Letters To The Editor

I'm writing to you because I'd like to dispel some of the rumours that have been circulated about my species. As a chupacabra I have a great sense of pride about what we have achieved over the years and I'm disappointed that all that is being demeaned by rumours.

Firstly our name, and I think that this just goes to show how wonderful the variations in the English language are, as well as unfortunate. Chupacabra to you means goat sucker, how the distinction came into play I don't know but in our dialect it actually means goat herder. This came from our original working nature in the hills herding the wild goats. We were protectors to them in the perilous environments, over the years they have adapted and are much more sure-footed on the rocky terrain.

As for our appearance, we are not alien like, we can only assume this came from the science fiction films at the time of our experimental integration. We are essentially a breed of hardy dog. Our skin is not scaly, working for so long in the dusty and rocky regions have meant that our hide has adapted itself to the dry and abrasive environment. This means less hair and thicker skin to protect against the possibility of injury from falling rocks. We have also developed a stance that replicates that of a meerkat, a regular four-legged position is fine when moving between camp area but when searching for strays it isn't the most productive. As for the cruel “sulphuric stench” rumour all I can say is, why don't you try being a working animal out in that condition with a diet of moss and the occasional dead animal and see how you smell.

We do have unusual vocal habits, again this is something we've developed to communicate with each other through the echoey caverns and with the goats in something that is more similar to their own noises.

With the goats adapting to their terrain we have gradually been finding our skills in the wild are less of a necessity. We would still love to be useful members of society and over the years we have tried to integrate. People are not the friendliest to things they are not familiar with and this has been where the rumours have started. We made our way closer to towns to find work, and obviously went directly to farms as this is where our skills lay. As I said, we are very protective and upon approaching a few farms we discovered that coyotes and other wild dogs were attacking the flocks. Naturally we run to protect the defenceless animals, all that their owners see is a mauled carcass and growling “beast”.

It upsets me that everyone has forgotten “innocent until proven guilty” and is not willing to enter into communication with us about what has happened. We're very proficient when it comes to security measures and could advise them on improvements but we are chased away like common criminals.

Here's wishing for a brighter future where we will be able to work together for a better community.

Yours,

Alejandro the chupacabra