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A string of livestock mass-killings by an unidentified creature has struck fear into Russian farmers. A number of towns from Chelyabinsk in central Russian to the Moscow region have suffered, with the death toll from the latest attack reaching 30. Farmer Vasily Velikodnev found the butchered sheep in their fold on a September morning in Kolomna region, some 100 km south of Moscow. He was immediately struck by the manner of the killings. According to the farmer, the tendons in the sheep’s back were ripped, in order “to cut their arteries and suck out their blood” – a trademark of...

With its blue hairless body, rounded ears and scarily sharp teeth, this strange creature has been creating quite a stir. Shot dead by a Mississippi homeowner, it has re-opened the debate as to the very existence of the mythical chupacabra - which is said to hunt livestock by sucking the blood out of animals. Truitt Barnard, who gunned the beast down in his Simpson County garden after spying it from 130 yards, said: 'Strangest animal I've ever seen. I've been hunting 50 years. 'It had a long face, no hair, red rough hide, his ears were rounded, and had double...

It may not be not the Loch Ness monster or Bigfoot, but a mysterious-looking creature seen near a hospital in Maryland has now been identified. The animal--which possessed the different characteristics of a rat, coyote and deer--was trapped last week, and a Maryland Department of Natural Resources official identified it as a fox with mange, The Washington Post reported. "Like all wild animals, especially canine species, people should avoid feeding or otherwise attempting to befriend this critter," wrote Paul Peditto, director of DNR's Wildlife and Heritage Service, in an email. "Mange affects a portion of most wild fox populations and...

Workers at Maryland's Prince George's Hospital Center have adopted a mythical creature as their new mascot. The creature has been spotted in the woods where smokers take breaks since the hospital banned smoking June 1st, but no one knows what the animal is, so they've named it Prince Chupa, after the chupacabras - the legendary cryptid rumored to exist in parts of the Americas and suck the blood of livestock. "It's a kangaroo, dog, rat mixed," X-ray technician Joe Livermore said. "It's got a rat tail and a head like a deer. I don't know what it is." People started...

Two days after Minnesota Department of Natural Resources officials brought in a mystery carcass, found in rural Douglas County, no positive identification has been made. D.N.R. Area Wildlife Supervisor Kevin Kotts said Friday that after examining the remains, there are no clear signs of it not being a badger, however its longer tail is inconsistent with badgers he has seen. Kotts said there are clear signs that the animal was hit on the road, suffering skull fractures, but an intact jaw could help determine a positive identification. He said he expects fur trappers who have more experience with local mammals...

A blood-sucking creature is preying upon goats near Novosibirsk. As rational explanations run thin on the ground, the specter of the so-called chupacabra raises its demon head. Horrified farmers and smallholders are confronted by the drained corpses of their livestock in the morning, bloodless and bearing puncture marks to the neck but otherwise largely in tact. But local cops are reluctant to record apparent vampire attacks, as they await official recertification, leaving the locals up in arms. Blood-suckers “If this creature is not stopped it could make its way to Novosibirsk! Only our police force are doing jack-diddly about it,”...

A Texas teen is claiming he shot and killed a real live chupacabra, but many biologists suspect the hairless animals are in fact sick coyotes or another wild animal. Across an open field in Texas, Carter Pope spotted a strange animal. "It just walked across and started shaking, slowly moving across," Pope said. "No hair on it at all, the back legs were shriveled up, and I honestly think it was a chupacabra." Pope said he ran to his parents' room to wake up his dad to come see what he had discovered. "I thought, 'I'm dreaming or this kid...

A teenager in Texas says he shot what may be a chupacabra. Carter Pope, 13, told KPRC in Houston he woke up Sunday in La Salle, Texas, and saw a strange animal. "Something slowly came across and started shaking, slowly moving across," Carter said. "It was gray, no hair at all. I thought 'That's a chupacabra.'"

Photos he snapped behind his house in Lake Jackson, Texas ended up on the front page of his local newspaper with this headline: “Chupacabra reportedly spotted in Lake Jackson.” The photos show a gray, hairless dog slinking away through tall, green grass. But Crabtree, a retired wildlife biologist, says he was only joking when he sent the photos to The Facts. He thinks what he saw was a coyote with a bad case of mange. “It was a spoof or practical joke,” Crabtree told the paper in a follow-up article Tuesday. “I really didn’t believe it.” Too bad for Crabtree,...

Benjamin Radford, author of several books on monsters and paranormal phenomena, managing editor of the journal The Skeptical Inquirer and LiveScience columnist, has released what he says to be definitive proof that El Chupacabra is not real; it's not even a hoax, he said, but rather a leftover memory of a science-fiction film.

<p>The legendary chupacabra has been spied, shot and killed -- will bigfoot be next?</p> <p>A man in Kentucky found a strange, hairless creature prowling his front lawn December 18, a critter he believes to be the mythical chupacabra, a beast from Hispanic folklore supposedly known for attacking goats and other livestock (chupacabra means "goat sucker" in Spanish).</p>

BERWICK, Louisiana (WVLA) - A deer hunter captures a spooky image wandering through the Louisiana woods at night. A hunter near Baton Rouge says he found this freaky photo on his deer stand camera. The hunting camera was broken but the memory card was still there and so was this bizarre image. It looks like a cross between a human and an animal, with long slender appendages and glowing eyes. The hunter says he just hopes it's a vegetarian, if he runs into it in the woods again.

Chupacabra Mystery Solved By Jennifer Viegas Halloween stories about the ghostly "chupacabra" circulate every year, but now scientists have solved the mystery surrounding this legendary animal. Instead of being vicious, fanged creatures that supposedly drink the blood of livestock, chupacabras turn out to be wild dogs inflicted with a deadly form of mange, according to University of Michigan biologist Barry OConnor. (Scientists believe legendary chupacabras monsters are actually coyotes with severe cases of mange, like the animal pictured here. Credit: Dan Pence) The myth about chupacabras, also known as goatsuckers, started after reports of livestock attacks in Puerto Rico and...

(English-language translation) The chupacabras does exist but is not a monster; rather, a diminutive attacker that turns a wild and harmless animal into an ugly and disturbed species, University of Michigan biologist Bary O'Connor maintained. In an article published in Skeptic magazine, the specialist explains that the real culprit behind cattle deaths is a small, eight-legged creature that, upon biting species such as coyotes, causes a mange that transforms them. He recalled that the existence of the chupacabras was first mentioned in Puerto Rico after dead sheep were found with sharp wounds and carcasses completely drained of blood. Similar reports...

It's a mysterious animal that most say is mythical, but for one Mission man, the creature is no myth. "It's kind of a weird animal," said Frank Lozano. "It's a different animal." Lozano said Thursday afternoon around 3:30 p.m., a so called "chupacabra" made its way onto his property. "I saw him," said Lozano. "He never ran." Lozano said he saw the animal come through a gate and that's when he ran, got the gun and shot the animal. From there, Lozano dragged the carcass closer to his home where his neighbors and friends could get a good look at...

(Sept. 2) -- Shepherds in Mexico are up in arms -- or heads, as the case may be -- over a rash of beheadings inflicted on their goats, and many people are blaming the legendary predator known as the chupacabra. Over the past two months, more than 300 goats owned by shepherds in Mexico's Puebla state have been decapitated by someone, or something, that hasn't yet been tracked down. According to various reports, Felix Martinez, president of Colonia San Martin, recently stated that nearly 40 goats were killed near his municipality. Strangely, there was reportedly very little evidence of blood...

A large and mysterious creature is ripping apart cattle in a small village of Ecuador. Although the original article is in Spanish, Google translation tries its best to translate it to English, but fails. So I will paraphrase. The small community of “La Cuadra” (The block) has seen multiple cattle mutilated and torn apart by something powerful. The ghastly findings are out of the ordinary, even for local known predators. The residents concluded that what ever it is that has killed steer and cows, it’s powerful enough to rip them apart and leave huge, deep prints with large claws in...

A group of teens in Tecumseh make an unusual sighting. The group now wonders if they ran across the legendary chupacabra. The kids claim to have spotted the unique creature in the woods behind Tecumseh High School. A cell phone picture of the mystery animal backs up their story. "It's got long back legs and it's front legs are small. It has a long tail and doesn't have any fur," said Ryan Craighead. An internet search of "chupacabra" turns up some interesting images of reptilian sci-fi creatures. Wildlife experts say the chupacabra is an unproven folktale. "It is a mythological...

A barn in Hood County, Texas, has become ground zero in the hunt for the chupacabra. Earlier this week, animal control officer Frank Hackett shot and killed what was unquestionably one of the ugliest creatures to ever walk the planet.

Is the legendary "goat sucker" stalking Hood County? Two strange, coyote-like creatures have been killed with in 10 miles of each other, and locals say the animals could be chupacabras. Hood County Animal Control Officer Frank Hackett killed the first creature last week. He found it in an old barn. When it growled at him, he put the animal down. "It was ugly, real ugly, I'm not going to tell no lie on that one," he said. A few days later, a rancher killed a similar creature. Jack Farr, who owns the property where the first coyote-canine-cross was spotted said...