A Rosenberg man thinks he may have had the mythical animal in his possession for a couple of months.
Lynn Butler, owner of Butler’s Heads and Horns taxidermy company in Rosenberg, said his mother’s cousin found the creature dead in a barn near Cedar Lane in Brazoria County two-and-a-half to three months ago.
Being a taxidermist, Butler offered to take the animal, and kept it in a freezer until last weekend. He had intentions of mounting it, but made a deal with Jerry Ayer of Blanco, who Butler said “wanted it more than I did.”
Ayer, a taxidermist who taught Butler the craft, said Tuesday he plans to mount the animal.
“I don’t know what it is. I’m just calling it (chupacabra) because everyone else is,” he said. “I mount 15 to 20 coyotes every year and I’ve never seen anything like this. It’s front legs are a little longer than usual and it’s completely hairless and black.”
Butler said the critter weighs about 35 pounds and he delivered it to Ayer Saturday.
When his cousin found the animal, said Butler, “they drew blood and sent it to A&M, but they haven’t heard anything back yet.”
Chupacabra gets its name from the Spanish words chupar, meaning “to suck”, and cabra, meaning “goat”; literally “goat sucker”. The legendary animal is rumored to inhabit parts of the North and South America and reportedly attacks livestock, sucking dry the blood. It is described as everything from a heavy animal, the size of a small bear, to a hairless mix of dog, rat and kangaroo.
Drs. Sharon Moore and Julie Duty of Rose-Rich Veterinary Clinic in Richmond examined the photos of the alleged chupacabra, and both said the animal has normal canine adult teeth that are very clean, indicating a young canine, over 6 months but likely less than 2 years old.
“The fangs are somewhat long, like those of a coyote, rather than the usual length of domestic dog teeth,” said Duty. “The face is very fox- or coyote-like and if examined physically could prove to be a fox; but the body is likely that of a young adult coyote or dog with severe mange and thus hairless.”
“The body is emaciated, although coyotes are very rangy and slim in their build, and are often not as large as commonly thought,” added Moore. “That animal’s face is a little bit long and pointy for a dog, although there are dogs that are very fox-like in their appearance.”
As for Butler, he said the creature “looks like a dog with no hair.”
“I guess they started calling it ‘chupacabra’ when I took it to Blanco,” he said. “I can’t say it’s a chupacabra. I can’t say it’s a coyote. All I can say is, it’s a freak of nature.”
Originally posted 2009-09-02 21:24:29.
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