Editing Chupacabra (section)

== Plausibility of existence ==
The chupacabra panic first started in late 1995, [[Puerto Rico]]: farmers were mass reporting the mysterious killings of various livestock. In these reports, the farmers recalled two puncture wounds on the animal carcasses.<ref name="Radford2011" /> Chupacabra killings were soon associated with a seemingly untouched animal carcass other than puncture wounds which were said to be used to suck the blood out of the victim. Reports of such killings began to spread around and eventually out of the country, reaching areas such as [[Mexico]], [[Brazil]], [[Chile]], and the Southern area of the [[United States]].

Most notably, these areas experience frequent, and extreme dry seasons; in the cases of the [[Puerto Ricans|Puerto Rican]] reports of 1995 and the [[Mexicans|Mexican]] reports of 1996, both countries were currently experiencing or dealing with the aftermath of severe [[drought]]s. Investigations carried out in both countries at this time noted a certain dramatic violence in these killings.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Davis |first=Mike |date=1997 |title=Monsters and Messiahs |url=https://doi.org/10.2307/25000088 |journal=Grand Street |issue=61 |pages=34–38 |doi=10.2307/25000088 |jstor=25000088 }}</ref> These environmental conditions could provide a simple explanation for the [[livestock]] killings: wild [[Predation|predators]] losing their usual [[prey]] to the [[drought]], therefore being forced to hunt the [[livestock]] of farmers for sustenance. Thus, the same theory can be applied to many of the other 'chupacabra' attacks: that the dry [[weather]] had created a more competitive environment for native [[Predation|predators]], leading them to prey on [[livestock]] to survive. Such an idea can also explain the increased violence in the killings; hungry and desperate [[Predation|predators]] are driven to hunt [[livestock]] to avoid starvation, causing an increase in both the number of [[livestock]] killings, and the viciousness of each one.

Evidence of such is provided in page 179 of [[Benjamin Radford]]'s book, ''Tracking the Chupacabra: The Vampire Beast in Fact, Fiction, and Folklore.'' [[Benjamin Radford|Radford's]] chart highlights ten significant reports of chupacabra attacks, seven of which had a carcass recovered and examined; these [[Autopsy|autopsies]] concluded the causes of death as various animal attacks, as displayed though the animal DNA found on the carcasses.<ref name="Radford2011" /> [[Benjamin Radford|Radford]] provides further evidence in pages 161-162 of his book, displaying animals who are proven to have fallen victim to regular [[coyote]] attacks; thus, explaining that it is not unusual for an animal carcass to be left uneaten while only displaying puncture wounds and/or minimal signs of attack.<ref name="Radford2011" />

The plausibility of the chupacabra's existence is also discredited by the varying descriptions of the creature. Depending on the reported sighting, the creature is described with thick skin or fur, wings or no wings, a long tail or no tail, is [[bat]]-like, [[dog]]-like, or even [[Extraterrestrial life|alien]]-like.<ref name="Radford2011" /> Evidently, the chupacabra has a wide variety of descriptions; to the point where it is hard to believe that all the sightings are of the same creature. A very likely explanation for this phenomenon is that individuals who had heard of the newly popular chupacabra had the creature's name fresh in their mind before they happened to see a strange looking animal. They then resort to make sense of their encounter by labelling it as the recently 'discovered' monster, instead of a more realistic explanation. For example, some scientists hypothesize that what many believe to be a chupacabra is a wild or domestic [[dog]] affected by [[mange]], a disease causing a thick buildup of skin and hair loss.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Rivkin |first=Jennifer |title=Searching for el Chupacabra |publisher=New York: PowerKids Press |year=2014 |isbn=978-1-4777-7113-6 |location=New York |pages=24 |language=English}}</ref>