Possible Chupacabra Corpse Found in Texas?

REPORT:
Originally a cryptid of Latin origin, the Chupacabra - the monster whose name means "goat sucker" - has haunted the lives of farmers and livestock owners for decades. Chupacabras by description seem to be crosses between wolves, lizards, and vampires. These scaly, bloodsucking quadrupeds have manifested themselves in Latin monster legend since the first incident in the early 1990's when farmers reported that over 150 farm animals had been drained of blood by the monster. This particular instance, however, was likely exaggerated since the size of a beast that could single-handedly drain 150 farm animals of all bodily fluids would have to be a giant. If the report is true, it strongly indicates that chupacabras hunt in packs, and that this was not a single animal's work.

The Chupacabra is perhaps the cryptid with the most concrete evidence since encounters surpass that of the standard: "I saw a big fuzzy thing moving through the trees" report. Instead, there are dead animals each time one strikes, and all killed in a very unique manner as well. The chances of a farmer being willing to kill off his own animals simply to stage a hoax is unlikely as well.

In any case, reports of the monster did not stop there. The chupacabra left a trail of blood once more in 1995 where it reportedly drained the blood completely from eight sheep before being chased off by their owner. Sightings and reports were not even localized to Mexico and South America. Since the initial report in the 1990's, the famed beast has struck or been sighted as far north as Maine in the United States.

And now to the meat of the issue. A chupacabra 'corpse' has been discovered in Texas, just South of San Antonio, to be exact. Jerry Ayer,a teacher at the Blanco Taxidermy School in Blanco, Texas was given the corpse of the animal by a former student who said the creature had been rooting through his cousin's barn. The two laid out poison thinking it was probably a large rodent, but to there surprise, the body of this strange creature above was what they found.

"It got into his cousin's barn and they thought maybe it was a rodent tearing things up, and they had no idea since they’ve never seen it," said Ayer. "He got out some poison, and this is what they got the very next day."

Ayer stored the corpse in his freezer, but is not exactly sure what to do with it. Skeptics immediately wanted chemical tests performed to see if what Ayer had found was a hoax or not. Ayer, however, wanted the specimen to be immediately stuffed and preserved as a museum piece.

"It's definitely something that I don't want to throw away. I think it would make a tremendous mount, and a very interesting conversation piece."

The specimen is, in fact, very interesting. Previous Chupacabra finds have happened, but in most cases, the specimens were identified as gray foxes with mange or other skin disorders resulting in the loss of hair and blue-ish gray pigmentation on the skin. Ayer's specimen has not been confirmed as a victim of mange, so for now it's baldness remains in question (cancer?). It's front legs, strangely, are longer than that it's back legs, and the canine teeth are longer than a typical coyote's (right picture) which are the only similar animals that live in Texas. Its long teeth were what made Ayer dub the creature a 'Chupacabra' in the first place (left picture). Now it's the skeptics against Ayer to determine whether or not we will find out if his monster is supernatural, or a super impostor.

MY OPINION:
In this one, I have to pit myself on the side of the skeptics. I have to agree that the specimen is an odd one, but long legs and sharp teeth are hardly grounds for calling it a chupacabra. Nobody actually witnessed the creature sucking blood from livestock, and certainly small genetic mutations such as slightly longer legs are not uncommon among wild dogs or coyotes (Almost all animals have small genetic mutations which make them imperfect). Secondly, Ayer's determination to stuff his find away on a shelf for eternity and to forgo chemical testing suggests to me that even he is worried that his find will turn out to be nothing more than a big flop. Perhaps he would rather have an everlasting question than risk his fame on an answer he fears will discredit his 'chupacabra'. As for me, I'm okay either way. I am curious as to what DNA tests would say, but then I always love a good mystery too, so this find is bound to cause some excitement no matter which way you look at it.