Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

Efforts by San Diegan Help Critically Endangered Chupacabra

FEVERISHLY DIALING THE PEOPLE AT ANIMAL PLANET - As recently as five years ago, the Chupacabra was in danger of becoming a myth. Only three were thought to remain in the wild, and an effort to house one at the San Diego Wild Animal Park ended with the horrific and seemingly improbable death of Gus the white African rhino. But today, it looks like there may be hope for the legendary goat-sucker.

"What really inspired us was the great job the California Wolf Center did with reintroducing the Mexican Gray Wolf into the wild," explains Chelsea Randlett, the San Diego-born Director of the Chupacabra Rehabilitation Alliance in Zapopan-Yucatan (CRAZY). "They took a natural predator, bred it in captivity, and released it into Federally protected grazing lands just loaded with slow-moving, juicy cattle.

Such a move might seem a little, well, crazy, since historically, wolves were killed by ranchers for attacking livestock. But, notes Randlett, "at the Wolf Center, researchers have been experimenting with taste aversion - lacing meat with a nausea-inducing chemical. Dan Moriarty, a professor of psychological sciences at the University of San Diego, is using the technique to teach captive Mexican gray wolves that eating sheep will make them sick."

"We're doing the same thing with the Chupacabras and goat-blood," explains Randlett. "We've been getting the goats here at the CRAZY corral super drunk on fermented feed, so that their blood alcohol level is totally elevated. When the Chupacabra starts sucking, it gets a little buzzed, and loses its natural sense of when to stop - just like a conventioneer down in the Gaslamp. It just keeps drinking and drinking, and eventually, it gets pretty darned nauseous. With any luck, it will learn its lesson and never drink goat blood again. Just like a person would!"

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all

Previous article

Nation’s sexy soldiers stage protest at Pendleton in wake of change in Marine uniform policy

Semper WHY?

FEVERISHLY DIALING THE PEOPLE AT ANIMAL PLANET - As recently as five years ago, the Chupacabra was in danger of becoming a myth. Only three were thought to remain in the wild, and an effort to house one at the San Diego Wild Animal Park ended with the horrific and seemingly improbable death of Gus the white African rhino. But today, it looks like there may be hope for the legendary goat-sucker.

"What really inspired us was the great job the California Wolf Center did with reintroducing the Mexican Gray Wolf into the wild," explains Chelsea Randlett, the San Diego-born Director of the Chupacabra Rehabilitation Alliance in Zapopan-Yucatan (CRAZY). "They took a natural predator, bred it in captivity, and released it into Federally protected grazing lands just loaded with slow-moving, juicy cattle.

Such a move might seem a little, well, crazy, since historically, wolves were killed by ranchers for attacking livestock. But, notes Randlett, "at the Wolf Center, researchers have been experimenting with taste aversion - lacing meat with a nausea-inducing chemical. Dan Moriarty, a professor of psychological sciences at the University of San Diego, is using the technique to teach captive Mexican gray wolves that eating sheep will make them sick."

"We're doing the same thing with the Chupacabras and goat-blood," explains Randlett. "We've been getting the goats here at the CRAZY corral super drunk on fermented feed, so that their blood alcohol level is totally elevated. When the Chupacabra starts sucking, it gets a little buzzed, and loses its natural sense of when to stop - just like a conventioneer down in the Gaslamp. It just keeps drinking and drinking, and eventually, it gets pretty darned nauseous. With any luck, it will learn its lesson and never drink goat blood again. Just like a person would!"

Sponsored
Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

San Diegans who keep wild animals as pets

How much is that bobcat in the window?
Next Article

Responding to criticism, SeaWorld retools Shamu show into Killer Whale Bloodbath

Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.