In
October, 2004 in Pollack, TX, a wounded and dying animal that could only be
identified as a candid (coyote, dog, fox, wolf or other
member of the dog [Canidae] family) was photographed by a East Texas woman.
(photo, right) Described as "having an almost blue-like skin, a noticeable
overbite, poorly structured hind legs that are longer than the front legs, thick
claw-like nails, and as having virtually no hair on its body. The bone structure
was similar to that of a dog and several reports indicated the weight to be
around 20 pounds.". After authorities immediately poo-poohed that it was a not
yet identified species with "it was a coyote with Mange", the woman who
photographed it said, "It's not a dog, I'd bet my lottery ticket on that." In July of 2004, a rancher in Elmendorf, TX killed a similar blue skinned canid (photo, top left) after losing 35 of his chickens on night. He said "It had a hair pattern down the ridge of the back about 1 to 2 inches long," As the Express News reported, "Wildlife biologist Brian Mesenbrink, with the San Antonio office of the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, saw the pictures and declared it was a coyote with mange."
The "mystery beast" is rumored to be the embodiment of the mythical "El Chupacabra". Defined as "the goat sucker" in Spanish, the term was coined after a rash of exsanguinations (blood drainings) of goats in Cuba in 1994. (FYI: this odd phenomena was originally was called 'the Moca Vampire' after similar incidents in Puerto Rico in 1975) A unidentified creature was said to be spotted, and ever since the occasional El Chupacabra sighting has been reported in the southern US and other countries south of the border, as well as many unexplained exsanguination deaths of fowl, cattle and dogs. The oddity of the death lies in the fact that whatever is killing them isn't interested in eating the flesh. Some claim that, besides the characteristic puncture wounds to the large blood vessels of the neck, the internal organs have somehow "disappeared", without any other wounds besides the small teeth marks. This has given rise to the theory that "El Chupacabra" might be some sort of alien entity. I, however, always like to lean on the side of crypto zoology. I really do believe that there are some animals wily enough to (wisely) stay the hell away from people at all times. But that's just me.
Some of the aspects of the stereotypical Chupacabra, according to "elchupacabra.com", is that it walks on hind legs like a biped, sometimes likened to a "kangaroo hop", and is gray or green in color.
Quick to disqualify any notion that something might exist that he isn't a world class expert on, Dr. James Wright of the State Health Services Zoonosis Control Division in Tyler, TX claimed that he could explain away the multiple abnormalities that would alter this, erm.. "Coyote With The Mange". "Poor nutrition" was said to cause the abnormally long toenails, "genetic malformation" was said to cause the tremendous overbite (the canine teeth were longer than any known mammal would have, proportionately speaking), and scabies (sarcoptes mange) or demodectic mange were said to have caused the hair loss.
I wonder why none of these experts addressed the fact that it was FUCKING BLUE!! PRIOR TO LIVER MORTIS IT WAS FUCKING INDIGO BLUE!! I may not be Steve Irwin or Marlin Perkins, but I haven't heard of a lot of blue skinned coyotes. Oh, and sorry about the F bombs I threw a minute ago.
There were no efforts made to identify the animal other than to look at the photographs. "But Peg! (you say...) Couldn't they have definitively identified the species with a simple DNA test and squelched any controversy instantly?"