creedo299
Epochal Historian
http://www.woai.com/news/local/story.aspx?content_id=317D3A73-8413-449D-A218-DEE30F924E81
Chupacabra? DNA Testing Underway
LAST UPDATE: 8/9/2004 1:34:54 AM
Posted By: Dale Blasingame
Watch this story...
It's a story that's attracted worldwide attention. A strange animal was shot dead on a south Texas farm and no one can seem to identify it. It's prompted some to wonder if it's the famed chupacabra.
That mystery animal has most everyone asking "what is it?" But we may soon have an answer. A rancher in Elmendorf shot the hairless animal after it killed more than thirty of his chickens. He then buried it on his property. Saturday, an organization that specializes in identifying strange animals dug up the remains. Rancher Devin Macanally hopes that animal's bones will now tell the tale.
"I thought by burying it in solid sand that it would last longer," said Macanally. "But it didn't."
Biologists dug up the animal's remains for DNA testing, a process that could take up to six weeks.
"They just dug as far as they needed to get the bone samples," said Macanally. "They wanted an ear, but they realized they couldn't get one."
Some believe this mystery mammal could be the chupacabra, the blood sucking animal of popular Mexican folklore. Macanally says whether it is, he just hopes he gets to name it and that it will stop eating his chickens. He plans to take the rest of the remains to the zoo in hopes they can identify it. Other labs across the country and the world have been contacting him trying to find out what this really is.
Chupacabra? DNA Testing Underway
LAST UPDATE: 8/9/2004 1:34:54 AM
Posted By: Dale Blasingame
Watch this story...
It's a story that's attracted worldwide attention. A strange animal was shot dead on a south Texas farm and no one can seem to identify it. It's prompted some to wonder if it's the famed chupacabra.
That mystery animal has most everyone asking "what is it?" But we may soon have an answer. A rancher in Elmendorf shot the hairless animal after it killed more than thirty of his chickens. He then buried it on his property. Saturday, an organization that specializes in identifying strange animals dug up the remains. Rancher Devin Macanally hopes that animal's bones will now tell the tale.
"I thought by burying it in solid sand that it would last longer," said Macanally. "But it didn't."
Biologists dug up the animal's remains for DNA testing, a process that could take up to six weeks.
"They just dug as far as they needed to get the bone samples," said Macanally. "They wanted an ear, but they realized they couldn't get one."
Some believe this mystery mammal could be the chupacabra, the blood sucking animal of popular Mexican folklore. Macanally says whether it is, he just hopes he gets to name it and that it will stop eating his chickens. He plans to take the rest of the remains to the zoo in hopes they can identify it. Other labs across the country and the world have been contacting him trying to find out what this really is.