DONDI RATLIFF: Blue Dog report

Hello there, Mr Downes.

I'm Dondi Ratliff and I live here in Texas. I keep tabs on your site and blog. I'm fascinated by cryptozoology and the like, so it's definitely in my bookmark list. ;)

I'm writing today because my sister, who is an editor of the Olney Enterprise newspaper, just contacted me about a "chupacabra" sighting. Now, having seen you and Corinna came down to Texas in March looking for the blue dogs, I figured you might find this interesting. Is it a parasite or mangy coyote or raccoon? They've sent it off for testing after having shot it. It apparently bit a woman, though!

This is more or less in my "neighborhood" in that it's in Jack County, about one up and over from where I am in Stephens (I've attached a .gif I found with Texas counties on it so you're not completely lost with the names I'm tossing out - we have something like 245 counties in Texas or something akin to that). I know you and the team were down to the south looking for blue dogs, but this article from KAUZ Channel 6 in Wichita Falls states that other "grey" looking "chupacabras" have been found in Hood and Wise counties (south of Jack and east of it, respectively). They turned out to be parasite-filled coyotes and mangy raccoons, so this one may turn out the same. But who knows? The link my sister pointed me to is:

http://www.newschannel6now.com/Global/story.asp?S=13026402

She's from Texoma, but was in Jack County.

Now, my sister had something interesting to say about the blue dogs/"chupacabra" - she's heard that some decades ago, the coyote population here in Texas was such a nuisance that the Texas or national government actually infected several populations with mange or some other form of illness trying to eradicate them. These creatures may be the descendants or results of that attempt. I don't know where she got her information, and it may just be an old wives' tale she's heard some old folks talking about in the countryside, but there you have it.

I'll see if she can't keep me posted on what turns up out of this, if anything!

- Miss Dondi Ratliff