The goat sucker itself, Martin says, is all too real. In a long phone interview with this reporter on December 3, Martin gave many details of the strange creature and its year-long rampage of animal kills all over the island. Since last December, when the first reports came in, Martin says the goat sucker is thought responsible for over 1,000 killings of goats, sheep, cattle, chickens and other animals. Though there is no known case of an attack on a human, there are many reports of close encounters and many eyewitness accounts, which describe a creature unlike any known to science.
Martin faxed this reporter a drawing, made by himself from numerous eyewitness descriptions. (Martin himself has not seen the creature and says no photos have been taken.) From the drawing and Martin's explanation, a truly bizarre picture emerges.
The "goat sucker" -- a name concocted by derisive local news reporters when the creature first came to light -- is generally said to be 4 to 5 feet tall and walks upright. It is not humanoid. Its face is somewhat like a baboon, although it has extremely large, almond shaped eyes. Its body is somewhat like a kangaroo -- especially the powerful legs. It has three long claws on each hand and foot. It is hairy but also seems able to change color, from dark brown or black at night to green or brownish green during the day. It has four very long fangs that protrude from the mouth, two upward and two downward, not in front but somewhat spread apart. But the two oddest features of this animal are a set of fleshy triangular appendages running from its head down the spine; and folds of skin between the arms and torso which apparently allow it to glide like a flying squirrel. It has been seen to make huge leaps with its powerful legs, and is seen perched in trees as well as on the ground.
Jorge Martin believes there might be two or more related kinds of these creatures, since not all reports are identical. Occasionally, a witness says the creature is much larger, up to seven feet tall. Occasionally, the creature is said to have feathers. Usually, the creature is said to have red eyes, but occasionally the eyes are reported as blue.
Whether there are several different types is debatable, but Martin is sure there are at least several specimens loose on the island. In some instances, he says, two or three have been sighted together. Martin also believes that two specimens were captured or killed by authorities, then immediately taken off the island. There is no direct evidence of this, however.
Nor is it clear whether the creatures are related in any way to UFOs. Puerto Rico has long been a hot-bed of UFO activity, but only a few of the many goat sucker reports include mention of a UFO. Martin says he knows of two instances where the creatures were seen going into a UFO. But the physical description of the creatures bears no resemblance to any "alien" ever reported; nor do the creatures appear intelligent in the human sense; nor do the creature attacks seem much like the better known surgical mutilations of cattle, also seen occasionally on Puerto Rico (as well as all over the United States) and often linked to UFO activity. In short, there is no compelling reason, as yet, to link the goat sucker to UFOs.
While the Puerto Rican press has been reporting new encounters with the goat sucker almost daily, the government of Puerto Rico seems intent on ignoring the situation. Martin said the top police official on the island issued an order to all police personnel to ignore complaints about the goat sucker unless a person is attacked. Nonetheless, Martin said he knows of at least one instance where a policeman fired his 357 magnum revolver at a creature from less than ten feet away, but to no effect. Meanwhile, the public uproar is so great that many night workers are refusing to report to work, fearing to be caught by the goat sucker after dark.
In the town of Canovanas, where the goat sucker is often seen, Mayor Jose Soto has enlisted the help of local civil defense workers and ordinary citizens to search the woods for the creature. Soto has been quoted as saying the situation is very serious, and he fears it is only a matter of time before humans are attacked. Though his political opponents say he is stirring unnecessary fears, his active response to the goat sucker is strongly supported by the local citizens.
But Jorge Martin says the situation is gravely compromised by apparent government indifference, exploitative "UFO groups," and most recently, by the arrival of a film crew from the U.S. television program "Inside Edition." The crew interviewed Martin and several witnesses on Friday, December 1, and left no doubt that they planned to ridicule the entire situation. Martin was infuriated. The "Inside Edition" story -- probably the first television coverage in the U.S. on this bizarre subject -- aired on Friday, December 8 and was derisive and dismissive, as Martin had feared.
CNI News will continue to update this story as new information is received.
Original file name: .CNI - Goat Sucker update 12.11
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