The Chupacabra: Are Texans in Danger from This Mysterious Threat?

We continue our series on Texas Cryptids with one proven real, even if it isn't exactly what it seems.

Facing A Monster

There's a lot of things you can see on a Saturday night in Texas. You can see people wilding after a college football game. You can see cars lined up on a local drag. One thing you probably don't want to see is a blood-thirsty feral animal. Texas is home to the Chupacabra and it's VERY real.

El Chupacabra

The myth is that the Chupacabra is "fanged beast with red glowing eyes" that attacks livestock and drains them of their blood. There have been enough sightings to turn this animal into something of a Texas legend.  The Chupacabra is frequently portrayed as a vampiric/wolfman kind of hybrid that is always on the prowl

The Truth

The fact of the matter is that several "Chupacabra" have been found, and they've all been found to be the same thing. The remains are usually identified as mange-riddled coyote corpses. The animals lose their hair and upon death their skin retracts and distorts in a way that doesn't make them easily identifiable as to what they were before decomposition sets in.

Or...

What if the Chupacabra does exist, and we're just misidentifying things that look familiar to it? Could there be a monster or monster out there determined to suck the blood out of goats and cattle? We have to ask why the legend claims blood is drained from the animals rather than them just being attacked and mauled. Either way, I have to say facing either of the two options, a diseased feral coyote, or a supernatural wolf-creature both sound pretty terrifying.