A Texas couple is convinced they've captured a real-life chupacabra

Newscenter25

A Texas couple is convinced they've captured a real-life chupacabra
(Image credit: Newscenter25)

A husband and wife in southern Texas believe that the hairless animal with big claws that they caught in their yard is the legendary chupacabra. The chupacabra is said to be a grotesque creature that sucks the blood out of goats and cattle, and it's almost certain to cause nightmares if you ever decide to do a Google Image search.

Jackie Stock and Arlen Parma discovered the animal on Sunday; it has dark skin, lots of teeth, and a distinctive growl. Parma is an avid hunter, and says he's never seen — or heard — anything like it.

"A coon doesn't make that noise, or a possum," he told Newscenter25. "What makes that noise? I guess a chupacabra does."

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

Brent Ortego, a wildlife diversity biologist with Texas Parks and Wildlife — who, to be fair, has only seen photos of the creature — says he believes this chupacabra is a small canine with mange, which is why it has no hair. Whatever it is, it's currently being kept in a cage outside, and being fed corn and cat food. --Catherine Garcia

Continue reading for free

We hope you're enjoying The Week's refreshingly open-minded journalism.

Subscribed to The Week? Register your account with the same email as your subscription.

Catherine Garcia

Catherine Garcia is night editor for TheWeek.com. Her writing and reporting has appeared in Entertainment Weekly and EW.com, The New York Times, The Book of Jezebel, and other publications. A Southern California native, Catherine is a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.