Mysterious creature puts town on edge

Coleman County, Texas (United States):
Was the strange creature recently killed in this West Texas town a bloodsucking monster called a chupacabra? Or a coyote with a bad case of mange?
Whatever it is, it is causing a stir. Some think the chicken-stealing animal came right out of Mexican myth.
The last time an animal caused this much talk in Coleman was five years ago, when a hunter shot and killed a monkey on a nearby ranch.
Several weeks ago, the creature became a menace to Reginald Lagow, 89, and his neighbors. They were finding dead chickens, sometimes two a day. Some chickens had been partly eaten, and others were completely gone. There was little blood.
It is not unusual to lose a chicken or so a month to varmints, Lagow said. This time, chickens were disappearing rapidly. Lagow and neighbor Carole Burroughs lost about 30 chickens. Lagow saw it catch a chicken, but it scampered away. He said that it had rusty-colored hair and it looked unlike anything he had ever seen.
A neighbor's dog cornered the creature in a chicken coop, and the man shot it. Lagow snapped pictures of the animal's body. The creature looks like a small dog with white hair. Lagow said it weighed 12 to 13 pounds. The animal was put in the trash. Lagow kept a picture.
The animal killed in Coleman did have long back legs and a long, thin tail. However, the animal from San Antonio was later found to be a coyote with mange. Animal experts are saying that is probably what the Coleman animal is, too. Lagow is not convinced. It does not look like any coyote he has ever seen.
Aug 25, 2005