Chupacabra in The News Again

The almost mythical creature called chupacabra is rumored to be a living cryptozoological creature that drinks the blood of small animals, like goats. Sightings in Puerto Rico in the mid 1990s especially have inflamed interest in this legendary beast whom has more recently been said also live in Mexico and the United States as far north as the state of Maine. Biologists however view this cryptid with a critical eye saying that the witnesses must have mistaken what they saw for some other known animal, usually a sick coyote is cited. I am hoping it’s not another Montauk Monster Hoax again. I want to believe.

Part Myth, Mostly Monster

The Chupacabra is said by witnesses to be reptile-like in appearance, with greenish pale skin with scales, red glowing eyes and a pronounced spine running the length of its back. Others say that it more resembles a canine with an elongated head, naked of fur and having long teeth especially of the lower jaw. Witness testimony varies so widely that one might think immediately that there are falsehoods (which is likely, even if unintentionally so) or two entirely different species being described.

Science is hesitant to believe the eye-witness testimony of sighting of this creature and dismiss the killed livestock as the work of other more common predators. Certainly, the chupacabra being featured in an episode of the Sci-Fi/Mystery television series “The X-Files” only makes acknowledging the possible existence of this potentially unrecorded creature all the more difficult to accept.

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It is rather a curious fact that the first reported livestock attacks began only very recently, as recent as March 1995 in Puerto Rico. Here, sheep were killed and each had what appeared to be three puncture wounds in the chest, and all were said to be drained of blood would be a speculative assessment. The body of a chupacabra victim has yet to be examined by a qualified animal biologist and make that determination.

The suddenness of the event suggests something other than a natural predator. If the predator had been localised all along, there should have been some evidence of its existence long before the first reported case began in 1995. Or perhaps, something this is something not native to the island that had emigrated, had either escaped a facility where it was being held and secretly studied, or was intentionally released. There are collectors whom secretly import dangerous wildlife indigenous to other places into ‘private zoos’ or wildlife preserves. These owners would be reluctant to report an escaped, illegally-obtained animal formerly in their possession to authorities.