Shana Stamey/ABC 13 WLOSMeet Hulk: the lime green puppy born in North Carolina.
On January 10, Shana Stamey and her family were excited when their dog, a white German Shepherd called Gypsy, began having her puppies.
The fourth pup from the adorable litter of eight pooches stood out – this little ball of fluff was lime green, and he would soon become a global star.
Check out Hulk in the local news report below:
As per the Citizen Times, Shana said: ‘I started freaking out. But everybody was healthy. Hulk! It was lime green. He was super mad. So, yeah, he became Hulk. We thought about Gremlin, yeah, Pistachio. We call him Mr. Green sometimes.’
While he may have been named after Bruce Banner’s huge superhero alter-ego, Hulk the dog hasn’t been exposed to gamma radiation – his unusual colour is actually perfectly explainable.
Shana Stamey/ABC 13 WLOSSuzanne Cianciulli, a veterinarian technician at Junaluska Animal Hospital, explained to ABC 13 WLOS:
The sack that they’re in when they’re in their mom, there can be meconium in there and that tends to stain them.
Meconium is the earliest stool of a mammalian infant and can be particularly potent on white fur. Shana added: ‘I knew it wasn’t like harmful. But I still had to look it up again to make sure.’
Hulk’s green colouring won’t be permanent, as it’ll eventually fade with time and being washed. ‘[Gypsy] licks it away until I bathe it and then, I guess after a couple of weeks, it will finally like fade out,’ Shana said. While he was lime green at birth, he’s now closer to yellow.
Shana Stamey/ABC 13 WLOSHowever, one thing that isn’t going away anytime soon is his ‘aggressive appetite’, which the family have dubbed to be his superpower.
Since debuting online, Hulk has stirred up a media storm, with major outlets all over the world covering his birth. As such, there are more than a few people interested in adopting the cute pup.
Shana said:
Actually I am amazed at how many are wanting to own Hulk. I really never intended to have such a following on him. Just thought he was special and unique.
Once the dogs reach eight weeks, Shana plans on trying to find forever homes for them all. However, if she can’t manage it, she won’t see them without a family. ‘If I can not find each a home then we will just add to our family. I love them all so much,’ she said.
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After graduating from Glasgow Caledonian University with an NCTJ and BCTJ-accredited Multimedia Journalism degree, Cameron ventured into the world of print journalism at The National, while also working as a freelance film journalist on the side, becoming an accredited Rotten Tomatoes critic in the process. He’s now left his Scottish homelands and took up residence at UNILAD as a journalist.