• Posted on Thursday, January 21, 2010
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Biologist: Texas 'chupacabra' a hairless raccoon

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Combine a raccoon with a chupacabra and you get. ...

A chupa-coon? A rac-a-cabra?

Folks in Wise County have wondered for the past week if they've captured the legendary chupacabra -- that mythical creature of south-of-the-border lore known to suck the blood from the livestock it attacks.

A small, hairless animal was found dead Jan. 13 by a maintenance worker at Runaway Bay Golf Course near Lake Bridgeport.

A state biologist who examined it on Tuesday assured that the animal was a male raccoon, probably no more than a few months old.

How it lost its hair, however, was still a mystery on Wednesday.

"It was a raccoon, no doubt about it," said Jennifer Barrow, the biologist. "It's feet were a real giveaway. It had long toes, narrow feet ... everything right for a raccoon."

Read the complete story and see the picture of the hairless raccoon check the star-telegram.com

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