Kentucky 'Chupacabra' Identified

Not so fast, of course.  As I posted, this particular critter is a raccoon and that has now been confirmed.  More importantly we are observing hairless critters and this largely authenticates the hairless coyote we have examples of.  Perhaps we can now rid ourselves of these stand ins for the Chupacabra mystery.

A Chupacabra feeds on blood.  Coyotes, dogs and raccoons explicitly do not.  The hairless mystery is not a mystery blood sucker.

The Chupacabra conforms plausibly to a large vampire bat whose smaller cousins do exist.  It also conforms to the sculptures of gargoyles, likely modeled on a dead specimen.

The existence of such critters answers the cattle mutilation problem and other incidents that have come into the record.  Rare eye witness reports again confirm a bat like creature, large in size, but still within the aerodynamic envelope.

As I have posted before we were down to two mysteries rather than one and one of those is now solved.

Scientists Solve Chupacabra Mystery

Animal Shot In Nelson County Not Legendary Chupacabra

By Ann Bowdan/WLKY

POSTED: 3:32 pm EST January 3, 2011

http://www.wlwt.com/r/26354817/detail.html

FRANKFORT, Ky. -- Biologists have anatomically confirmed that a hairless animal shot by a man in Nelson County nearly two weeks ago is not a chupacabra.

Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife officials said the hairless animal is actually a hairless raccoon.

The mythical chupacabra has been a mystery since 1995, with sightings reported all over the United States, from Texas to Maine. The legend says the elusive dog-like creature attacks livestock, bleeding them dry of blood -- their favorite being goats.

Despite the identification, scientists are still interested in studying the animal further because this kind of hairless animal is becoming more common in Kentucky.

Scientists have taken samples from the Nelson County animal to send for further study at an outside laboratory.

Biologists said the animal has a skin disorder causing it to have no hair.

Many animals suspected to be chupacabras in the West turned out to be coyotes with mange, scientists said. In Kentucky, wildlife officials said those hairless animals are usually raccoons suffering from a skin disorder similar to the Nelson County raccoon.