2,272. Finding an Animal in the Wilderness

Maachalos Assuros 1:3

If a person finds an animal in the wilderness whose hooves have been cut off and he can’t identify the species, he should check the animal’s mouth. If it doesn’t have teeth on the upper jaw, it can be identified as kosher so long as he knows a camel when he sees one (so he can tell that this isn’t one). If one finds an animal whose mouth has been cut off, he should check the hooves; if they’re split, the animal is kosher so long as he can tell (that it’s not) a pig. If both the mouth and the hooves have been cut off, he should inspect the end of the animal’s tail after slaughtering it. If he finds that the grain of the flesh there runs both lengthwise and sidewise, it is kosher so long as he can tell (that it’s not) a wild donkey, the grain of whose flesh also runs both lengthwise and sidewise.

Maachalos Assuros 1:4

If a kosher animal gives birth to something that resembles a non-kosher animal, it may be eaten even if it doesn’t have split hooves or chew cud, but rather it resembles a horse or a donkey in all ways. This is the case when he sees the animal deliver. If he left a pregnant cow in his herd and later found an animal that resembles a pig relying on it, the matter is in doubt and the offspring may not be eaten. This is so even if it nurses from the kosher animal because it might have been born from a non-kosher animal and become reliant on the kosher animal.