Luis Duran never believed in the chupacabra, a blood-sucking creature fabled to roam rural areas in search of prey.

That changed Sunday, he says, when the family discovered their pet dog, Panzón, dead, the apparent victim of an unknown predator.

"It couldn’t be a coyote because they usually fight around the house and there should be blood," Duran said. "If it was a wildcat, there should be wounds, but there was only marks like fingernails."

Local health officials dispute the Duran family’s claim that a chupacabra sucked the blood from the dog’s body but the South Brownsville family is firmly convinced.

Duran pointed to strange puncture wounds on the body of his father’s six-month-old German Shepherd as proof the dog was killed by the bloodthirsty creature.

He says it was about 2 p.m. Sunday when his little brother found Panzón dead in the yard of the family’s Guadalupe River Street home.

"He was all peeled off," Duran said. "He had scratches on his legs, and on the spine, he had a big old hole on top of his spine.

"It was a weird death that I’ve never seen before," he said. "Everyone was saying it was a chupacabra."

Brownsville animal control and the Brownsville Police Department were dispatched to the house at about 8 p.m. Sunday, said Brownsville Public Health Director Josue Ramirez and Police Commander Abraham Delgado.

Ramirez said he believed a car struck and dragged the animal under its wheels. He said he didn’t see any "holes," and the scratches, fractured bones, and burn marks were consistent with getting run over by a car.

He said the animal was bloating, evidence that massive internal bleeding occurred. "We have seen these cases several times already," Ramirez said, adding he has yet to see proof of a chupacabra.

Animal Control Officer Jaime Medina, who responded to the call, said the dog’s wounds were not deep enough to allow blood to be extracted.

"The wounds weren’t that deep at all," Medina said, adding several burn marks lead him to believe the dog was run over by a car.

But Duran says the dog could not have been run over because it was found chained to its doghouse, just as he left him.

The family repeatedly requested an autopsy for the animal, but animal control refused, explaining they do not do autopsies based on such claims and advised Duran to take the dog to the family veterinarian.

Duran kept the dog overnight, but decided against paying for an autopsy.

"(The veterinarian) was charging $300, but we couldn’t afford that," Duran said.

Animal control picked up the dog from the home Monday morning and disposed of the body.

• Story originally published by:
The Brownsville Herald / TX | Jessica Rocha - July 09.02

All Copyrights © are acknowledged.
Material reproduced here is for educational & research purposes only.