Frankly, I get so tired of these Texas (and other states’) “chupacabra” stories, that these annual versions of the Chupacabras have become non-mysteries. I figured my Cryptomundo-mate Craig would post on his home state’s latest, and he has here, a few moments ago.

It’s hot, the season is right, and “they” have turned up for years now. This latest one looks like a coyote, perhaps a fox, with mange.

Mange is a parasitic infestation of the skin caused by mites. Mange comes in two forms, red mange (not generally contagious) and sarcoptic mange. Sarcoptic mange is a highly contagious infestation of Sarcoptes scabiei canis, a burrowing mite. (Yes, the thought is creepy.) The canine sarcoptic mite is not a good neighbor, and can also infest you and your cats, as well as other contacted mammals, whether they are wild or domestic.

Ugh. It’s that time of a year again, when the mange causes sick dogs, coyotes, and foxes (canids all) to be called “Chupacabra” by Anglo reporters. While Craig correctly entitled his blog “Chupacabras,” you can see once again, the media used “Chupacabra.”

But it’s Chupacabras (singular and plural). What wrong with these Texas reporters?

Chupacabras: It’s sort of like Jennifer Lopez, kind of cross-cultural. – Loren Coleman, as quoted by ABC News, 1999.

The ‘Chupacabra’ usage really gets my goat — pun much intended! To say chupacabra is to imply that the entity is ‘the sucker of a single goat.’ Chupacabras is ‘the sucker of goats,’ which was meant by the original nomenclature. Perhaps English speakers feel that a false plural is being formed and they resort to ‘s’ removal. Fortunately the singular/plural issue is resolved–in Spanish–by a ‘definite article’ placed in front of the noun (el, la, los, las, lo):
One single chupacabras: ‘El Chupacabras’
A troupe of the things: ‘Los Chupacabras’
If female: ‘La Chupacabras’
A cluster of females: ‘Las Chupacabras’
So the word ‘Chupacabras’ remains intact — no need to amputate the final ‘s’! – Hispanic cryptozoologist Scott Corrales

Is your skin itching yet?