Thread: Has a mythical beast turned up in Texas?

Has a mythical beast turned up in Texas?
By ELIZABETH WHITE, Associated Press Writer
Fri Aug 31, 7:18 PM ET

CUERO, Texas - Phylis Canion lived in Africa for four years. She's been a hunter all her life and has the mounted heads of a zebra and other exotic animals in her house to prove it.

But the roadkill she found last month outside her ranch was a new one even for her, worth putting in a freezer hidden from curious onlookers: Canion believes she may have the head of the mythical, bloodsucking chupacabra. "It is one ugly creature," Canion said, holding the head of the mammal, which has big ears, large fanged teeth and grayish-blue, mostly hairless skin.

Canion and some of her neighbors discovered the 40-pound bodies of three of the animals over four days in July outside her ranch in Cuero, 80 miles southeast of San Antonio. Canion said she saved the head of the one she found so she can get to get to the bottom of its ancestry through DNA testing and then mount it for posterity.

She suspects, as have many rural denizens over the years, that a chupacabra may have killed as many as 26 of her chickens in the past couple of years. "I've seen a lot of nasty stuff. I've never seen anything like this," she said.

What tipped Canion to the possibility that this was no ugly coyote, but perhaps the vampire-like beast, is that the chickens weren't eaten or carried off — all the blood was drained from them, she said.

Chupacabra means "goat sucker" in Spanish, and it is said to have originated in Latin America, specifically Puerto Rico and Mexico.

Canion thinks recent heavy rains ran them right out of their dens. "I think it could have wolf in it," Canion said. "It has to be a cross between two or three different things."

She said the finding has captured the imagination of locals, just like purported sightings of Bigfoot or the Loch Ness Monster have elsewhere.

But what folks are calling a chupacabra is probably just a strange breed of dog, said veterinarian Travis Schaar of the Main Street Animal Hospital in nearby Victoria. "I'm not going to tell you that's not a chupacabra. I just think in my opinion a chupacabra is a dog," said Schaar, who has seen Canion's find.

The "chupacabras" could have all been part of a mutated litter of dogs, or they may be a new kind of mutt, he said.

As for the bloodsucking, Schaar said that this particular canine may simply have a preference for blood, letting its prey bleed out and licking it up.

Chupacabra or not, the discovery has spawned a local and international craze. Canion has started selling T-shirts that read: "2007, The Summer of the Chupacabra, Cuero, Texas," accompanied by a caricature of the creature. The $5 shirts have gone all over the world, including Japan, Australia and Brunei. Schaar also said he has one. "If everyone has a fun time with it, we'll keep doing it," she said. "It's good for Cuero."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070831/...ui9oic5L6s0NUE

pic ; http://news.yahoo.com/photo/070831/4...uSUg6UsgBH2ocA

[i] Is it just me or does this story cycle around every couple of years ?? I thought i had posted something like this before, although it didn't turn up on a "search" here. [i]

Chupacabra (also chupacabras ) from Spanish chupar: to suck, cabra: goat; goats sucker) is a cryptid said to inhabit parts of the Americas. It is associated particularly with Puerto Rico (where it was first reported), Mexico, and the United States, especially in the latter's Latin American communities. The name translates literally from the Spanish as "goat sucker." It comes from the creature's reported habit of attacking and drinking the blood of livestock, especially goats. Physical descriptions of the creature vary. Eyewitness sightings have been claimed as early as 1990 in Puerto Rico, and have since been reported as far north as Maine, and as far south as Chile. Mainstream scientists and experts generally hypothesize that the chupacabra is a legendary creature, or a type of urban legend. It is supposedly a heavy creature, the size of a small bear, with a row of spines reaching from the neck to the base of the tail.

History

The legend of cipi chupacabra began approximately in 1987, when Puerto Rican newspapers El Vocero and El Nuevo Dia began reporting the killings of many different types of animals, such as birds, horses, and, as its name implies, goats. It is predated by El Vampiro de Moca (The Vampire of Moca), a creature blamed for similar killings that occurred in the small town of Moca in the 1970s. While at first it was suspected that the killings were done randomly by some members of a Satanic cult, eventually these killings spread around the island, and many farms reported loss of animal life. The killings had one pattern in common: each of the animals had their bodies bled dry through a series of small circular incisions. Puerto Rican comedian and entrepreneur Silverio Pérez is credited with coining the term "chupacabras" soon after the first incidents were reported in the press.[1] Shortly after the deaths in Puerto Rico, other animal deaths were reported in other countries, such as the Dominican Republic, Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Honduras, El Salvador, Panama, Peru, Brazil, the United States and Mexico.

Reported sightings

In July 2004, a rancher near San Antonio killed a hairless dog-like creature, which was attacking his livestock. This creature is now known as the Elmendorf Beast. It was later determined to be a coyote with demodectic or sarcoptic mange. In October 2004, two animals said to resemble the Elmendorf Creature were supposedly observed in the same area. The first was dead, and a local zoologist who was called to identify the animal noticed the second while she was traveling to the location where the first was found. Specimens of the dead animals were studied by biologists in Texas, who found that the creatures were coyotes suffering from very severe cases of mange.[2]

In Coleman, Texas, a farmer named Reggie Lagow caught an animal in a trap he set up after the deaths of a number of his chickens and turkeys. The supposed animal was described as a mix between a hairless dog, a rat and a kangaroo. The animal was provided to Texas Parks and Wildlife in order to determine what species it belonged to, but Lagow reported in a September 17th, 2006, phone interview with John Adolfi, founder of the Lost World Museum, that the "critter was caught on a Tuesday and thrown out in Thursday's trash."[3]

In April of 2006, MosNews reported that the chupacabra was spotted in Russia for the first time. Reports from Central Russia beginning in March 2005 tell of a beast that kills animals and sucks out their blood. Thirty-two turkeys were killed and drained overnight. Reports later came from neighboring villages when 30 sheep were killed and had their blood drained. Finally eyewitnesses were able to describe the chupacabra. In May of 2006, experts were determined to track the animal down.[4]

In mid-August 2006 Michelle O'Donnell of Turner, Maine, described an "evil looking" rodent-like creature with fangs that had been found dead alongside a road. The mystery beast was apparently struck by a car, and was otherwise unidentifiable. Photographs were taken and witness reports seem to be in relative agreement that the creature was canine in appearance, but unlike any dog or wolf in the area. The carcass was picked clean by vultures before experts could examine it. For years, residents of Maine have reported a mysterious creature and a string of dog maulings.[5]

In May 2007, a series of reports on national Colombia news reported more than 300 dead sheep in the region of Boyaca, and the capture of a possible specimen to be analysed by zoologists at Universidad Nacional of Colombia.[6]

In August 2007, Phylis Canion claimed to have found three of the animals on ranches in Cuero, Texas. She and her neighbors purported to have discovered three strange animal corpses outside Canion's property in Cuero, Texas; she took photographs of the corpses and preserved the head of one in her freezer before turning it over for DNA analysis.[7] The animals found by Canion are evidently canids, speculated to be either the product of a single mutated litter or an entirely new breed.[8] Canion reported that nearly 30 chickens on her farm had been exsanguinated over a period of years, a factor which led to her connection of the corpses with the chupacabra of legend.

Appearance

The most common description of Chupacabra is a lizard-like being, appearing to have leathery or scaly greenish-gray skin and sharp spines or quills running down its back.[9] This form stands approximately 3 to 4 feet (1 to 1.2 m) high, and stands and hops in a similar fashion to a kangaroo. In at least one sighting, the creature hopped 20 feet (6 m). This variety is said to have a dog or panther-like nose and face, a forked tongue protruding from it, large fangs, and to hiss and screech when alarmed, as well as leave a sulfuric stench behind. When it screeches, some reports note that the chupacabra's eyes glow an unusual red, then give the witnesses nausea. For some witnesses, it was seen with bat-like wings.[10]

Another description of Chupacabra, although not as common, is described as a strange breed of wild dog. This form is mostly hairless, has a pronounced spinal ridge, unusually pronounced eye sockets, fangs, and claws. It is claimed that this breed might be an example of a dog-like reptile. The corpse of an animal found in Leon, Nicaragua, and forensically analyzed at UNAN-Leon is claimed as a specimen of this genus. Pathologists at the University found that it was an unusual looking dog-like creature of a unknown species.[11] Unlike conventional predators, the chupacabra is said to drain all of the animal's blood (and sometimes organs) through a single hole or two holes.

Chupacabra (also chupacabras ) .... is a cryptid

Cryptids are creatures presumed extinct, hypothetical species, or creatures known from anecdotal evidence and/or other evidence insufficient to prove their existence with scientific certainty. The term "cryptid" was first coined in 1983 by John Wall.[1] A cryptid may also be known as an Unidentified Mysterious Animal (UMA). [citation needed] The study of cryptids is known as Cryptozoology. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cryptid


YouTube - El Chupacabrael chupacabra caught on tape ??

Shadow Circus Creature Theatre: Episode II Chupacabra
Views: 10579 ... www.youtube.com/watch?v=SmHmnfgON4A - 120k -

http://cryptozoo.monstrous.com/el_chupacabra.htm

There are several variations of what people believe the Chupacabra to look like. The current theory is that it is a bipedal creature around four to five feet tall described as a sort of a cross between a 'Grey' alien humanoid, mainly because the shape of its head and eyes, and what most witnesses describe as the body of a bipedal, erect dinosaur.

It has two small arms with a three-fingered clawed hand, two strong hind almost reptilian legs, again with three claws and spinal quills down its back, which it uses to fly. This appears to enable it to run quickly and leap over trees. Its head is oval in shape and has an elongated jaw.

Two red or black beady eyes have been reported, together with small holes in the nostril area, a small slit-like mouth with fang-type teeth protruding upwards and downwards from the jaw.

It appears to have strong course hair all over its body; and whilst most observers claim the hair is black, it has the remarkable ability to change colours at will, almost like a chamaleon. In the dark, it will change to black or a deep brown colour; in a sunlit area surrounded by vegetation, it changes to green, green-grey, light brown or beige.

Some believes it to be a half-man, half-beast vampire, while still others say it is similar to a panther with red eyes and the tongue of a snake.

Another version is that it hops like a kangaroo and smells like sulfur.

http://cryptozoo.monstrous.com/descr...chupacabra.htm

This sound like the "aliens" in the movie "Signs" - first photos of those were taken at a Mexican birthday party ....


El Chupacabras was preceded by a Puerto Rican monster known as the Moca Vampire, which had been reported in conjunction with a rash of UFO sightings in 1975. A number of farmers discovered animals massacred after strange lights appeared in the sky. Investigators examining the slain animals, which included ducks, goats, geese and cows, noted with astonishment that they had been completely drained of blood with almost surgical precision. The Moca Vampire was apparently never sighted firsthand, but it was generally admitted that illegaly-imported crocodiles were responsible for the killings.

In March 1995, the Puerto Rican towns of Orocovis and Morovis began to be plagued by some force that was mysteriously murdering their animals. The carcasses of goats, chickens and other small farm animals were reported to be thoroughly exsanguinated, with the blood often said to have been drained out through a single neat puncture wound.

Sightings and slain livestock continued to be reported in various parts of Puerto Rico throughout the fall of 1995. The Goatsucker allegedly killed 11 goats in the town of San German, and on one occasion a group of townspeople said they chased the creature away as it was attempting to kill three roosters. In Guanica, 44-year-old Osvaldo Claudio Rosado claimed to have been grabbed from behind by a gorilla. Puerto Rico has no gorillas. After fighting off the creature, Rosado needed treatment for scratches and cuts around his torso. In Canovanas, seemingly an epicenter of Chupacabras activity with more than 150 animal slayings reported in 1995. Several witnesses have seen it in broad daylight. One such occasion was witnessed by Madeline Tolentino and her neighbours in the Campo Rico community (municipality of Canovanas). They all observed it walking down a street at 3.00 pm in the afternoon. As they approached it, the creature ran away, 'at a fantastic speed' and escaped. Mayor Jose "Chemo" Soto raised an army of volunteers and personally hunted every week for Chupa during nearly a year, armed with rifles and a caged goat. He failed to catch it but was, however, re-elected.

Since then, the Chupacabras has been blamed in the deaths of over 2000 animals ranging from other livestock to household pets. Puerto Rico is no longer the exclusive playground of the creature. Through the Spanish-speaking media, the story travelled through Mexico and the United States, leading to sightings of the beast in several cities including Miami, New York, San Antonio, Cambridge, and San Francisco. 69 chickens, goats and ducks were found dead on a Florida lawn, again with their blood drained. Michigan and Oregon suffered subsequent attacks. A rash of bloodsuckings in Mexico created a minor media sensation by late 1996. In October of 1999, Brazil's Corriero Braziliense newspaper reported nine goats and three sheep dead with single wounds on the neck. Other Brazilian eyewitnesses claimed to have seen an animal that fly or leap with powerful, monkey-like hind legs, attacking animals and humans both. In April of 2000, farmers in Calamain, a mining town in the heart of Chile's harsh northern desert, awoke to find their goats and sheep dead in their pens. An unidentified predator had mutilated the animals' necks and sucked their blood. Calama officials quickly called in the National Guard. Hundreds of armed soldiers undertook a massive search of the area, hunting the Chupacabra. Night patrols, however, found nothing; neither the beast, nor the puma skeptics believed was the real killer. By late June, an official Chilean government statement had blamed the attacks on wild dogs.

http://cryptozoo.monstrous.com/sight...chupacabra.htm


The corpses of Chupacabra’s victims have been found with many small but regular pattern circular holes about 1/4" - 1/2" in diameter arranged in pairs of triangular fashion. These particular openings have been located in the neck, chest, belly, and anal areas, and appear to have been made with a surgeon’s scalpel. There are also reports of certain organs missing from the victims, yet no visible means of extraction was found on the bodies. Reproductive, sexual organs, anus, eyes and other soft tissue have sometimes been removed.

The wounds may be similar in appearance to bites inflicted by dogs or baboons due to them being round and small, but the similarity ends there. These wounds penetrate through the right jawbone, muscle and tissue, and straight into the brain, more specifically directly to the cerebellum, puncturing it and causing instant death to the animal. This reveals a type of euthanasia technique, for this method prevents the attacked animal from suffering.

When the wounds appear on the sides and belly of the victim, the penetration usually cuts through the stomach, down to the liver, apparently removing sections of the organ and absorbing liquid from it. The wall of the wound seems also to have been cauterized apparently to prevent excessive blood loss and no natural inflammatory processes have been observed in the dead animals tissues. Moreover there are no trauma, abrasions, scratches, bites or pressure observed by the examiners on the opposite side of the wound. In most cases the victims lack rigor mortis and remain flexible, days after their death. Incredibly in some incidents, the blood, which remained in the body, would not clot or coagulate for days following death.


http://cryptozoo.monstrous.com/evidences_chupacabra.htm


This picture has been around for some time and is probably faked
http://cryptozoo.monstrous.com/el_chupacabra_2.htm

Man, I hope so ! I have been waiting for one of these to turn up somewhere.

Originally Posted by Bahet

It kinda looks like Dick Cheney.

That almost made me spit my coffee out!

Creature ID'd as coyote, not chupacabra
Fri Nov 2, 4:48 PM ET

SAN MARCOS, Texas - The results are in: The ugly, big-eared animal found this summer in Cuero is not the mythical bloodsucking chupacabra. It's just a plain old coyote.

Biologists at Texas State University announced Thursday night that they had identified the hairless doglike creature.

San Antonio television station KENS provided a tissue sample from the animal for testing.

"The DNA sequence is a virtually identical match to DNA from the coyote (Canis latrans)," bioligist Mike Forstner said in a written statement. "This is probably the answer a lot of folks thought might be the outcome. I, myself, really thought it was a domestic dog, but the Cuero Chupacabra is a Texas Coyote."

Phylis Canion and some of her neighbors discovered the 40-pound bodies of three of the animals over four days in July outside her ranch in Cuero, 90 miles southeast of San Antonio. Canion said she saved the head of the one she found so she could get to get to the bottom of its ancestry through DNA testing and then mount it for posterity.

Forstner said the testing provided an opportunity to demonstrate how science answers questions.

Chupacabra means "goat sucker" in Spanish, and it is said to have originated in Latin America, specifically Puerto Rico and Mexico.

"This is fun, not scary, but if people are worried about the chupacabra, it is probably even more important that we explain the mystery," he said. "Folks can fear what they don't understand, and a big part of the goal in science is to explain the natural world."

He said additional skin samples have been taken to try to determine the cause of the animal's hair loss.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071102/...r1rr92Zp.s0NUE