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Has a Mythical Beast Turned Up in Texas?
By ELIZABETH WHITE (Associated Press Writer)
From Associated Press
September 01, 2007 3:32 AM EDT
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."