Chupacabra Sighting: Mysterious Minnesota Roadkill Prompts Alarm

Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR) officials are scratching their heads over an unidentified dead mammal that was first spotted July 31 on a Douglas County road.

The creepy-looking all white creature with five claws on its front paws, long toenails and dark tufts of hair on its back has prompted speculation that Minnesota is home to the legendary chupacabra, KSAX-TV reports.

Lacey Ilse was driving close to her home on County Road 86, near Alexandria, when she first saw the dead carcass.

"We saw something in the middle of the road, and we knew it wasn't a dog or a cat, because it didn't have hair," Ilse told KSAX-TV.

"It had a clump of hair and all the rest was just white skin. Its ear was all mis-shaped. To me, it looked half-human," Ilse said.

DNR area wildlife supervisor Kevin Kotts said the animal closely resembles a badger, although the creature's tail is longer than a typical badger.

"It's got five long front claws on each of its front feet, which would be characteristic of a badger," Kotts told the TV station. "I ran the pictures past a few other DNR folks that have a lot of trapping and/or furbearer experience, and they all said it's hard to be 100 percent sure what it is ... but if it's a Minnesota animal, it's probably a badger."

Chupacabras, or "goat suckers," are creatures said to live in Mexico, Puerto Rico and in different parts of the United States. The animals, described as something between a dog and a wolf, reportedly kill and suck the blood out of livestock.

Last month, a Texas teenager claimed to shoot and kill a chupacabra. Results have not yet been announced from hair and skin samples taken of the animal.

Most wildlife experts believe the weird-looking animals are coyotes afflicted with mange, caused by an infection of tiny parasites that results in their hair falling out and leaving them with shriveled skin.

The body of the Minnesota chupacabra suspect has been frozen at the Glenwood DNR office and officials may soon do a DNA test to hopefully identify the mysterious roadkill.

Comments

[Charles Queen]

08:18 AM on 08/13/2011

Last time I seen anything pertaining to this little guy was on the "No Reservations"show on travel channel.Tony uncovered the mystery in a wooded area in Puerto Rico.LMAO

[Jim Lovett]

07:53 PM on 08/12/2011

Chupacabra is the Mexican term for a puerto rican. That is common knowledge.

[ThomasMc]

07:28 PM on 08/12/2011

Looks like a Republican, to me.

[hlnpayne]

06:08 PM on 08/12/2011

maybe they should try capturing it alve to examine it.. it maybe interesting

[Aaron Calhoun]

03:59 PM on 08/12/2011

I clicked on this story thinking the animal might actual look unusual enough to defy classification....phooey...looks like either a pitbull with some issues (one of which is being run over), or a badger....it certainly doesn't resemble anything unusual enough to be a chupacabra.

[chaserblue]

02:36 PM on 08/12/2011

Someone's playing in the genetic gene pool...

[Northern Observer]

08:52 AM on 08/12/2011

Whenever there's a supposed Chupacabra death, it's always a hairless coyote, or in this case a badger. Are Chupacabra's even hairless?

[alteredstory]

10:39 PM on 08/11/2011

http://ksax.com/article/stories/S2234402.shtml?cat=10230

It's a badger.

Here are some claws to compare:

http://dirttime.ws/Photos/IM002521.jpg

http://www.pc.gc.ca/apprendre-learn/prof/sub/badger/images/claws_handRKlafki440px.jpg

No indication as to how it lost its fur.

[williamabn]

08:12 PM on 08/11/2011

It is a hy-bred wisconson wood tick . Thay have been giveing all those antibiotics ,Growth hormones and god only knows what else . These Tics have evovolved . Thay don't crawl to a victim and hang on to suck out blood . No Thay just kick the crap out of it , Drag it to the bushes and drink blood at it leasure . See that hair tuft ? It's not loosing hair , It's starting to grow hair for the minesota winters . So is can feed all year long . I hear thay picked up the same sleeping trait as the bovines . Thay sleep standing up . So if we are very quiet we can sneek up on the Wis. Tick , And push it over in its sleep . This confuses the tick long enough to drag it to a road and wait for a car or truck to hit it .

[Hickspy]

04:27 PM on 08/11/2011

It's a possum with birth defects. Or a possum that has had its face run over.

[DivergentMary]

03:44 PM on 08/11/2011

Scully!!!!! Mulder!!!!!! Where are you when we need you??????

[Louis A Delgado]

03:11 PM on 08/11/2011

it's a pit bull whose ears were cropped to close, it probably was all ready dying from a long period of infestation and just fell dead on the road

[John Woodhouse]

03:04 PM on 08/11/2011

charlie sheens offspring?

[unami]

02:58 PM on 08/11/2011

Don't kid yourself, that's the new face of the Republican Party.

[that was random]

12:13 PM on 08/14/2011

nope, you are all wrong. it is hillary's late term abortion.

[Louis Tyson]

02:52 PM on 08/11/2011

Sarge:What you call it...
Simmons: Chupacabra sir?
Sarge:Yeah! A Chupathingy!

[Hickspy]

04:28 PM on 08/11/2011

Awesome points for the RvB reference.