“Chupacabra” Killed
Posted by: Craig Woolheater on September 15th, 2013
A Mississippi man shot a strange creature he believes to be a chupacabra — a legendary creature that most experts believe to be nothing but a myth.
Matthew Harrell of Leake County killed the bizarre-looking animal Wednesday morning while “coon hunting” in a chicken coop.
“My neighbor said the creature had killed three of his chickens,” the 28-year-old told The Huffington Post. “I thought it was a coon at first.”
That opinion changed after he saw the bizarre animal’s red glowing eyes.
“This one just wasn’t lunging. He was down like a cat,” Harrell told WJTV-TV. “When I was standing right yonder, he hit right here. And I was seeing the teeth and red eyes. It looked like he was going to jump down there and i didn’t give him the chance.”
The animal Harrell shot is almost without hair and its nails are longer than what most dogs would have on its paws.
It’s unlike any other creature seen in the area.
Harrell and his neighbors believe the animal is a chupacabra, a so-called mythical creature that allegedly kills animals and then sucks their blood.
However, local animal officials told WJTV that it’s probably just a mangy dog or coyote.
Read the rest of the article here.
Co-founder of Cryptomundo in 2005.
I have appeared in or contributed to the following TV programs, documentaries and films:
OLN's Mysterious Encounters: "Caddo Critter", Southern Fried Bigfoot, Travel Channel's Weird Travels: "Bigfoot", History Channel's MonsterQuest: "Swamp Stalker", The Wild Man of the Navidad, Destination America's Monsters and Mysteries in America: Texas Terror - Lake Worth Monster, Animal Planet's Finding Bigfoot: Return to Boggy Creek and Beast of the Bayou.
Folks, as I’m no doubt sure some of you know this already, that is a coyote with severe mange.
Go Google mangy coyote and you will see images almost exactly the same right down to the blue tint in the skin. As for Mr. Harrrell’s assessment? I quote Forrest Gump, “That’s all I have to say about that.” There’s a better quote that Mr. Gump’s, Mama always said, but I’m not going there…
There should be a drive to educate people on the correct diagnosis of mange in domesticated and wild canines.
A DNA test should solve the question.
My problem with the “mangy coyote” argument is 1) behavior and 2) examples. Coyotes in my experience don’t charge. Little E may have cornered it, and that’s a different story, but the coyotes I’ve come across generally want nothing to do with adult humans. They will however go after children.
The second problem, is the “googling.” Most of the “mangy coyotes” are images of alleged chupacabra’s dismissed as mangy coyotes. So the fact that they look just like this animal is not surprising and not revealing.
Very interesting, I’ve been wondering if some kind of hybrid dog is out there. The range is the problem. Most of these things, if I recall, have been seen further west in states like Texas, so that could lend credence to the mangy coyote theory. Coyotes are found throughout the south and west and can have mange. A hybrid? Probably not that dispersed. But maybe.
As I expected, it’s just some dog (or coyote) with mange…. sigh.
And, I’ve seen dog nails even longer than that when not kept up with nail clippings. I had to laugh when I saw the length of those claws ‘longer than any dog’ because I have dogs, and have worked in grooming shops before…
It’s really embarrassing to the intelligent people interested in cryptozoology when these are the cryptid stories that make the news 🙁 It just makes it look like people who believe in unknown animals are a bunch of uneducated nuts who can’t tell a common dog from a monster.
Coyotes do attack humans. A hiker in Nova Scotia was attacked by a pack of them and died a few years ago. This carcass is a member of the canid genus. That is undeniable. Very likely coyote. The mange is severe and it appears to have been ill recently.
It is not a chupacabra because they do not exist. Ever seen a set of purported chupacabra tracks other than ones clearly made by dogs? I certainly haven’t.
A couple years or so back, a pair of coyote killed an 18-year-old healthy young woman in Canada. That would be KILLED. 18-y-o aren’t in the “children” class.
A cornered one attacking ANY human? Oh, I’d never corner one.
Coyote.
(Isn’t the singular “chupacabras”?)
Kirk and DWA are absolutely right. I have coyotes in my area now – Eastern PA. – almost in my backyard. They are actually coywolves, wolf/coyote hybrids and are larger and bolder than their Western counterparts. They are feasting here on road kill deer and other carcasses aplenty in my area. They will take pets if left unattended and will stalk people in parks for what they can get. Not unusual to see them at dusk stealthily patrolling the perimeters of properties and parks. We even saw them at the tree line during one of my soccer games this spring. The Nova Scotia story is absolutely true as I saw a Science Channel documentary on the incident. The young woman was stalked, confronted and she made a fatal error when dealing with canines…she panicked and ran triggering the pursuit impulse and they attacked and killed her. The animals were identified by photos taken by hikers just before and after the attack. The coywolves were shot and DNA testing proved they were the killers. I have yet to see a mangy coyote but I have seen foxes and raccoons with mange and if you are not aware of what you’re looking at, the sight can be shocking. The animal in the above article is a coyote/coywolf for sure. The dentition is a dead give-away. Scroll to end of the video and freeze the image on the almost entire carcass – that is a coywolf.
On a different note, Misters Hewharrel and Thompson should consider attending an English as a Second Language course. And just what is the idiot reporter trying to say by eating watermelon on camera?
DWA, you’re correct. And coyotes are all over North America now.
EVERYWHERE. How do coyotes get to Nova Scotia? The ferry?
Goodfoot;
Nova Scotia and New Brunswick are connected near Amherst. They could have easily crossed there or in fact, just trotted across via the Trans Canada Highway.
Here is another thought to ponder. The classic descriptions of the chupacabras bear no relation to the dead canines that are presented as such here in the states. For example; canine carcasses lack wing-like appendages, spines, fangs and large oval eyes. They are also routinely described as being bipedal. Very un-canine like. So I question the chupacabras connection every time a dead dog, mangy coyote or funny-looking fox turns up. I guess that faux news is better than no news.
I guess when you’re bone ignorant, every animal you can’t catalog is a “chupacabra” (sic). I’m personally sick and tired of it, but it’s not going away.
It looks a lot like the mangy fox I killed in my barn a couple of years ago.