Starobin "Chupacabra" mystery solved
Local inhabitants described the ethereal creature to Euroradio, while specialists explained who tore the hens' heads off.
The rumours about an uncatchable "chupacabra" which sucked the blood of domestic animals frightened the whole settlement of Starobin and spread all over Belarus. We headed there to check the information.
Two local ladies described the domestic animals murderer to us:
"The people are scared of coming out of their houses. Last night it broke into four sheds again. People say it's some kind of a wolverine. A woman switched on the lights while it was there, she says it had hindpaws long like a calf's, and short forepaws, and some queer head, either a dog's one, or a sheep's one".
Sheds in Cosmonauts Street
It turned put that the attacks on the domestic animals and birds started last winter, and the rumours about "chupacabra" spreaded after someone had called the journalists' hotline.
Broken metallic fence.
Representatives of the Starobin forestry told us that the brigades including policemen, rescuers and forestry workers had been on duty in places of domestic animals killings at night on October 11-12.
Starobin forestry
However, the local officials provide no information, pretend that the problem does not exist and insist that the journalists tell lies.
The killed animals' bodies were sent to the Salihorsk district veterinarian station for an examination. Chief Vet of the station Mikhail Tkachyk told his opinion on what could kill the hens.
"Martens, ferrets. This is their favourite hunting object. Everything is good here, we clarified the situation".
Associate Professor of Zoology Department of Veterinarian Medicine Academy Tamara Myadzvedzskaya said the following:
"Ferrets usually act like this. They kill many animals, not just kill one animal and eat it - they kill, suck blood, cripple and strangulate as many as they can when they come to a place. At present, there's famine in the pre-winter period famine, so they look for food wherever possible, and even come to people's houses."
No "blood sucker" has been caught yet, so we cannot be 100% sure that it is a forest predator.
In this situation, local priest Father Henadz urges to appeal to God for help and not to believe in ethereal creatures like "chupacabra".
