From The Pages Of Social
Culture Puerto RicoFrom The Pages Of Social
Culture Puerto Rico
CANOVANAS, Puerto Rico - Madelyne Tolentino says it jumped
like a kangaroo and smelled like sulfur. Luis Guadalupe swears
it was as ugly as a demon and flew through the air as he and his
brother-in-law fled for dear life. Two
dozen other people say they have seen it, a vampire like predator
that they say killed scores of animals. ``It was about 4 or 5
feet tall and had huge elongated red eyes,'' said Guadalupe, a
29-year-old construction worker in this town of 40,000 people
about 20 miles east of San Juan. ``A pointy, long tongue came
in and out of his mouth. It was gray but his back changed colors.
It was a monster.'' Puerto Rico is abuzz with tales of the mysterious
goat-sucker, or ``chupacabras,'' named after the first animals
that were reported to have been bitten and drained of blood last
year. Since then, owners say hundreds of sheep, rabbits, chickens,
cats and dogs have died in a similar manner, sometimes even when
inside locked cages that seem undisturbed.
Most government authorities chalk up the reports to hysteria or
mischief, and to quell the talk they had government veterinarians
autopsy 20 presumed victims, including one autopsy in front of
a dozen journalists.
Hector Garcia, head of the agriculture department's veterinary
services, was skeptical, to say the least. Garcia said that a
study was under way but that so far the autopsies showed a variety
of causes of death, including parasites.
The animals that suffered bites, he said, more likely fell prey
to the feral dogs that populate certain forests and rural areas.
University zoologists also looking for answers suspect a rhesus
monkey from those that were
imported to Puerto Rico for scientific tests. All the dead animals,
Garcia emphasized, had the expected amount of blood in them. ``We
can speculate forever,'' he said, ``but I haven't found anything
that would make me doubt that we're searching for something that
we can define. Those famous fangs that suck blood I've yet to
see. Maybe the result of all
this is to expose the need for better control of stray dogs and
animals.'' As ``eyewitnesses'' draw sketches and scientists dissect
sheep, the chupacabras has both alarmed and amused this U.S. commonwealth
of 3.7 million people, inspiring theories, satire and T-shirts.
Owners are bringing their pets indoors, some worried tourists
have called newspapers to check whether it is all right to visit
the island, and armed volunteers have tried to capture the creature
with caged goats as bait.
Skeptics note that Puerto Ricans seem to have suffered almost
cyclically from collective bouts of fear set off by sensationalist
press accounts, as with the ``vampire of Moca,'' which was blamed
for the sudden death of cows in the
1970s. Some attribute the recent animal deaths to anything from
an exotic animal let loose on the island to an alien drawn here
by the Arecibo Observatory, the world's largest radio-radar telescope,
in the northwestern part of the
island. Many others suspect the human hand, either a copycat or
people involved in bloody rituals.
But those who say they have seen the chupacabras, and their believers,
are indignant. ``These are people from rural areas who know what
animals look like,'' said Ismael Aguayo, a member of the rescue
unit of Canovanas' municipal civil
defense, who now spends half his time responding to chupacabras
calls. ``Those calling are serious people. Some have been so affected
that they have had to be taken to the hospital.''
The callers include Ms. Tolentino, 31, who said she stared at
the chupacabras as it jumped like a kangaroo down a Canovanas
street and paused by her window last August, and then again earlier
this month between two roadside trees.
She said it exuded such a sulfurlike stench that her 1 1/2-year-old
son, who was in the car with her during the second sighting, was
still coughing from it.
Others have likened the creature to a tiger or a monkey, usually
as half-animal and half-human with huge bulging red eyes, short
arms that end in claws, spikes down its back and an ability to
fly. Searchers have lifted
footprints that look like those of a large ape. Monster stories
aside, the economic loss has been real for those like
Francisco Monge, 44, a Canovanas construction worker who lost
five sheep
worth about $500. Monge, who said all five showed the trademark
neck
perforations, said he had raised animals since he was 9 and found
the deaths highly unusual. ``Dogs have never attacked my animals,''
he said. The chupacabras believers have found a champion in the
mayor of Canovanas, Jose Soto, a former police detective who has
led search parties of more than 200 people through thick mountain
foliage. Soto, who goes by the nickname Chemo but is now being
called ``Chemo Jones'' for his Indiana-Jones-like exploits, said
he has had no choice but to take fears about the chupacabras seriously,
even though he was not exactly sure
what he was looking for. More than 100 animals have died in his
jurisdiction, creating mass hysteria, he said.
The mayor's pleas to government agencies for help with the hunting
efforts have been largely ignored. Gov. Pedro Rossello has wished
him luck. The police superintendent, Pedro Toledo, has refused
to get his troops involved.
And so the mayor, who is up for re-election this year, is busy
planning a cone-shaped trap.
``Whatever it is, it's highly intelligent,'' he said. ``Today
it is attacking animals, but tomorrow it may attack people.''
Johnny Colon, the governor's public-safety adviser, said the government
was keeping abreast of the reports, but ``we feel that the situation
is not one that merits alarm by the general public or visitors
to the island.'' But some
elected officials say the government, after almost a year of reports
about chupacabras, should show more interest. ``These killings
are strange and must be evaluated,'' said Juan Lopez, a member
of the commonwealth's House of Representatives, who heads a legislative
commission on agriculture and who is seeking authorization from
legislators to begin an investigation that would track the deaths
and quantify losses to farmers. ``This is no joke.''
From: richard@rosalin.pc.my (Richard Delgado)
A blood-sucking alien predator is ravaging animals throughout the Puerto Rican countryside, or so say this town's mayor and scores of uneasy rural dwellers. Misael Negron, a 25 year old college student, is one of 15 Canovanas residents who say they have had a close encounter with the beast, known here as the "chupacabras", or, in its literal English translation, "goat-sucker". "I was looking off the balcony one night, and I saw it step out of a bright light in the back yard," Mr. Negron said. "it was about three or four feet tall with skin like that of a dinosaur. It had bright red eyes the size of hens eggs, long fangs and multicolored spiked down its head and back." Tre to its name, the creature attacked the family goat, said Mr.Negron, draining the blood from its neck and disemboweling the animal. Tales of blood-thirsty monsters have grasped the collective jugular of this US commonwealth in the past. But none have left a trail of carnage as extensive as the chupacabras. "this is not a joke," said the mayor of Canovanas, Jose R. Soto. "A number of my constituents have lost animals in the past few months. We're taking it very seriously because it's killing animals right now, but people could be next. the government gave some credence to the chupacabras hysteria recently by launching an investigation of the night attacks. At least part of the reason was concern about its impact on the tourist industry. Puerto Rico is just now rebounding from a drop in tourism, and tourist dollars, caused by water problems last year and an oil spill two winters ago. The creature earned its name because many of its earliest victims reportedly were goats. But, according to the nearly daily accounts of animal maulings, its diet also includes cattle, chicken, sheep, pigs, dogs and cats, even peacocks. Jose Espinosa, public information officer for the State Civil Defense, said that although many here had mentioned everything from aliens to vampires, he was certain there was a rational, down to earth explanation for the recurrent attacks, but he has yet to figure it out. Carlos soto, a veterinarian who has examined the remains of a Doberman pinscher and seven rabbits killed by the mystery predator, says he is convinced that something very strange happened to them. "In each case the cause of death were two deep puncture wounds under the right side of the neck," Dr. Soto said. "The wounds extended into the animals' brains, killing them instantly. The wounds were about the diameter of a drinking straw, and tree to four inches in length. they weren't compatible with the bite of a dog, a monkey or any animal I've ever studied." For Madelyne Tolentino, 31, of Canovanas, the chupacabras is no mystery. She and her mother stared at the chupacabras for three minutes or so one day when it paused on the sidewalk in front of their home. Ms. Toleration said the creature was built "like a kangaroo without a tail," with powerful hind legs. She also noted a web-like film hanging beneath its short, pudgy arms. With her husband and co-worker at the garage across the street, they tried to tackle it, but it slipped away from them, she said. "After it was over, I said to my mother, 'We'd better not tell anybody about this because they'll think we're crazy.
Asi que la noticia ha llegado hasta Malasia! Que cosa!!!
Rosalinda
Score en el CafreMeter?: ________________
From: facarrer@sacam.OREN.ORTN.EDU (Franklin A Carrero Martinez)
Subject: Re: Chupacabras
Todos ustedes se enteraron que el Chupacabra se caso con el
Coqui y tuvieron el famoso Chupaqui. Pero sucedio unapeleita en
ese matrimonio y el Chupacabra mando para buen sitio al Coqui.
Despues de esta separacion, el Chupacabra se fue a los montes
donde vio las andadas de el Tonyo y su amiguita... hmmm!!! Bueno,
el asunto es que una noche el Chupacabra ve a este animalito y
le gusto mucho!!!! Empezaron a hablar y se enamoraron... Resulta
ser que el animalito era un Caculo!!! Asi que.. Cual fue el fruto
de ese nuevo matrimonio??
No sean mal pensaos!!!!!!!!!!!!
By Luis Pagan LAPBH@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU
Y recuerda que cuando alguien te grite: OYE VENAO!, DONDE ESTA TU MUJER!? responde con mucho orgullo QUESELLO!
Many Thanks To Luis Pagan For Giving Us Permission To Broadcast
This Article.
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