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.