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
Has a mythical
creature made its way to Kentucky
Some people seem to
think so after a Nelson
County
Mark Cothren shot and
killed an animal on December 18.
He said the animal
walked from the woods onto his Lebanon
"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
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.
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Cothren
says he has spoken with the state Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources
and is preserving the animal to hand over to them.
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