WAS it a dog? Was it a badger? Or was it a more sinister creature from the deep?

Whatever the opinion on the pedigree of the Western Telegraph’s ‘Beast from the East’, the story has attracted massive interest from all over the world.

The bloated, hairless creature, with its ferocious teeth bared in a snarl, proved to be among the internet sensations of the week after its picture was taken by Peter Bailey, who made the grisly discovery as he walked his dog on Tenby’s South Beach.

Facebook users who were quick to share the shot of the ‘beast’ sent the Western Telegraph’s site statistics soaring to an all-time high. The picture attracted nearly 1,500 ‘likes’ and reached over 101,500 people throughout the world.

Our website itself recorded 36,831 unique visitors in just one week. National and international news sites also picked up on the strange story, with the USA-based Huffington Post naming ‘The Beast of Tenby’ among its top 10 weird news stories of the week.

Western Telegraph editor Holly Robinson said: “The beast has sparked huge interest. Readers have been coming up with all sorts of weird and wonderful theories as to what it is.”