An NBC News affiliate out of Texas is reporting that the sudden, inexplicable deaths of dozens of livestock on an area farm may be linked to the appearance of a legendary cryptozoological monstrosity. WALB News 10 shares the following at their website:

The Garcia family of Horizon City says they were shocked to see 30 of their animals turn up dead overnight earlier this week. After looking at how they were killed, the only explanation they have is the Chupacabra.

The strange bite marks present on the dead farm animals seems to indicate two sharp fangs used to bite and suck blood from the creatures. Upon noticing the two-pronged bite marks, the Garcias said “The first thing that came to our head was the Chupacabras.”

Early reports of the Chupacabra in the Western world date back to a rash of reports from Puerto Rico in 1995, during which the classic “symptoms” of an alleged Chupacabra residence came to the attention of the mass media. However, the strange case of “The Vampire of Moca,” in which strange animal slayings of farm animals occurred in the Puerto Rican town of Moca in 1875, may actually predate the now-famous 1995 reports. Still, reports of “vampires” in the folklore of Latin American countries date back several centuries, and modern Ufologists have considered whether such reports might have some factual basis in the existing mythology surrounding what is now called the Chupacabra.

Most recently, the Chupacabra has made headlines after a series of dogs and coyotes suffering from mange and other skin diseases have contributed to reports of “hairless dogs,” often equated with reptiles for their hairless appearance, a number of which have been discovered dead. In nearly every circumstance, evidence strongly suggests that the creatures were merely canines suffering from various ailments.

Still, the earliest reports of alleged “Chupacabras” detail monkey-like, green-skinned (or scaled) creatures with glowing eyes, frills running the length of the spine, and even “bat-like wings” in a few reports. The question, it seems, lies in when exactly the cultural perception of these proposed mystery beasts began to equate their appearance with canines, rather than the traditional alien-like creatures that early encounters detail. Does this indicate that there is an overt cultural aspect to interpretation of what are reported as Chupacabra attacks and encounters? Or, on the other hand, does it merely mean that early reports of Chupacabras differ so greatly from those reported in the last two-to-four years because the “canine” creatures being discussed aren’t actually a match for “true Chupacabras”–whatever they may actually be?