Texas Trapper Claims to Have Captured “Chupacabra”
OutdoorHub Reporters 04.07.14
One Texas couple claims to have trapped the legendary chupacabra, a mythical beast that drains blood from livestock. According to KAVU, Ratfliffe resident Jackie Stock said her husband caught the strange animal on March 30 and kept it in a cage on their property, but later had it euthanized because the couple believed the creature to be suffering.
“He called me to come and look, and I said ‘Bubba that looks like a baby chupacabra,’” Stock said.
Some speculate that the animal is in fact a diseased raccoon, like Livescience columnist Benjamin Radford. Chupacabra sightings in the Southern United States are not unusual. Experts have attributed many of these cases to sarcoptic mange, which can cause animals like coyotes and dogs to lose their hair.
A similar chupacabra sighting occurred in Mississippi last year when a hunter shot an aggressive coyote with the disease, which is caused by burrowing mites. According to Brent Ortego, a biologist with the Texas Parks and Wildlife department, Stock’s catch may be a similar case.
“The animal in the cage as best I can tell from the view is some sort of a small canine,” he said.
But he is not sure. A Dewitt County game warden told ABC7 that its behavior resembled that of a raccoon’s and that it might be dangerous to pets or livestock. The animal was kept on a diet of cat food and corn before it was taken to a local shelter to put down.
You can see a video of the creature below:
