Sunday, July 11, 2010

Chupacabra! Or, Attack of the Giant Chihuahua! Or, Beware of Mutant Raccoon

"Chupacabra-like animals turn up in Hood County"
WFAA (July 10, 2010)

"A small North Texas community is getting stirred up about some mysterious animals roaming around.

"Two creatures have been killed in three days, near farms, only a few miles apart. Some are calling them chupacabras; even animal control officers are unsure what they are...."

"...'From a distance, he looked like a hairless chihuahua, only much bigger,' [David] Hewitt said...."

"...In January, another unusual creature was found in Wise County on the Runaway Bay golf course. Experts said it was a hairless raccoon that had lost its coat due to a congenital defect - not disease."

I think the WFAA reporter who wrote the story came about as close as any to identifying the bothersome animals, calling them "varmints."

Mr. Hewitt said that the claws or toenails weren't anything like those of a coyote, and that the animal looked more like a possum. I've no reason to doubt what he says.

On the other hand, as cool as thinking it could be a chupacabra: my guess is that the mutant raccoon explanation is (much) nearer the mark.

Unless chupacabras are defective raccoons. Or, maybe, a rare and normally-reclusive animal - that "experts" have somehow missed in their studies of mammals of this continent. That's possible: but I don't think it's very likely. There have been too many people, living too close together, for too many generations, for even a really, really shy animal to remain anonymous for that long.

Related posts, about strange critters:

2 comments:

Brigid said...

Especially one with all the strange descriptions that chupacabras have gotten over the years. Apparently some of them have bat wings and are the size of an average dog.

Brian H. Gill said...

Brigid,

Too true. A dog-size carnivore is one thing - a bat-winged one is another. Those would have to be (literally) incredibly big wings.

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