- Diario 'Extra' - San José de Costa Rica
- Jueves 18 de Marzo de 2004
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- Several groups of dead hens were bled dry in the backyard
of the Rodriguez household.
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- A nocturnal Chupacabras attack took place last Tuesday
night in a chicken coop owned by Gonzalo Rodriguez of San Juan de San Ramon,
Ajuela Province, Costa Rica.
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- Nearly 20 beautiful, plump hens--the type that takes
pide in laying large eggs--were found dead and without a trace of blood,
bearing twin puncture marks on their backs. The birds were completely dry.
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- It was late at night when Rodriguez heard strange noises
and a ruckus coming from the henhouse on his property--a commotion that
was far from being normal. He decided to send his son to check with a flashlight
to make sure thieves weren't at work.
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- The youth obeyed his father and flashlight in hand approached
the large henhouse stealthily, becoming terrified upon seeing a strange
black animal, standing some 40 cm. tall and resembling a small dog with
a long tail and standing on two legs. He recalls, among what little he
was able to see through the flashlight's beam, that the animal had a very
long tongue. Upon seeing the light, the creature fled into the vegetation,
skillfully leaping over a wall.
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 An inspection of the henhouse revealed that twenty hens
had been slain. Police authorities of the nearby town of San Ramon were
notified and officer Marcos Hernandez reported to the scene to corroborate
not only Gonzalo Rodriguez's account, but the testimony of frightened neighbors.
- The officer was able to ascertain that several "bunches"
of dead hens lay near the property's fence. The birds were whole and the
only sign of damage to them were the two small holes on its back, through
which it is presumed that the strange assailant drove its fangs to remove
or suck their blood.
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- Witnesses immediately ascribed the blame for the chicken
slayings to the legendary, sinister and mysterious creature known throughout
Mesoamerica as the Chupacabras.
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- What occurred two nights ago at the Rodriguez henhouse
was immediately associated with an earlier, similar event, in which dead
sheep had been found with the same characteristics: twin puncture marks
on their necks or back and not a single drop of blood.
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- Two days ago, at the same site and to eliminate any questions,
Luis Morun and Luis Angulo, neighbors of the Rodriguez family, butchered
each of the animals to insure that the birds were totally dry and without
a drop of blood.
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- Neighbors have rejected the possibility that a weasel,
wolf or hen-killing predator such as a fox could be involved. What startled
them most is that formerly one or two hens would vanish--now twenty did
so at the same time.
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- Translation (C) 2004. Scott Corrales, IHU. Special thanks
to Gloria Coluchi.
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