Chupacabras With Fangs, Wings Blamed For Sheep Deaths In Mexico

Did a legendary chupacabras kill 35 sheep in the Mexican town of Paracuaro? That's what local citizens want to know as they ponder the mysterious deaths of their farm animals.

According to the UFO Chronicles website , the Mexican state Michoacan's Diario ABC reported that the unfortunate sheep were slain in the wee hours of March 1 with their bodies displaying claw and tooth injuries, especially under the neck.

One man who was looking after the sheep in their pens said he saw the creature responsible for the attacks. He reportedly said it had fangs, claws and wings.

The enclosure where the sheep lived also included cows, horses and pigs, which apparently weren't injured in the attack.

"Anything mysterious in Mexico is unfortunately labeled a 'chupacabras,' according to Loren Coleman, director of the International Cryptozoology Museum in Portland, Maine.

After looking at the video of the current chupacabras story, Coleman is dubious. "I see one sheep with its neck cut. But despite what is said, all of the sheep are not dead, and the bodies do not show a great deal of mutilation," Coleman wrote in an email to The Huffington Post.

Coleman suggests that the animals succumbed to some kind of disease rather than a predatory attack.

"As to the one eyewitness saying he saw that 'it had fangs, claws and wings, and moved very quickly', well, how big, what color, no drawings?"

Writing in Skeptic.com, Sharon Hill also doubts the chupacabras portion of the story , including the news video connected with it.

"It shows an array of dead animals, some are alive, but only one has a neck gash," Hill wrote. "I see no blood on the others at all."

Hill also notes that people often "tell exaggerated stories or they may very well misperceive what they see."

This is not the first time such a report has emerged from south of the border. Back in September 2010, shepherds in Mexico's Puebla state were baffled after more than 300 goats were decapitated by a culprit that couldn't be tracked .

The chupacabras is reportedly an animal that falls under the category of cryptids -- creatures that haven't been confirmed by science, like Bigfoot and the Loch Ness Monster. Some stories talk of chupacabras that attack livestock and drain the animals of blood.

And, as Hill explained, the addition of wings to the description of chupacabras is not typically reported.

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