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Comment by gus_massa | Hacker News Reader

Do you have a link to a news coverage of this?

The story and mutilations look very similar to the epidemic of chupacabras attacks that we had in Argentina in 2002. It was covered for a month by all the major newspaper and TV stations. [spoiler alert: it was just the misclassifications of the result of mice and foxes and other animals eating the corpse]

Autotranslations:

https://translate.google.com/translate?sl=auto&tl=en&u=https...

EDIT: Perhaps you can put a bluetooth detectors in the necks of the horses that sends a signal to your home. I guess the attackers will forget to turn off their cell phones and you can try to detect them. (Anyway, my main hypothesis is that is a misclassification.)

View on HN

..... but a few quiet voices have raised the possibility that no one is responsible for the shocking injuries. On 3 September, Le Monde pointed out that they could be a natural phenomenon – horses that have hurt themselves or died naturally and been set upon by scavengers such as foxes and crows. Previous scares, from the US to Germany, have eventually been explained this way. In the UK, in the decade from 1983, a rash of horse mutilations was widely blamed on a “horse ripper”, but despite prolonged investigations no conviction was ever made. Experts concluded that most of the injuries were sustained through accident or post mortem. A fox’s teeth are razor sharp, apparently; they can inflict damage that closely resembles a knife wound.... From https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/sep/23/horse-...

Definitely not chupacabras, unless they drive cars :)

I intentionally didn't post link to news coverage, because that's graphic and, quite frankly, I don't want this post to become a badge of honor or suggestion for some of those people who could be around.

If they found car tracks, my guess is that they misinterpreted them as simultaneous to the attack. Perhaps they were older tracks. Perhaps some newer tracks after the animals died and the owner or some relative took a look.

Try to read a few reports of somewhat similar case, like the one I linked. We agree that in neither case the explanation is the chupacabras. But it is interesting to see how a bad explanation can get a lot of media coverage and the evidence misinterpreted.

Also, try to get some sleep. If your explanation is correct, you would think a better and build a better system with enough sleep.

(And no bobby traps, you may kill a relative or a innocent bystander.)

No, you don't get it. We've seen the people trying to do it. We've chased them. They're real, they use ropes and knives. Those are not random accidents.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com