Chupacabra hunted by police in Chile

Calama, Chile, April 2000

On Wednesday, April 19, 2000, Carabineros conducted an intensive search for a Chupacabra on the outskirts of Calama, a small city 300 kilometers (180 miles) northeast of Antofagasta.

The Carabineros fired several shots at an unknown intruder on the north bank of Rio Loa and later found several strange footprints at the spot.

According to the newspaper El Diario, "on Wednesday night, the fast, sudden movement of 'something' inside the bushes, accompanied by a strange howling, alerted police officers who fired a volley of shots in the air in the vicinity of the local cemetery."

"Nothing was found afterward except for a pair of strange footprints which were taken and sent to Santiago for analysis."

"Carabineros searched the north bank of the Rio Loa for more than three hours, covering four kilometers on foot, in search of the culprit (responsible for) the deaths of nearly 200 animals, but the possibility of human involvement has not been discounted."

Carabineros from the cuartel (barracks) at Aguas Buenas conducted the search and fired the shots at the intruder, which local residents said was a Chupacabra

The Chupacabra first appeared on the island of Puerto Rico in 1995. Since then the creature has been sighted in Mexico and Brazil.

"Police officers unsuccessfully combed the farms in the suburbs of" Calama "to search for an alleged Chupacabra which had already slain some 200 sheep and which had also attacked pigs in recent days," between April 15 and April 20.

"Alarmed by recent attacks, the regional government ordered patrols of the outskirts of the desert mining region about 1,600 kilometers (1,000 miles) north of Santiago de Chile. Policemen, accompanied by tracking dogs and under orders to open fire if attacked searched the farms where the locals maintain small cultivation operations..."

"The slaughter of pigs and sheep has been attributed not only to the Chupacabras--attorney and ufologist Boris Campos says that aliens from space may be to blame for the carnage."

On Thursday morning, April 20, 2000, authorities in San Fernando, another community of the El Loa region, west of Calama, received "reports about the strange deaths of some 30 hens, ducks, pigs and dogs in several areas. These killings have also been attributed to the Chupacabras."

"The bizarre deaths of sheep and goats in the region of Labanda, El Loa province, led to a summoning of a multi-agency meeting to discuss the subject and to agree on measures aimed at putting an end to the problem, and above all, determine who or what has caused the deaths..."

While the interagency meeting was taking place, more reports were received from Talcarehue, near San Fernando, "where strange animal deaths have also been reported over the past few days. Locals speak of the strange deaths of a hog, a dog, six chickens and some ducks under circumstances that remain unexplained, as well as the presence of footprints for which no explanation could be found."

On Saturday, April 22, 2000, authorities in northern Chile began to attribute the rash of strange animal deaths to a roving pack of wild dogs.

"Lucas Bouchard, chief of Environmental Hygiene and Food in Calama, explained that these animals tend to bite each other during fights, inflicting deep bloody wounds, thus developing a taste for the substance (blood). This gives rise to the hypothesis that (the dogs) running in packs now slay animals, and given the difficulty of consuming the flesh, are content to drink their blood."

Francisco Segocia, regional governor of El Loa province, said, "The footprints were taken to the Investigations lab. We cannot say what they are at this time, but at first sight, they come pretty near to dog prints, which tend to expand and acquire strange shapes. An operation has been conducted, and we want to point out that no evidence of the presence of a strange animal was found, nor of any strange phenomena that could be the cause of the animals' deaths."

(See the Miami Herald for April 20, 2000. Also El Diario and El Mercurio de Chile for April 20, 2000. Muchas gracias a Scott Corrales, auto de los libros Chupacabras and Other Mysteries y Forbidden Mexico, y tambien Gloria Coluchi para esas histories.)

Source: UFO ROUNDUP Volume 5 Number 17
© 2000 by UFO ROUNDUP/Masinaigan Productions, all rights reserved. Used with permission.