The Chupacabras continues to be a source of strange animal deaths in Puerto Rico. This report by José A. Martínez of Puerto Rico's PRRG establishes an interesting causal link between the phases of the moon and mutilations.


Animal Mutilations in Puerto Rico
by José A. Martínez Echevarría
Puerto Rican Research Group (PRRG)

Mysterious animal deaths began to occur on July 28, 2001 in the southern reaches of the island of Puerto Rico, this time in the peaceful community of Guánica, specifically in the La Joya sector. These events played out a farm belonging to "don Gustavo", owner of several farm animals, who lost 60 pregnant sheep to an unknown predator. "don Gustavo" did not notify the police, since he felt the animals had been slain by stray dogs and therefore chose to bury them without giving researchers time to look into the matter.

August 2, 2001

Carmelo Sepúlveda would be next on the list for the predator commonly known as "Chupacabras". His rabbits were attacked at 3:00 a.m.--one animal was decapitated while the cage remained locked, and the male rabbit received injuries to its extremities.

The beheaded rabbit--the female--had its head within the cage, which showed no signs of having been opened. Its body, however was outside, and its entrails were still inside the cage; the extremities were missing. Only the animals carcass remained. The surviving rabbit showed clear indications of fear.

One of Carmelo's neighbors heard the rabbits squealing and lit an outside bulb that faces toward his neighbor's animal cages. Since Carmelo himself could not see what was going on, he decided to go out and take a look. Upon doing so, he realized there was something resembling a child standing near one of the cages, but the poor light quality was not enough to let him make out any details. Whatever it was, it took shelter among Sepúlveda's cages, and the rabbit's squeals were extinguished.

In daylight, Carmelo went to check on his rabbits and was confronted by the savage scene. He phoned the police, an action which resulted in a visit from agent Rivera Rullán, Badge #2224, who filled out the complaint (police report) 01-3-029-02783.

August 6, 2001

Four days after the animal mutilations in the La Joya sector of Guánica, the creature attacked yet again--this time near the residence of Mrs. Rosa Flores. Two dead rabbits were found savagely mutilated within an unopened cage. One of them presented a completely empty chest cavity; only its heart was visible. Its legs, fur and eyes had been removed.

Another rabbit had also been stripped and its legs had been removed. Unlike the other animal, its chest cavity was intact, but it had been rendered completely bloodless.

Some of Mrs. Flores's neighbors heard dogs bark incessantly in the early hours of that Monday the 6th (around 3:00 a.m.). A commotion could be heard to come from their neighbor's chicken coops.

When we investigated the site, we found something unusual: claw-marks on several cages containing two fighting roosters. Three and four fingered claw marks were also found in the lower sections of these cages. It also turned out that the creature may have been accompanied by another of either smaller or greater size: footprints both large and small were found throughout the area along with canine prints.

August 14, 2001

Seven days after the mutilations at Mrs. Flores's, there was a renewed attack at Carmelo Sepúlveda's house: this time the rabbit which had survived the August 2nd attack was slain by the unknown assailant. A female rabbit was missing from another cage and was not seen again. The male rabbit's cage was still closed and the dead animal was in the right rear corner.

A necropsy was performed upon this rabbit to establish the damage to the animal. This step-by-step procedure was captured on video and photos were also taken. Mr. Carmelo was asked if any noises had been heard that night. His reply was negative, but that the neighborhood's dogs had been excited. However, Mr. Carmelo's neighbors were getting into their van as they headed toward the bakery in which they work, and noticed that a red light was reflecting off their vehicle. The female neighbor tried to ascertain its source, and looked toward a quenepa tree (leafy tree with edible fruit), where she saw a shadowy figure looking at her with red eyes. She got into the van and took off without saying a word to her husband until they reached the bakery. Her husband believed that it was merely a reflection of street lights against the van's metal, but upon investigation, it was proven that said street light does not reflect on the vehicle. Therefore, the area was completely dark. This leaves the possibility that the red light came from the creature having climbed up the fruit tree's branches. This case was filed with the Puerto Rican police as complaint number 01-3-029-02908.

That very same night, another attack occurred twelve houses down the street from the Sepulveda residence. It was not possible to conduct a thorough investigation here, because the slain animal's owners balked at allowing researchers onto the premises. However, such was Juan Vélez's insistence that he was given a dead rabbit in order to establish a cause of death. This too was impossible to accomplish, given that nothing was left of the animal but its skin and head. This family refused to call the police or the media, and we later discovered why: they had originally mocked Carmelo Sepúlveda and his losses, only to experience the deaths of 15 rabbits on their own property.

August 16, 2001

A renewed attack at Carmelo Sepúlveda's house. This time it was a female rabbit, wounded on the rear legs with superficial injuries on its back and teats. No animals died during this event. That very same evening we installed a security camera to determine what is causing the animal deaths; to date, only dogs, and cats have been recorded--nothing that could be termed anomalous. The dogs can be said to have been attracted by the blood from the rabbits' injuries, and the cats have been curious, but at no time did the canines attack the animals. It would be necessary to wait until the next full moon on September 2, 2001 to see if the unknown perpetrator could be recorded on video.

August 28, 2001

The unexpected occurred: an eyewitness saw the creature as it engaged in animal attacks. This happened around 10:00 p.m. while the moon was waxing. Three-fingered casts were obtained on this occasion.

September 2, 2001

Between 1 and 1:30 p.m. approximately the creature was seen by a teenager living on the second story of Mr. Carmelo Sepúlveda's house. According to the minor (who asked that her name be kept confidential): "I was nursing my baby when I heard a rattling in the carport. At that moment it led me to believe that someone was taking the beer bottles my dad had left on the carport's low walls, when I saw a shadow waddling like a penguin at the site, since the smoked glass door allowed me to see if there was someone there. When I went out to check, I saw a black shadow some 3 to 4 feet tall. I screamed for my mother, but the thing had already gone."

That very same evening a second security camera was installed, given that it was a night of full moon and a constant has already been confirmed regarding the behavior of the so-called "Chupacabras".

September 5, 2001

The creature was seen around 10:00 p.m. in the yard of a house not far from the Sepúlveda's--Mrs. Gloria Carballo witnessed it at around 7:36 p.m. [missing fragment--Ed.] and it sped up, leaving a wake of sparks in what appeared to be a soundless explosion.

September 22, 2001

Carmelo Sepúlveda's female rabbit died of an apparent heart attack. This animal was the last one to be attacked by the Chupacabras and was badly injured in its extremities. It is not known if its death was due to a bacterial infection produced by the injuries.

Disinformation Groups

Unfortunately, there are groups in Puerto Rico that devote themselves to harm serious efforts at research such as this one, which apply scientific tools and methods. These individuals claim to hold doctorates in hypnosis, parapsychology, sexology, psychology, ufology, etc.

The alleged leader and founder of the group, named "Noel", boasts that extraterrestrials can be seen everywhere, and sees dimensional doorways everywhere his group goes, smell sulfur when the Chupacabras is around, see aliens on the beach whenever they hold skywatches--in short, a cascade of foolishness. These individuals lack the investigative equipment with which to support what they say on their radio broadcasts. They claimed to have performed a "necropsy" on one of Carmelo Sepúlveda's rabbits and announced this on their radio broadcast. One wonders how this could have been achieved when they only took the rabbit's head and left the rest of the carcass on Sepúlveda's front porch--a signal lack of professionalism.

According to our research, there are no laboratories in Puerto Rico that can certify the necropsy performed on the animal. There is only one laboratory in the city of Bayamón and it is a federal facility. A call was placed to this facility to obtain answers to a series of questions, and we were informed that they do not certify necropsies performed by civilian groups or organizations, only state or federal ones, and that the cost is considerable.

Some of the documents issued by this alleged research group are simply drafted on a PC and not by a laboratory; there are no official stamps or seals to accredit the facility.