BERLIN, Ga. — Experts question whether the chupacabra exists, but one Colquitt County resident was convinced when a strange animal was spotted in his yard.

Neighbors on Old Berlin Road trapped the animal in a ditch until a Colquitt County sheriff’s deputy and a Georgia game warden could arrive.

After a brief game of hide and seek with the alleged chupacabra, the animal turned out to be a coyote.

“I got dispatched out here earlier in reference to a strange looking animal in a ditch,” said Deputy Kevin Tucker. “When I arrived at the scene I spoke to one of the neighbors and she said it looked like a chupacabra. They blocked it off on one end and, that’s when I took a look down there with my flashlight and I thought it was a fox with a severe case of the mange, so I called DNR because they have the equipment for this stuff and we caught it.”

After a short struggle, the coyote was pulled out of the ditch. However, it had a severe case of Sarcoptic mange and died before it could get proper treatment.

The chupacabra is a legendary beast, but a recent one. The first description was reported in 1995 in Puerto Rico. It allegedly attacks livestock and drinks their blood, which led to its name: In Spanish, chupacabra literally means “goat sucker.”

Many reports of chupacabras are found to be canines suffering from mange, according to Brittanica.com.