Recent examples demonstrate that “Chupacabra” images like the above are here to stay!

Okay, okay, I give up.

I shall officially acknowledge that if a mangy canid (e.g. dog, coyote, fox) or a mangy procyonid (e.g. raccoon, coati, kinkajou, olingo, ringtail, cacomistle) becomes the focus of a North American media story (especially in the USA and Mexico), it probably is, nine times out of ten, going to be called a “Chupacabra,” without the “s.”  (Recent events have also shown us that civets and sloths, without hair, will be called “Chupacabra” by the news organizations and blogs.)

If a news item, book, or blog more correctly discusses a classic “Chupacabras,” or a group of “Chupacabras,” that piece, no doubt, more often than not, is about the traditional bipedal, furry, little beasts from Puerto Rico, elsewhere in the Caribbean, Latin America or South America.

On Friday, there was published a new account of a “Chupacabra” seen in Michigan. The source was the CBS radio station, WWJ – 950 in Michigan.

Friday, 09 April 2010

Chupacabra Sighting?

Ann Arbor (WWJ) — This is causing a stir in Washtenaw County: reported sightings of a so-called Chupacabra.

Several people in the Ann Arbor area have reported seeing what they describe as combination of a dog and some other animal. One man tells AnnArbor.com that he saw the animal walk across Huron River Drive. He described it as a hairless pit bull, only longer and taller.

According to myth, el Chupacabra is a dog-beast hybrid that sucks the blood of goats — and is most commonly reported in Texas.

A University of Michigan mammal expert says the creepy-looking animal in Washtenaw County is probably a dog or coyote with a bad case of mange.

The unfortunate result of such a decision on my part, however, is that there is no way I will be comparing a “Chupacabra” with Jennifer Lopez. (See my 2005 thoughts, here.)

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

   

Thank You.