Mangy Coyote Pack Triggers Chupacabras Alarm

A pack of hairless critters that has taken to a patch of woods just north of U.S. 183 and RM 1431 in Cedar Park has people in the area wondering if the creatures could be the legendary chupacabra. Authorities, however, are blaming the sightings on mangy coyotes.

"I don't know what it is," said Rick Cumptson, who has seen the animals in a field outside of his store, Bunk Beds Etc. "I'd never even heard of chupacabra until about two weeks ago. I started looking, trying to figure out what the hell these were."

Cumptson said he's seen the creatures twice, and the city's animal control department also received a report about the animals this week.

"There was an adult and a teen just behind our building just about two weeks ago," Cumptson said. "Me and a helper saw them about 7:15 in the morning. They hightailed it back up the street into the woods."

He saw them again this weekend outside the Hill Country Winery and snapped a handful of pictures.

"They were just hanging out there in the field," Cumptson said. "It looked like they maybe had just had breakfast and were out there playing around."

Jack Bonner, Williamson County's trapper, said he hasn't received any calls about this particular pack, but he's pretty sure it's a group of coyotes with mange.

"Anybody that calls in a chupacabra - it's a coyote with mange," Bonner said, adding that there was a "really, really, really nasty, ugly, mangy coyote that was over in that area" a few months ago.

Bonner said mange is contagious, so it's probably gone around the pack that is popping up in Cedar Park.

Cedar Park police Capt. Mike Harmon said Animal Control received a report of a creature near Bluebonnet Drive about 10 a.m. Tuesday.

"The report was either a mangy looking coyote or someone called it a chupacabra," Harmon said.

In February, a resident actually trapped one of the critters and Animal Control took pictures and sent them to Texas Parks and Wildlife, which confirmed it was a mangy coyote, Harmon said.

But Cumptson insists it's not coyotes he's seeing.

"I don't think it's possible. I've seen coyotes and I've seen this - two of them within 25 feet - their head is nowhere similar to a coyote at all. Their ears are different, their eyes are different. I just can't believe that," Cumptson said. "My guess is it's some kind of a cross-breed." - statesman

NOTE: I'M NOT SURE WHAT THE STORY IS WITH THIS PARTICULAR PACK OF CANIDS...BUT IT DOES SEEM TO BE MANGY COYOTES IN THIS CASE. I HAVE INCLUDED LINKS TO A FEW PREVIOUS POSTS REFERENCING THESE SO-CALLED 'CHUPACABRAS'...LON