Reggie Lagow, a farmer in Coleman, Texas decided to set a trap last week, hoping to capture what ever it was chasing and killing his turkeys and chickens... What he found was a creature which is described to be a mix between a rat, a hairless dog, and a kangaroo.... Could this be the mythical Chupacabra?
The Chupacabra, Spanish for "goat sucker", first made the news in 1994, after several attacks were reported in Puerto Rico. The following year, in August of 1995, 150 animals were attacked in Canvanas, Puerto Rico, and according to reports, similar attacks have since been reported from Mexico, Central America, South America, and Chile, to the Southern United States.
Another strange animal thought to be the Chupacabra was the Elmendorf Beast, a canine like creature shot in Elmendorf, Texas, in August 2004. Although an initial DNA test proved inconclusive, a second test was performed and determined that the animal was a coyote with mange. Sightings of several animals matching the Elmendorf Beast have been reported in the area. Many are still skeptical over the test results.
What has people mystified is the manner in which the animals are killed... The victims' blood is drained from their bodies, and in some cases internal organs have been said to have been removed, although nothing more than two puncture wounds in the neck are found. 
Animals reported to have been killed by the Chupacabra include chickens, rabbits, goats, and horses.
Eye witnesses have described the Chupacabra as being a bipedal, reptilian type creature, standing 3-4 foot tall, with long, muscular hind legs and small bat like arms. It is said to be greenish or grey in color and hairless, with a row of spikes or ridges running from the top of its head down along its spine. It has also been reported to have extremely large, red eyes and most notably, long fangs.
One of the more notorious eye witness sightings occurred in Varginha, Brazil on January 20, 1996. Following a UFO sighting, a creature was witnessed by three girls, Liliane and Valaquira Fatima, and Andrade Xavier, who claimed to have seen a biped creature standing about 1.6m tall, with a large head and very thin body, brown skin, large red eyes and V-shaped feet. The creature's similarities to eye witness descriptions of the Chupacabra have led many to believe that Chupacabras are in fact extraterrestrial beings. The Varginha Incident
Article comments
— go to most recent comments1 - Annie
LOL...Could be!
2 - John Bill
Pat Robertson says "El Chupacabra" is a demon sent by Almighty God to kill Mexicans.
3 - Bob A. Booey
Annie, this is interesting.
Keep up the weird X-Files type stories. I find them amusing.
That is all.
4 - Eric Olsen
super job Annie, couldn't be better - thanks!
5 - Annie
The Texas Parks and Wildlife Dept. don't know where the animal is...I've updated the article.
6 - Eric Olsen
classic! We all know that the body is REALLY at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base near Dayton, right next to the alien autopsy
7 - Justene
Can you track down Mr. Laglow?
Jes' askin"!!
8 - Annie
I'll give it a shot!
9 - get real
folks. what we have here is simply a fox or coyote with a bad case of mange. the chupacabra along with a long list of the other things everyone WANTS to believe in (including religion lol) is nothing but a legend and will always be that way.
poor doggie.
nighty night.
10 - Pat Robertson
Hey that's the dog that my wife and I use in our SEX videos
11 - Jessica
Hey ppl, El Chupacabra was made by some stupid scientists El Chupacabra is a rat,dog,rabbit,and i forgot the rest i kno this because i have the docamentry of the Chupacabra and it shows u how El Chupacabra was made but if u ppl want 2 believe wut u believe than fine go ahead and p.s there is 4 more of the chupacabra the mom is dead but there is 4 more of the chupacabra
12 - Jessica
Annie can u track down Richard Sandrak
jes' askin
13 - Jessica
LOL!!!!!!!!!
14 - Aliciajon
You people are raunchy
15 - R. Michael Lagow
Mr. Reginald Lagow is my father. He is a retired businessman living in Coleman and is a very honest gentleman. I can assure you that the picture he took has NOT been "doctored" as Mr. Harvey pointed out. I don't think anyone really has an answer as to what the animal was. My father simply wanted to stop the killing of his chickens.
16 - chris
I love reading the stupid comments that people leave on articles like this... They are SO FUNNY! You are all stupid. "he's my dad" "made by evil scientists" "religion is a legend" Thanks for reporting Annie!
17 - Anastasia
Hi-Hi! I was surprised! You all have never seen this amusing ridiculous animal? When I was young we frightened them near a city dump. We called them tuzicks and they had striped tails and very sharp nail on a back legs.
18 - tyler
I'm from coleman. i like the story.
19 - Victor Plenty
Well, we know who to blame for Hurricane Katrina now. Think about it. Just look at this timeline for definitive proof:
August 18-August 22
August 23
August 24
August 25
August 26
August 27
August 28
August 29
The facts speak for themselves!
20 - bob
the wtory is sotrue
21 - Ruth Lagow
The only thing that Mr. Harvey and Mr. Becker was right about was the name of Mr. Lagow and the name of the town, Coleman.
They knew nothing about what they were spouting off about. They were not here nor did you get off your can to find out.
M. Lagow has never been a farmer. The critter started getting the chickens and he got about thirty. When he started in on the third neighbor his dog corned the critter in the barn and then he killed it. Mr. Lagow did not kill it.
He and Mrs. Bouroughs tried to catch it in a live trap with no luck.
The turkeys you mentioned is one wild turkey . He came here four years ago , it was so young it did not have pin feathers. He found food and water and stayed and believe this he is a free bird.
Two people saw the critter alive and several saw it after it was killed. It was not a rat , coyote or hairless dog as you suggest. It had a soft wooly fleece not hair.
The local vet suggested the name CHUPACOBRA. Not Mr. Lagow, he just took a picture as did our neighbor. Hers was a kodak picture , neither of them doctored the pictures as you inplied.
No one here said that it was on the way to T.P.W.D. . It was thrown in the trash on its way to a land fill somewhere.
Now aren't you a shame of your self for all the melarky you put out? You should be. Ruth Lagow
22 - Michael Lagow
This is an amuzing site. Comments made by uniformed parties carry no value. How do the facts get so twisted? Ruth Lagow is my mother and again, is a very honest and honorable individual. Her statements are true and correct. You, Mr. Harvey, are very uninformed of the events and are making things up as you go. This is referred to as "poetic liberty" in the business. In other words, false statements. Your message carries no value to its audiance.
23 - Annie
Michael and Ruth, thanks for setting the story straight for us. I think it's fairly obvious that the photo hasn't been doctored, and that Mr.Lagow has little to gain by lying about the animal, or the circumstances surrounding it. It appears the only ones guilty of misinformation are NBC-4 News, who reported that the animal had been taken to the TPWD, who later reported that they knew nothing about it.
This isn't the first animal like this one to have been found, as I mentioned in the article. There have also been multiple eye witness reports of animals fitting this description ranging from Texas to California.
Is it the legendary Chupacabra? I don't think so. Is it a coyote with mange? Perhaps, but I've done a little research on mange, and the animal's appearance doesn't quite fit.
There are two kinds of mange which result in massive hair loss.
Demodectic Mange - The dog's skin is sore, crusty, and oozing; the hair follicles are clogged with mites and debris...symptoms include thinning of the hair around the eyes and mouth and on the front legs that evolves into patches of hair loss approximately one inch in diameter.
Sarcoptic mange - Dogs with scabies dig and bite at themselves with great ferocity. Telltale signs of sarcoptic mange are crusty ear tips, fierce itching, and hair loss, particularly on the ears, elbows, legs, and face in the early stages. Later on, the hair loss spreads throughout the body
Did Mr.Lagow see any scabbing, or encrusted wounds? In the photo, the animal's coat seems smooth, and even, as does the Elmendorf Beast's in the photo above.
To see examples,do a Google picture search for "mange".
What ever these animals are, they need to be studied. If they are indeed coyotes with mange, something needs to be done to help them, and stop the inevitable spread of the disease among their own species, as well as others.
This could also be the result of a new mutation of mange, or the immergence of an entirely new disease. Again, something we shouldn't be ignoring, or writing off as "inconsequential".
If this is some sort of hybrid, or new species, that too must be studied, and documented!
Personally, I have little doubt Mr.Lagow is telling the absolute truth, and both appreciate, and admire his coming forward with his story.
I think if we knew how many credible witnesses to these types of events never come forward, we'd be utterly amazed.
Annie
24 - kayla
I think the situation needs to be taken serious,and not turned into such a joke.At any time another attack could accur and someone( not an animal)could be hurt.
25 - hannah
i am studying the El Chupucabra and find this very interesting. the very first picture, look at its eye slits, they are very large. even though it does look like a coyote i think that this may be the Chupacabra