Residents report sightings of “El Chupacabra”

 

An unusual animal has been spotted around the town of Picayune, Mississippi and some residents believe the creature resembles the legendary Chupacabra. The legend of “El Chupacabra” (literal translation: “goat sucker”) dates back to the 1970’s and began with reports of the animal drinking the blood of livestock.

As reported by WLOX News, Jennifer Whitfeld was with her son Justin when they saw the creature near their home and managed to capture the incident on video. Justin told WLOX, “Well it was just behind there, we were coming back from a boat trip and then, we didn’t know what it was. Well I didn’t.” Jennifer had a colorful description of what she witnessed saying, "If a zombie had a dog, it would look like that." Nearby, Amanda Denton also spotted the animal and said, "I kept looking up ‘hairless coyote,' and it kept saying ‘Chupacabra.’ And so then we have been running back and forth to the car, our cars because we didn't want the Chupacabra to get us." Caroline Cooper, a third neighbor saw the unidentified animal and reported, "My dad said that it was a ‘Squatch Dog' because he's obsessed with watching ‘Finding Bigfoot.'”
The Cooper family decided to call the Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries, and Parks (MDWFP) for their expertise. Master Sergeant David Burnette said, "The way they described it to me, it’s a coyote really bad awful with mange,” adding, “It's probably sick, weak, and it’s not able to hunt on its own, so it's going to the nearest food source it can find." The animal is most likely staying alive by foraging garbage and pet food and drinking from a stream in the small town. Caleb Miller of the MDWFP said that the animal does not need to be considered a threat and advises, “They need to be aware just to leave it alone and stay away from him and just let nature take its course.”