What is the chupacabra?
The chupacabra is a cryptid said to attack goats and other livestock and suck their blood through small holes in the neck. Its name means “goat-sucker” in Spanish.
The 1995 Puerto Rico panic
In 1995, on the Caribbean island of Puerto Rico, livestock carcasses that seemed to have been drained of blood were found one after another, causing an uproar over a “monster.” Witnesses described a gray creature standing on two legs, with large eyes and a row of spines along its back. The rumor then spread to Mexico, South America and the southern United States.
What is the chupacabra really?
When animals claimed to be “chupacabra carcasses” in the United States and elsewhere were examined, most turned out to be coyotes, feral dogs or raccoons that had lost their fur to mange, a skin disease. It has also been pointed out that the earliest eyewitness descriptions closely resemble the monster in a science-fiction film released the same year. The wounds on livestock are thought to have been caused by attacks from feral dogs and similar animals.
