Chupacabra caught?

[Domitan]

http://www.click2houston.com/news/4895017/detail.html


A Texas farmer may have found what some would call a "chupacabra," a legendary animal known for sucking the blood out of goats.

Reggie Lagow set a trap last week after a number of his chickens and turkeys were killed.

What he found in his trap was a mix between a hairless dog, a rat and a kangaroo.

The mystery animal has been sent to Texas Parks and Wildlife in hopes of determining what it is.
---------------

This was found on the front page of RawStory, which doesn't run amok with fanciful stories. Before anyone kneejerks and scoffs at this, just consider this on the same level as the coelacanth fish story (fish species believe to be extinct millions of years ago, but found off South Africa in 1938). If scientists can determine this as a unique and previously unknown species, that's one big score for cutting edge zoology (as well as for cryptozoology). So who knows...there could be the possibility of the chupacabra being the real thing!...BUT without the mystical and paranormal dressings. Just a natural species that was previously unknown and yet inspired many fantastical stories. Still within natural boundaries.

[BlueEyedSon]

1. a mutant fox?

Ill-tempered, of course!

[BlueEyedSon]

28. Chinese Crested?

[cornermouse]

2. Poor thing.

I consider traps to be quite cruel.

[The Backlash Cometh]

3. What I find most peculiar about it, is that it's white.

I wish I could find out if it's an albino. For a species like this to go undetected, it must be nocturnal and it must have other characteristics that would keep its existence unknown. Like fur that would blend with the darkness. Not white. I'm guessing that if it was born an albino, it may have been rejected from the pack, which explains why it would resort to easy prey, like chickens and turkeys?

[cornermouse]

5. That's its skin.

Its been shaved.

[SaveAmerica]

16. It has no fur, the description says it's hairless

"What he found in his trap was a mix between a hairless dog, a rat and a kangaroo".

[cornermouse]

27. I know baloney when I see it.

And how about all that blood from the poor critter all over the grass... Sick is the only word that fits.

[Conservativesux]

31. Did he find a Jackalope too ?

:)

[AlienGirl]

35. The fur has fallen out due to mange. nt

[AlienGirl]

34. The skin of most dogs is near-white under the fur. nt

[The Backlash Cometh]

38. Does that look like skin to you?

It almost looks like curled lamb's wool.

[AlienGirl]

43. Well, yes, it does

It looks like partially-denuded skin with lots of wrinkles, and with some of the light undercoat still clinging to it.

Tucker

[pinniped]

4. Paris Hilton's dog Tinkerbell.

.

[HereSince1628]

6. It does look odd...a new species of mammal this big in the US

would indeed be surprising.

Thanks for the pic. I can see why in this pic might be thought to look like a hairless dog and kangaroo, but I don't yet see the rat.

I wish I could see the front legs. Birth defects happen to all species, so it could be a "monstrosity" of some kind.

[Domitan]

9. Let's hope this is more interesting than the bison hair and Sasquatch

There were Sasquatch "sightings" a while ago, and hair was found...but it was only old bison hair.

[bklyncowgirl]

7. Looks like a scrawny shaved mutt to me nt

[HereSince1628]

8. Yes, but wouldn't you agree it seems to have a rather long tail

for a typical dog? Seems so to me, but I know a lot more about worms than canids.

[okasha]

41. Probable Photoshop

It's hard to tell on the screen, but it looks to me as if the tail has been lengthened in two places with the clone tool. If you look carefully, you can see where the edges are blurred.

[mrfrapp]

10. Location?

Isn't the Chupacabras a creature from Puerto Rico? Why would this Texas creature be the Chupacabras?

[Domitan]

12. It's not exclusive to Puerto Rico

It's a legendary creature claimed by those in Latin America (Central & South America)...but Texas counts too ;)

[theHandpuppet]

11. Grey fox with mange

Poor thing was probably suffering.

[Bucky]

13. It's shaved. I've seen those animals all over Texas before (pictured here)

It's not a cupacabra, it's the equally rare, but well known vicious carnivore called "cheneycabra".

They don't drink cow blood, but they do grow rich off of soldier blood.

[unrepuke]

15. At first I thought it might be a Chupacheney, but that might

more accurately be called a Gannonote ? Also known to have shaved parts and claim pure whiteness, I do believe.

;-)

[Dogmudgeon]

25. I think it's a rare and feared Thylasshole

Sadly, they are not extinct, and not confined to Tasmania.

--p!

[Domitan]

50. Reminds me of the urban legend about the microwave and the dog

Same breed!

[Stewie]

14. Looks like a dead or mange-ravaged coyote

Or one that's been dead for a while and placed in the trap. The tails are pretty long, and if it's dry enough the hair will fall out before the body seriously decays.

[MuseRider]

22. That is what I thought too.

Since the farmers/ranchers of Texas and Oklahoma introduced mange into the coyote population many years ago we it has spread to coyotes up here in Kansas. It is disgusting to watch them suffer and when winter comes they die, quite a few in my back pasture. This is what they look like. The last few years our coyotes have been looking healthier thankfully.

[IADEMO2004]

17. How can anyone write a story lke this and keep their job?

Kangaroo?

[alarimer]

18. Sounds like a hoax

more bullshit about a non-existent creature. get real.

[RSchewe]

40. haha, and next thing you know a Sasquatch corpse will be found n/t

[DanCa]

19. Look at the neck, than look at the body.

It almost looks photoshop, but I can't figure anything out anymore.

[okasha]

20. Hoax

I've seen this photo before--a couple years ago, if I recall correctly. The poor thing is a dog with a bad case of mange.

[DanCa]

21. welcome to du okasha

:hi:

[okasha]

37. Thanks, DanCa!

I've been around for a while, just kind of quiet. :)

I had a student once who swore her uncle had actually seen a chupacabra. It only took a six-pack and a half of Tecate to make it visible to human eyes.

[MidnightWind]

23. Yep--I've seen this exact photo before too.

Looks like a hoax to me.

[Orangepeel]

26. the story also shows the other photo, from a few years back

Photo #5 in their slideshow

http://www.click2houston.com/slideshow//news//4894979/detail.html?qs=;s=5;p=/news/;dm=ss;w=400 (I'm having trouble linking directly to the picture)

Could still be a hoax, of course (there has been more than one bigfoot sighting), but it is a different picture.

on edit: here's the other photo, from wikipedia.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Chupatexas704.jpg

on edit again. Now it's an x. Oh, well. I'm done trying.

[Dogmudgeon]

24. There has been at least one other similar find

I think it was last year, or maybe 2003 -- a weird-looking critter that was originally identified as a Thylacine, or "Tasmanian Tiger", a now-extinct marsupial dog.

I never got the connection between these Texas anomalies the stories of the Chupacabra. But if this is a newly-discovered animal, it certainly is cool stuff. (I wonder how long it will take before they start being sold in pet shops?)

--p!

[-..__...]

29. Hoax...

They caught the real chupacabra a few months ago.

[Domitan]

30. Yow!

That's one nasty mofo!

[gulliver]

32. This is Cheney's soul.

[alfredo]

46. they say that people pick dogs that resemble them in some

respect.

I'd hate to see the owner of that dog.

[AlienGirl]

33. Coyote or fox with fatal mange

There has been a terrible epidemic of mange among the wild canids in the Southwest. Not long ago there was a video of another "mystery animal" in Texas--it was said to look like a hyena, and again there was speculation about it being el chupacabras, but it was a fox with severe mange.

Tucker

[okasha]

48. It's a domestic dog.

Coyote and fox both have long, narrow muzzles. This poor creature has a (relatively) short, blunt muzzle with a wide nose pad.

[Carni]

36. That is one very unattractive creature

I love animals but even I wouldn't want to see that guy cruising around my yard... ACK!

[RSchewe]

39. LMAO, This is the weirdest strory I have ever heard.

The story is like an old wives' tale among many and it is fascinating what this story claims.

[bmbmd]

42. The Coleman High School football team?

The "Blue Cats". I posit that this is a "Blue Cat".

[AlienGirl]

44. Compare to this coyote, also dying of mange:

The coyote in this picture was not as badly afflicted as the coyote in the OP because it was shot at an earlier stage of mange.

Tucker

[Domitan]

49. Very good comparison

c'mon, zoologists, giddy up with those lab analyses!!!

[xultar]

45. Poor thing is a Fox. Mange ridden fox.

[Cocoa]

47. but Clinton's penis is still at large

:scared:

[screembloodymurder]

51. It's just a coyote w/ mange.

It's front paws are folded under it's body.

[Maestro]

52. That is an old picture

I've seen that circulating for years. Where did you find it?

[Must_B_Free]

53. THis is the old picture

and if you had followed the link at all before dismissing it, you would have seen it yourself.

[Maestro]

54. The story of Chupacabras started in Puerto Rico

in the mid 80's, at least that is when I first heard of it. Nothing ever has come of it and people in Puerto Rico have claimed to have caught it as well, but, as usual, it turned out to be nothing. I am curious, if not a little cynical, to see what the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department says.

[allalone]

55. looks to me like elmer fudd has

killed himself a starving dog. and in what looks like a pretty nasty way

[allalone]

56. amimal rescue shows in animal planet show critters like this

that they locate everyday.