April 10, 2010
Recent examples demonstrate that “Chupacabra” images like the above are here to stay!
Okay, okay, I give up.
I shall officially acknowledge that if a mangy canid (e.g. dog, coyote, fox) or a mangy procyonid (e.g. raccoon, coati, kinkajou, olingo, ringtail, cacomistle) becomes the focus of a North American media story (especially in the USA and Mexico), it probably is, nine times out of ten, going to be called a “Chupacabra,” without the “s.” (Recent events have also shown us that civets and sloths, without hair, will be called “Chupacabra” by the news organizations and blogs.)
If a news item, book, or blog more correctly discusses a classic “Chupacabras,” or a group of “Chupacabras,” that piece, no doubt, more often than not, is about the traditional bipedal, furry, little beasts from Puerto Rico, elsewhere in the Caribbean, Latin America or South America.
On Friday, there was published a new account of a “Chupacabra” seen in Michigan. The source was the CBS radio station, WWJ – 950 in Michigan.
Friday, 09 April 2010
Chupacabra Sighting?
Ann Arbor (WWJ) — This is causing a stir in Washtenaw County: reported sightings of a so-called Chupacabra.
Several people in the Ann Arbor area have reported seeing what they describe as combination of a dog and some other animal. One man tells AnnArbor.com that he saw the animal walk across Huron River Drive. He described it as a hairless pit bull, only longer and taller.
According to myth, el Chupacabra is a dog-beast hybrid that sucks the blood of goats — and is most commonly reported in Texas.
A University of Michigan mammal expert says the creepy-looking animal in Washtenaw County is probably a dog or coyote with a bad case of mange.
The unfortunate result of such a decision on my part, however, is that there is no way I will be comparing a “Chupacabra” with Jennifer Lopez. (See my 2005 thoughts, here.)
“Chupacabras: It’s sort of like Jennifer Lopez, kind of cross-cultural.” – Loren Coleman, as quoted by ABC News, 1999.
Thank You.
About Loren Coleman
Loren Coleman is one of the world’s leading cryptozoologists, some say “the” leading living cryptozoologist. Certainly, he is acknowledged as the current living American researcher and writer who has most popularized cryptozoology in the late 20th and early 21st centuries.
Starting his fieldwork and investigations in 1960, after traveling and trekking extensively in pursuit of cryptozoological mysteries, Coleman began writing to share his experiences in 1969. An honorary member of Ivan T. Sanderson’s Society for the Investigation of the Unexplained in the 1970s, Coleman has been bestowed with similar honorary memberships of the North Idaho College Cryptozoology Club in 1983, and in subsequent years, that of the British Columbia Scientific Cryptozoology Club, CryptoSafari International, and other international organizations. He was also a Life Member and Benefactor of the International Society of Cryptozoology (now-defunct).
Loren Coleman’s daily blog, as a member of the Cryptomundo Team, served as an ongoing avenue of communication for the ever-growing body of cryptozoo news from 2005 through 2013. He returned as an infrequent contributor beginning Halloween week of 2015.
Coleman is the founder in 2003, and current director of the International Cryptozoology Museum in Portland, Maine.
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