Spanish Farmers Recall Chupacabras Following Sheep Deaths[Original headline: A bloodthirsty dog frightens the Pallars ]
The neighbors of a recondite valley of the Pallars Sobirā have requested aid to catch a wild dog who it is believed has killed more than 140 ewes in the past two years, more than double that which perished under the claws of the released Slovenian bears in 1997 in 'Val you would d'Aran'. The history told by these cattle dealers recalls " the goatsucker ", an almost mythological beast feared by farmers of the United States, Mexico, Puerto Rico or Chile. This species of monster, that moves in a zigzag pattern and measures more of a meter in length, attacks goats, ducks, pigs and hens, to which it absorbs the blood of its victims. The first news of " chupacabras " appeared in the press in of the seventies and the beast was seen for the last time in Chile this past May. The attacks of this voracious monster caused as much alarm between the population that the National Office of Emergencies of Chile was forced to make different scientific analyses. The experts determined that the creature was a wild dog, which failed to convince the cattle dealers.
In Escās, Surp or Caregue, small nuclei pertaining to the municipality of Rialp, there now exists a situation similar to the one on the American continent, although in this last case the neighbors do not have any doubt that the beast that has made much blood run among their flocks is a wild dog. " One is about a great animal and gray color, that kills to kill. He always leaves the same sign: three holes in the necks of the ewes, to which ......[?] ", explains the cattle dealers. Recently a search of more than one hundred people (forest and mossos agents participated) was organized but did not have luck. " .... [?] until a helicopter, but this animal is very alert .... [?] that a madriguera has been constructed to hide ", it added a neighbor.
The shepherds of this section of the valley think that the dog became lost in the mountain more than three years ago during a hunting trip. " After living as much time in a wild state he acts like a wolf ", says another cattle dealer. The animal has never approached towns, although the neighbors fear that he can might also attack the people when he finds nothing else to eat. Some shepherds have already requested permission to be able to take a gun all the year when they accompany their flocks. Now they have recently asked for urgent permission from Natural Means to organize a nocturnal search, since the dog always strikes during the light of the moon.
Forest agents of Sort said yesterday, when talking about to these attacks on flocks of ewes, that the problem of the wild dogs would end if the Ministry of Agriculture forced all the criadores [owners?] of dogs to implant a chip in the animals before selling them.
The [stock] losses are already beginning to be important. The problem, denounces the cattle dealers, is that the insurance agencies refuse to compensate to them if they do not see the dead ewes. " Once we warned the insurer and the expert took eight days in coming to the mountain. When he arrived there was only bones of the ewe left. "The attacks of the bear that the cattle dealers suffer of 'Val you would d'Aran' cannot be compared, insist the shepherds of the Pallars, with those of the wild dog. " In three years the bears have killed 70 ewes and in all the cases there has been indemnification. We are lost already 150 head and we have not seen a duro [dog?]", they concluded.
Translated with help of AltaVista Sistran from a story originally published by
The Vanguard, Barcelona, Spain | By Javier Ricou - November 18 2000
