve been hunting all my life. I’ve spent a lot of time in the woods,” Michaud said. “I’ve never seen anything that looks like this.”

At the Wolverine Foundation, experts would not completely rule out the possibility of a wolverine being involved. It’s unlikely, they said, but stranger things have happened.

“You can’t say it’s impossible,” said Judy Long. “If it’s a wolverine, it’s most likely an escaped captive.”

According to Maine Warden Service spokesman Mark Latti, the mystery of the Wales woods remains under investigation. If pressed to guess, he agreed with Santaguida: a fisher is the most likely suspect in the attack on Dutchess the Doberman.

Meanwhile, Michaud and his family sleep with the knowledge that an unidentified creature may be on the prowl very close by. Michaud said he plans to dismantle the den over the weekend. He’ll either come face-to-face with the beast that killed his dog or he’ll find the den empty and the mystery will continue.

“It’s a freaky thing,” Michaud said. “It’s very weird. I guess you just never know what you’re going to find in your back yard.”