Mystery Hairless Beast Bagged

This looks like a doubly unfortunate raccoon so far and the previous beasty whose image we have seen may also be some other unfortunate.  None of these critters are even slightly convincing as a blood sucker or the so called Chupacabra.  For that I am becoming more convinced that the only prospect is a giant version of the vampire bat whose distribution is low making actual occurrences rare but dramatic.

Certainly the smaller versions are about and easily studied and fit the behavior pattern.  Gigantism would appear a natural evolutionary step which has occurred with most species.  The necessary game has always been available and the losses of cattle give us a fair idea of the size of the attacker.

A separate issue is the full loss of fur on this and on other victims.  I am not too comfortable with the mange story and we are possibly dealing with a nasty disease as yet unidentified.

Man bags backyard mystery beast

Posted: Dec 23, 2010 12:11 PM PSTUpdated: Dec 23, 2010 12:11 PM PST

 http://www.nbc-2.com/Global/story.asp?S=13734548

Has a mythical creature made its way to Kentucky?

Some people seem to think so after a Nelson County man came across a creature with grayish, wrinkly skin and no fur.

Mark Cothren shot and killed an animal on December 18.

He said the animal walked from the woods onto his Lebanon Junction front yard around 3 p.m.

"I was like: 'Every animal has hair, especially this time of year!' What puzzled me is how something like that could survive through a winter with no hair," Cothren said.  Everybody is getting very curious, you know. The phone is ringing off the hook. It's kind of a mystery right now."

Cothren described the creature as having large ears, whiskers, a long tail, and about the size of a house cat.

He says many people have tried to guess what the animal may be.

He said he's heard anything from raccoon to a dog to the legendary Chupacabras.

"Everybody is leaning kind of toward that - it's the Chupacabras! People have come up to me saying 'That's what the thing is 'cause I pulled it up on the Internet'" Cothren laughed.

Legend has it the Chupacabras - also known as the "Goat Sucker" - kills goats and sucks their blood.

The fabled creature has supposedly been spotted in South America, Mexico, Puerto Rico, as well as Texas and Oklahoma.

"It's hard to judge what an animal is from just a photograph," said Sam Clites with the Louisville Zoo.

Clites say he would have to see the animal in person to study it and determine its species.

At first glance, he believed the animal could be a raccoon or a dog, but not a mythical creature

"This is an animal that's native to our area, most likely that is suffering from some type disease," Clites said.

Clites says it isn't uncommon for an animal with a severe disease to lose fur and look unrecognizable.

Cothren says he has spoken with the state Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources and is preserving the animal to hand over to them.