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Description
Other names: Ranjat man eater, the Tigress of Ranjat

Sex: Female

Species: Mutated Bengal Tiger

Location of origin: Ranjat, India

Date encountered: November 20th, 1977

Total height: 4 meters (14ft)

Total weight: 80 tons

Threat level: Medium

Aggression level: Very High

Known mutations:

-Extreme agility allows The Manticore to pursue prey with ease as well as maneuver through obstacles

-Razor-sharp claws can shred through flesh and metal with equal ease

-Stinger-like tail can be used for impaling prey from behind or from the sides

-Necrotic bite/scratch caused by the abundance of deadly bacteria inside her mouth and on her body. Gained from scavenging corpses and living near pollution. A single bite or scratch can cause a grotesque flesh-eating infection that so far has proven to be untreatable. Infection takes 48 hours to kill a victim, and by then it will have utterly ravaged the infected victim's body until they resemble a mangled, bloody corpse.

History:

The monstrous mutant that would become known as The Manticore was not originally hostile to humans, and in fact was very rarely seen. Such sightings invoked tales of the terrifying mythical beast it shared it's namesake with: the deadly Manticore. The Manticore was a frightening tiger-like creature with a face vaguely resembling a man and a scorpion-like tail that could deliver a deadly, untreatable poison. Such sightings and the legends associated with the creature was enough to deter any human activity into the dense jungles where the beast was said to lurk.

However things would change when the small village of Tagari in the Ranjat province of India was hit with numerous tiger attacks. The attacks were often fatal, and those who survived were often grievously mauled. The wounded survivors would almost always develop a gruesome flesh-eating infection shortly after the attack. Some could be saved by amputating the affected limbs, but others were literally consumed by the infection. The victims consisted mostly of women and children, but men were also attacked.

Tiger attacks were not a particularly uncommon phenomenon in these parts, but the brutality and strange illness contracted by the survivors made these stand out among all others. The village contacted the nearest city offering a bounty for any hunters that could kill the marauding tigers and put an end to the attacks. The attacks were narrowed down to two individual tigers, both of which also appeared to be afflicted with some kind of disfiguring illness and could possibly explain their aggressive nature. Often tigers who are wounded, old or sick are driven to desperation in search of food and begin to hunt humans in place of their usual prey of large animals.

Once hunters from across the country and even other parts of the world arrived, the hunt was on to bring down the killer tigers and end their reign of terror. On the first day, the hunters were met with resounding success when it was reported that they had killed one of the tigers. The body of the beast was brought into the town square where survivors of the attack quickly identified it as one of the culprits. The tiger was badly deformed and nearly hairless. A lot of it's features appear to be underdeveloped, possibly owing to it's deformities.

The next day, the second tiger was brought down. One of the hunters was nearly mauled in the process by the great beast before it was brought down. The creature was surprisingly difficult to bring down; it was shot numerous times in the head and chest in what should have all been fatal hits, but the beast still had enough life in it to nearly kill one of it's attackers. Fortunately, the man who was attacked did not contract the devastating illness as so many others had.

It seemed that the killer tigers of Ranjat had finally been slain, and life in the village of Tagari could slowly return to normal. The hunters where paid their reward and things settled down. However one day, another vicious tiger attack was reported: a mother and her two children who had gone into the jungles to pick fruit were both savagely mauled, leaving almost no remains but plenty of evidence. Enormous tracks were seen at the site of the attacks, far larger than the two tigers killed previously.

It seemed that there were more than just three individuals on the loose, and this one would need to be killed as well. However the village could not afford to pay another round of hunters to come in and kill the beast. The town of Tagari was gripped with fear and people were afraid to leave their homes in fear of the deadly tiger. This fear would only intensify when a man was slain inside the village itself, without warning. The same large tracks were seen at the scene of the attack as before, but how did something that big get in and out of town without causing a disturbance?

This question went unanswered as night after night the tiger claimed victim after victim without alerting anyone to it's presence. The beast even began to tear open huts and drag victims out of their homes, killing them quickly and vanishing before it could be spotted. With nearly half the village dead from the tiger's relentless attacks, the villagers pleaded for help from anyone who would be willing to come and kill this monster. Help came in the form of a professional hunter by the name of Ranbir Singh. Singh turned down any compensation from the village, stating that he wished for only two things: the honor of killing the man-eater and to keep it's head as a trophy.

Singh arrived the next day with two of his personal assistants, armed with large caliber rifles designed to tackle large animals such as elephants or rhinos. In the event he could not bring down the beast with standard ammunition, he also brought a series of tranquilizer dart which he would use to deliver a fatal overdose to the animal. Singh also examined the carcasses of the two animals killed previously to assess what he was dealing with. Then just as he finished looking at the bodies, the villagers began to panic and scream. A roar was heard that made the hair on the back of Singh's neck stick up. He and his men took cover in one of the huts as the sound of chaos grew.

The sounds of things being smashed apart and the roar of some monster resounded through the hut. Singh loaded his rifle and kicked down the door to the hut with his weapon raised. It was there that he caught the briefest glimpse of the creature as it scooped up the two carcasses in it's mouth and moved with such astounding speed that Singh's eyes could only perceive it as a blur. Singh attempted to fire his rifle at the moving creature, but missed and ended up obliterating a tree trunk instead. Singh cursed under his breath as he cycled the bolt on his rifle and began to search for the villagers.

Singh regrouped with the villagers from the surprise attack and thankfully, nobody was killed. It seemed the beast was only after the carcasses this time around, but for what reason? Wasting no time, Singh rallied his men and prepared for the hunt. As the midday sun burned overhead, the hunt began and Singh's group descended into the dark jungles in search of their quarry. It didn't take them long to find tracks consistent with the ones found at the village, as well as disturbed foliage and broken branches.

The hunters followed the trail deeper into the jungle until they came upon a series of ancient ruins, easily thousands of years old. The stone structures were covered in thick vegetation and green moss. Suspecting that this might be the creature's lair, the men slowed down their advance and approached cautiously. Using binoculars, the hunters scouted the ruins for any entrance that might lead to a den or nest that the animal might be using as shelter. A large hole in the side of one of the stone temples seemed to be a good candidate for a nest. Before the hunters could move in, the sound of startled birds taking flight caught their attention.

As if by instinct, they immediately laid prone on their bellies and remained absolutely still. Across from them about 200 yards, something was coming through the jungle foliage, something big. Through the leaves they could see a muzzle and two reddish-orange eyes peering through the brush. Soon the creature emerged and revealed itself in it's entirety, truly a behemoth of a creature. It resembled a tiger in overall shape, but it was nearly hairless and it's body was twisted and warped by deformities and lesions. It's tail was long and skeletal, with rays of bone protruding from the top and bottom before terminating into a bony point, like a stinger.

The monster resembled the Manticore of old legends, as terrifying in legend as it appeared here before them. The creature carried the two smaller tigers in it's mouth however it was not the type of grip that a predator would use to bite prey, but like a mother would to carry her cubs. The creature entered the lair and laid down close to the entrance to where the hunters could still get a good look with their binoculars and rifle scopes.

The creature began to nudge the bodies of the two smaller tigers, only to receive no response from the bodies. Licking them also prompted no reaction, and so the creature lowered it's head and let out a quiet howl of despair. To the hunters, it sounded like a mourning cry, a parent grieving over the loss of it's cubs. Now it all made sense to Singh: these attacks started when the two previous tigers were killed, and their underdeveloped features were not the result of deformities, but because the animals themselves were still youngsters.

Singh also deduced that the most recent attacks were done out of vengeance, as ridiculous as it sounded, but he could think of no other reason. The animal let out another soul rending howl as it laid it's head down next to the bodies of it's slain offspring,. Singh felt a pang of sympathy for the creature, however small. However now the creature could become potentially even more enraged and finish off the village for good. This grieving mother would need to be killed and killed soon before it felt the need to bring it's wrath upon Tagari again.

The hunters began to take up positions as to surround the entrance of the den, aiming their rifles directly at the creature and awaited Singh's command to fire. Singh had taken position on an old stone bridge that had collapsed in the middle, giving a sufficient view of the inside of the temple. Singh hovered the crosshairs of his rifle scope directly between the monster's eyes and held his breath. Suddenly he caught movement through his right peripheral and turned his head to see one of his men attempting to sneak up on the creature with an elephant gun.

Singh swore under his breath and tried his best to shoo away the man without alerting the creature in the den. This was to no avail, as the man jumped into the temple entrance and fired two shots from his rifle, both direct hits on the monster's cheek and neck. Successful in both drawing blood and enraging the animal, it quickly rose on all fours and lunged at the man before a third shot rang out and hit it in the ribs. The monster grunted from the impact and turned to see Singh on the bridge, cycling the bolt on his weapon and lining up another shot.

With incredible speed, the creature ignored it's initial victim and dashed from the cave entrance towards the bridge. It's exposed muscles tensed before it thrust it's entire body through the air in a mighty lunge. Singh fell on his back as the mutant slammed into the stone support of the bridge, missing it's mark by mere feet. The bridge shook as Singh struggled to get back up. The beast once again thrust itself at the bridge, slamming into it with enough force to visibly move the stone support and crack the already worn stone. The second impact caused Singh to fall again, this time his ammo clips for his rifle fell from his vest pockets and onto the ground below the bridge.

Singh panicked for a moment, but steeled himself as now was his chance to end this creature once and for all. He heard several cracks of rifle fire as his men attempted to engage, but even these powerful rounds did little other than cause minor surface wounds. Singh worked quickly and retrieved the tranquilizer rounds from his satchel and loaded them into his rifle. He heard a blood curdling scream: the mutant had speed blitzed one of his men and literally sheared him into three different pieces with a single swipe of it's paw. This made Singh work faster, expertly loading his weapon and taking aim at the creature. His first shot was a direct hit, striking the creature in the hip.

The monster clearly felt the pinch, as it's face briefly contorted in an eerie, human-like fashion. Singh loaded another round and called out to his surviving assistant who had climbed to the top of the temple amidst the chaos. The monster leapt onto the side of the temple and sunk it's razor sharp claws into the stone, securing it's grip as it attempted to scale the temple wall to get to the man at the top. Singh fired another shot that hit the creature in the neck near were an artery would be on a normal tiger. Already, Singh had shot enough tranquilizer into the creature to put two elephants down for the count.

Having had enough of this pest shooting it, the monster altered it's stance as to face Singh before leaping through the air. Singh managed another shot directly into it's exposed stomach before the beast collided with the bridge, knocking it down at last along with Singh. Singh rolled around on the ground from the collapse while clutching his rifle. The creature freed itself from some stone debris that had fallen on it, but was clearly beginning to feel the effects of the tranquilizer after three hits. The beast snarled at Singh as it slowly approached him like a predator preparing to lunge. Readying himself for an attack, he loaded yet another tranquilizer dart into his rifle, aimed it at the creature and waited for it to make it's move.

Singh could see the anger and hatred that burned in the monster's eyes, a parent that was hellbent on avenging it's children. Singh could understand that kind of anger, though he had no children himself, he could at least empathize with the beast on some level. The two circled one another slowly, each aware that the other was not like the typical prey they were used to. The creature seemed almost intrigued by Singh, this small thing had managed to somehow poison it and fearlessly faced it down where so many fled. Beads of sweat rolled down Singh's face as he gently pressed his finger on the trigger of his rifle. Seconds felt like hours as the two stared each other down, neither seeming to want to make the first move.

Singh noted a change in the creature's body language that indicated it was about to attack. Accordingly, the creature adopted a squatting stance and bared it's sharp feet at the man. Singh barreled out of the way the instant the mutant lunged, quickly adopting a kneeling stance and shooting the creature in the rear end as it soared past. The mutant face planted into the ground and carved a trench into the earth as it struggled to get back up, it's vision blurred and distorted by the tranquilizer's effects. The beast roared in anger as it tried to strike with it's spear-like tail only to hit the ground a few feet in front of Singh.

Singh stood tall and stoically watched the creature as it weakly approached, tripping over it's own paws before collapsing to the ground. From there it attempted to drag itself towards Singh, now mere feet from the man. The two locked eyes one final time before the might mutant collapsed into unconsciousness. Singh collapsed to the ground sprawled on his back, chuckling in relief. His assistant rushed to meet him as he gazed upon the comatose body of the mutant. Though they were unable to kill the beast, they at least put an end to it's reign of terror.

Eventually, the necessary parties were contacted and the unconscious creature was secured by military forces. It was hoisted up by helicopter and periodically administered a tranquilizer to keep it asleep as it was transported to the uninhabited Belle Island, away from civilization. The creature was also tagged so it could be eventually studied. The capture of a live specimen was of great interest to both the Soviet Union and the United States, as this presented an opportunity to study the creatures alive rather than dissecting mangled corpses.

Description
Other names: Ranjat man eater, the Tigress of Ranjat

Sex: Female

Species: Mutated Bengal Tiger

Location of origin: Ranjat, India

Date encountered: November 20th, 1977

Total height: 4 meters (14ft)

Total weight: 80 tons

Threat level: Medium

Aggression level: Very High

Known mutations:

-Extreme agility allows The Manticore to pursue prey with ease as well as maneuver through obstacles

-Razor-sharp claws can shred through flesh and metal with equal ease

-Stinger-like tail can be used for impaling prey from behind or from the sides

-Necrotic bite/scratch caused by the abundance of deadly bacteria inside her mouth and on her body. Gained from scavenging corpses and living near pollution. A single bite or scratch can cause a grotesque flesh-eating infection that so far has proven to be untreatable. Infection takes 48 hours to kill a victim, and by then it will have utterly ravaged the infected victim's body until they resemble a mangled, bloody corpse.

History:

The monstrous mutant that would become known as The Manticore was not originally hostile to humans, and in fact was very rarely seen. Such sightings invoked tales of the terrifying mythical beast it shared it's namesake with: the deadly Manticore. The Manticore was a frightening tiger-like creature with a face vaguely resembling a man and a scorpion-like tail that could deliver a deadly, untreatable poison. Such sightings and the legends associated with the creature was enough to deter any human activity into the dense jungles where the beast was said to lurk.

However things would change when the small village of Tagari in the Ranjat province of India was hit with numerous tiger attacks. The attacks were often fatal, and those who survived were often grievously mauled. The wounded survivors would almost always develop a gruesome flesh-eating infection shortly after the attack. Some could be saved by amputating the affected limbs, but others were literally consumed by the infection. The victims consisted mostly of women and children, but men were also attacked.

Tiger attacks were not a particularly uncommon phenomenon in these parts, but the brutality and strange illness contracted by the survivors made these stand out among all others. The village contacted the nearest city offering a bounty for any hunters that could kill the marauding tigers and put an end to the attacks. The attacks were narrowed down to two individual tigers, both of which also appeared to be afflicted with some kind of disfiguring illness and could possibly explain their aggressive nature. Often tigers who are wounded, old or sick are driven to desperation in search of food and begin to hunt humans in place of their usual prey of large animals.

Once hunters from across the country and even other parts of the world arrived, the hunt was on to bring down the killer tigers and end their reign of terror. On the first day, the hunters were met with resounding success when it was reported that they had killed one of the tigers. The body of the beast was brought into the town square where survivors of the attack quickly identified it as one of the culprits. The tiger was badly deformed and nearly hairless. A lot of it's features appear to be underdeveloped, possibly owing to it's deformities.

The next day, the second tiger was brought down. One of the hunters was nearly mauled in the process by the great beast before it was brought down. The creature was surprisingly difficult to bring down; it was shot numerous times in the head and chest in what should have all been fatal hits, but the beast still had enough life in it to nearly kill one of it's attackers. Fortunately, the man who was attacked did not contract the devastating illness as so many others had.

It seemed that the killer tigers of Ranjat had finally been slain, and life in the village of Tagari could slowly return to normal. The hunters where paid their reward and things settled down. However one day, another vicious tiger attack was reported: a mother and her two children who had gone into the jungles to pick fruit were both savagely mauled, leaving almost no remains but plenty of evidence. Enormous tracks were seen at the site of the attacks, far larger than the two tigers killed previously.

It seemed that there were more than just three individuals on the loose, and this one would need to be killed as well. However the village could not afford to pay another round of hunters to come in and kill the beast. The town of Tagari was gripped with fear and people were afraid to leave their homes in fear of the deadly tiger. This fear would only intensify when a man was slain inside the village itself, without warning. The same large tracks were seen at the scene of the attack as before, but how did something that big get in and out of town without causing a disturbance?

This question went unanswered as night after night the tiger claimed victim after victim without alerting anyone to it's presence. The beast even began to tear open huts and drag victims out of their homes, killing them quickly and vanishing before it could be spotted. With nearly half the village dead from the tiger's relentless attacks, the villagers pleaded for help from anyone who would be willing to come and kill this monster. Help came in the form of a professional hunter by the name of Ranbir Singh. Singh turned down any compensation from the village, stating that he wished for only two things: the honor of killing the man-eater and to keep it's head as a trophy.

Singh arrived the next day with two of his personal assistants, armed with large caliber rifles designed to tackle large animals such as elephants or rhinos. In the event he could not bring down the beast with standard ammunition, he also brought a series of tranquilizer dart which he would use to deliver a fatal overdose to the animal. Singh also examined the carcasses of the two animals killed previously to assess what he was dealing with. Then just as he finished looking at the bodies, the villagers began to panic and scream. A roar was heard that made the hair on the back of Singh's neck stick up. He and his men took cover in one of the huts as the sound of chaos grew.

The sounds of things being smashed apart and the roar of some monster resounded through the hut. Singh loaded his rifle and kicked down the door to the hut with his weapon raised. It was there that he caught the briefest glimpse of the creature as it scooped up the two carcasses in it's mouth and moved with such astounding speed that Singh's eyes could only perceive it as a blur. Singh attempted to fire his rifle at the moving creature, but missed and ended up obliterating a tree trunk instead. Singh cursed under his breath as he cycled the bolt on his rifle and began to search for the villagers.

Singh regrouped with the villagers from the surprise attack and thankfully, nobody was killed. It seemed the beast was only after the carcasses this time around, but for what reason? Wasting no time, Singh rallied his men and prepared for the hunt. As the midday sun burned overhead, the hunt began and Singh's group descended into the dark jungles in search of their quarry. It didn't take them long to find tracks consistent with the ones found at the village, as well as disturbed foliage and broken branches.

The hunters followed the trail deeper into the jungle until they came upon a series of ancient ruins, easily thousands of years old. The stone structures were covered in thick vegetation and green moss. Suspecting that this might be the creature's lair, the men slowed down their advance and approached cautiously. Using binoculars, the hunters scouted the ruins for any entrance that might lead to a den or nest that the animal might be using as shelter. A large hole in the side of one of the stone temples seemed to be a good candidate for a nest. Before the hunters could move in, the sound of startled birds taking flight caught their attention.

As if by instinct, they immediately laid prone on their bellies and remained absolutely still. Across from them about 200 yards, something was coming through the jungle foliage, something big. Through the leaves they could see a muzzle and two reddish-orange eyes peering through the brush. Soon the creature emerged and revealed itself in it's entirety, truly a behemoth of a creature. It resembled a tiger in overall shape, but it was nearly hairless and it's body was twisted and warped by deformities and lesions. It's tail was long and skeletal, with rays of bone protruding from the top and bottom before terminating into a bony point, like a stinger.

The monster resembled the Manticore of old legends, as terrifying in legend as it appeared here before them. The creature carried the two smaller tigers in it's mouth however it was not the type of grip that a predator would use to bite prey, but like a mother would to carry her cubs. The creature entered the lair and laid down close to the entrance to where the hunters could still get a good look with their binoculars and rifle scopes.

The creature began to nudge the bodies of the two smaller tigers, only to receive no response from the bodies. Licking them also prompted no reaction, and so the creature lowered it's head and let out a quiet howl of despair. To the hunters, it sounded like a mourning cry, a parent grieving over the loss of it's cubs. Now it all made sense to Singh: these attacks started when the two previous tigers were killed, and their underdeveloped features were not the result of deformities, but because the animals themselves were still youngsters.

Singh also deduced that the most recent attacks were done out of vengeance, as ridiculous as it sounded, but he could think of no other reason. The animal let out another soul rending howl as it laid it's head down next to the bodies of it's slain offspring,. Singh felt a pang of sympathy for the creature, however small. However now the creature could become potentially even more enraged and finish off the village for good. This grieving mother would need to be killed and killed soon before it felt the need to bring it's wrath upon Tagari again.

The hunters began to take up positions as to surround the entrance of the den, aiming their rifles directly at the creature and awaited Singh's command to fire. Singh had taken position on an old stone bridge that had collapsed in the middle, giving a sufficient view of the inside of the temple. Singh hovered the crosshairs of his rifle scope directly between the monster's eyes and held his breath. Suddenly he caught movement through his right peripheral and turned his head to see one of his men attempting to sneak up on the creature with an elephant gun.

Singh swore under his breath and tried his best to shoo away the man without alerting the creature in the den. This was to no avail, as the man jumped into the temple entrance and fired two shots from his rifle, both direct hits on the monster's cheek and neck. Successful in both drawing blood and enraging the animal, it quickly rose on all fours and lunged at the man before a third shot rang out and hit it in the ribs. The monster grunted from the impact and turned to see Singh on the bridge, cycling the bolt on his weapon and lining up another shot.

With incredible speed, the creature ignored it's initial victim and dashed from the cave entrance towards the bridge. It's exposed muscles tensed before it thrust it's entire body through the air in a mighty lunge. Singh fell on his back as the mutant slammed into the stone support of the bridge, missing it's mark by mere feet. The bridge shook as Singh struggled to get back up. The beast once again thrust itself at the bridge, slamming into it with enough force to visibly move the stone support and crack the already worn stone. The second impact caused Singh to fall again, this time his ammo clips for his rifle fell from his vest pockets and onto the ground below the bridge.

Singh panicked for a moment, but steeled himself as now was his chance to end this creature once and for all. He heard several cracks of rifle fire as his men attempted to engage, but even these powerful rounds did little other than cause minor surface wounds. Singh worked quickly and retrieved the tranquilizer rounds from his satchel and loaded them into his rifle. He heard a blood curdling scream: the mutant had speed blitzed one of his men and literally sheared him into three different pieces with a single swipe of it's paw. This made Singh work faster, expertly loading his weapon and taking aim at the creature. His first shot was a direct hit, striking the creature in the hip.

The monster clearly felt the pinch, as it's face briefly contorted in an eerie, human-like fashion. Singh loaded another round and called out to his surviving assistant who had climbed to the top of the temple amidst the chaos. The monster leapt onto the side of the temple and sunk it's razor sharp claws into the stone, securing it's grip as it attempted to scale the temple wall to get to the man at the top. Singh fired another shot that hit the creature in the neck near were an artery would be on a normal tiger. Already, Singh had shot enough tranquilizer into the creature to put two elephants down for the count.

Having had enough of this pest shooting it, the monster altered it's stance as to face Singh before leaping through the air. Singh managed another shot directly into it's exposed stomach before the beast collided with the bridge, knocking it down at last along with Singh. Singh rolled around on the ground from the collapse while clutching his rifle. The creature freed itself from some stone debris that had fallen on it, but was clearly beginning to feel the effects of the tranquilizer after three hits. The beast snarled at Singh as it slowly approached him like a predator preparing to lunge. Readying himself for an attack, he loaded yet another tranquilizer dart into his rifle, aimed it at the creature and waited for it to make it's move.

Singh could see the anger and hatred that burned in the monster's eyes, a parent that was hellbent on avenging it's children. Singh could understand that kind of anger, though he had no children himself, he could at least empathize with the beast on some level. The two circled one another slowly, each aware that the other was not like the typical prey they were used to. The creature seemed almost intrigued by Singh, this small thing had managed to somehow poison it and fearlessly faced it down where so many fled. Beads of sweat rolled down Singh's face as he gently pressed his finger on the trigger of his rifle. Seconds felt like hours as the two stared each other down, neither seeming to want to make the first move.

Singh noted a change in the creature's body language that indicated it was about to attack. Accordingly, the creature adopted a squatting stance and bared it's sharp feet at the man. Singh barreled out of the way the instant the mutant lunged, quickly adopting a kneeling stance and shooting the creature in the rear end as it soared past. The mutant face planted into the ground and carved a trench into the earth as it struggled to get back up, it's vision blurred and distorted by the tranquilizer's effects. The beast roared in anger as it tried to strike with it's spear-like tail only to hit the ground a few feet in front of Singh.

Singh stood tall and stoically watched the creature as it weakly approached, tripping over it's own paws before collapsing to the ground. From there it attempted to drag itself towards Singh, now mere feet from the man. The two locked eyes one final time before the might mutant collapsed into unconsciousness. Singh collapsed to the ground sprawled on his back, chuckling in relief. His assistant rushed to meet him as he gazed upon the comatose body of the mutant. Though they were unable to kill the beast, they at least put an end to it's reign of terror.

Eventually, the necessary parties were contacted and the unconscious creature was secured by military forces. It was hoisted up by helicopter and periodically administered a tranquilizer to keep it asleep as it was transported to the uninhabited Belle Island, away from civilization. The creature was also tagged so it could be eventually studied. The capture of a live specimen was of great interest to both the Soviet Union and the United States, as this presented an opportunity to study the creatures alive rather than dissecting mangled corpses.