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Texan rancher may have found head of mythical animal

Phylis Canion lived in Africa for four years. She has been a hunter all her life and has the mounted heads of a zebra and other exotic animals in her house to prove it.

But the roadkill she found in July outside her ranch was a new one even for her, worth putting in a freezer hidden from curious onlookers: Canion believes she may have the head of the mythical bloodsucking chupacabra.

Chupacabra means "goat sucker" in Spanish, and the animal is said to have originated in Latin America, specifically Puerto Rico and Mexico. Its name comes from the mammal's reported habit of attacking and drinking the blood of livestock, especially goats.

"It is one ugly creature," Canion said, holding the head of the animal with big ears, large fanged teeth and grayish-blue, mostly hairless skin.

Canion and some of her neighbors discovered the 18kg bodies of three of the animals over four days in July outside her ranch in Cuero, 145km southeast of San Antonio, Texas. Canion said she saved the head of the one she found so she can get to get to the bottom of its ancestry through DNA testing and then mount it for posterity.

She suspects that the animals may have killed up to 26 of her chickens in the last couple of years.

What tipped Canion to the possibility that this was no ugly coyote, but perhaps the legendary creature, is that the chickens were not eaten or carried off -- all the blood was drained from them, she said.

Canion said the finding has captured the imagination of locals, just like purported sightings of Bigfoot or the Loch Ness Monster.

But veterinarian Travis Schaar at a local animal hospital says what folks are calling a chupacabra is probably just a strange breed of dog.

"I'm not going to tell you that's not a chupacabra. I just think in my opinion a chupacabra is a dog," said Schaar, who has seen Canion's find.

He said the "chupacabras"could have all been part of a mutated litter of dogs, or that they may be a new kind of mutt.

As for the bloodsucking, he said that this particular canine may simply have a preference for blood, letting its prey bleed out and licking it up clean.
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