OK, What is this? Black Bear Cub? Maybe - looks awful small... See pic to below for closeup...
If this is a bear cub, why is the head so small? Where is the long flesh-colored snout and long neck? Where are the crested and pointed ears? ...legs seem very short for a Black Bear (see other pictures below to gauge size.)
Occam's Razor: This is probably an odd-shapen, recently de-quilled porcupine....
However, could this thing be a Wolverine?
Actual Wolverine Rendering - does this guy look similar or what? You can see the short legs, miniscule neck and set-back ears - very un-bear like... The trail cam photo shows the same profile - even down to what looks like the same ear placement and head/body shape... No tail in the trail cam photo though... if it is a wolverine, it's dragging its tail straight down or possibly wagged to the side towards the back right leg in the direction of the camera...
These animals haven't been documented in this area in hundreds of years... former range covered eastern Canada to the St. Lawrence River and Adirondacks (depending on the scientist you talk to) and parts of Maine... and haven't been seen anywhere in Maine or the eastern United States for decades. With the recent confirmation of Wolverines in the Sierra Nevadas in California (a long extinct region for the animal... or so it was thought), perhaps we have one here too? Probably wishful thinking and level of detail in the photograph is not sufficient to determine one way or another...
Black Bear Cub
Wolverine Range
Tough to tell on this little guy... looks like another member of the mustledae family (weasel/otter/badger...)
Close-up - I'm betting this is a Fisher
Here's a Fisher in a Tree
Frankly, My Deer, I Don't Give a Damn...
Snowshoe Hare...Is he there???
Yes He is...
Checking the cam...
