Chupacabra stories are notorious for having a scary and usually bloody beginning and a worse ending. Just in the past year they’ve been blamed for dozens of cattle mutilations in Argentina, chicken deaths in Chile and Paraguay, and a couple of murders in Honduras. And those are just the ones that get reported. It’s no wonder that, unlike in the case of Bigfoot, there are few if any people feeling any guilt pangs about wanting to see it dead … or offering to shoot it themselves. That’s why this next story is so unusual … and perhaps a lesson for modern times.
“In downtown Ocean Springs, Mississippi, a mysterious animal was seen roaming the streets, darting in and out of backyards. For nearly two months, the strange little visitor hid from the summer heat under pickup trucks, hunting for food at night.”
So begins the story of this mysterious Mississippi monster. The Dodo, which calls itself “the digital media brand for animal people,” heard about the creature and posted the story, saying:
“Too small to be a coyote, some claimed it was a dog with mange while others in the neighborhood suggested that the hairless creature was, in fact, a chupacabra.”
Maybe it was just having a bad hair day?
Chupacabra! Of course! Even though there were no dead cows, chickens or people, it HAD to be a Chupacabra. Just ask the people in Texas who see creatures like this all the time and have created their own version of the Puerto Rican cryptid for themselves. To their credit, the residents of Ocean Springs did no harm to the animal, instead posting their own pictures on social media. That’s where Missy Dubuisson, founder and director of Wild At Heart Rescue in Vancleave, Mississippi, did what she does best … came to the rescue!
“No. I am not a chupacabra or however ya spell it.”
That was Dubuisson’s caption on a Facebook picture of the creature, which she correctly (as we’ll soon find out) identified as a hairless fox suffering from demodectic mange, a skin disease caused by mites attacking the fox’s hair follicles. She said the disease is easily treated, but warned that calling in a game warden would result in the fox being euthanized.
Enter Margaret Raines, a local feral cat rescuer, who bought a special fox trap and spent 50 days baiting it and watching it. On the 51st day, the sick animal finally agreed to be rescued. Taken immediately to Wild At Heart Rescue, the fox was put on medication and good food, given the name PerCilla and nursed back to health – a process that was recorded and reported on their Facebook page – pee problems and all.
“She HAD to get into an outdoor enclosure~the smell of Fox urine is unbearable in a building.”
Here’s more good news – PerCIlla will soon be released back to the area where she was captured – a location close to fish and birds (no, not chickens).
Fox
If you’ve seen any pictures of what gets reported as chupacabras in Texas and other areas, you can easily see the resemblance to this one – hairless, thin, fangs exposed due to malnutrition. These are generally just sick animals – foxes, coyotes or dogs. The ones killing the chickens and cattle that are never photographed are more like healthy versions of these canines. And the Puerto Rican Chupacabra? It would laugh at these creatures … before eating them … assuming it really exists.
Whatever they are, they’re alive and – if they allow themselves to be photographed – are probably sick or injured. The same might be true of Bigfoot. Don’s shoot them – see if they can be helped.
If you want to help future chupacabras, Wild At Heart Rescue accepts donations.
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