Chupacabra Investigator's Plaster Footprint Cast Identified as Size 11 Hiking Boot

A plaster cast of a footprint recovered during a chupacabra investigation in South Texas has been identified by a forensic podiatrist as a men's size 11 hiking boot, likely a Merrell Moab model, in what the investigating researcher called 'a complex but not disqualifying finding.' 'The mainstream interpretation is that this is a human footprint,' said researcher Diego Nocturnal, examining the cast under fluorescent lighting. 'But that interpretation assumes chupacabras don't wear boots. Where is the peer-reviewed literature on chupacabra footwear? It doesn't exist. We're operating in an evidentiary vacuum.' The cast was taken at 5:30 AM on a ranch outside Laredo, near a site where a goat owner had reported the suspicious death of three animals. Nocturnal identified the print as 'anomalous' based on its location -- approximately fifteen feet from the goat pen -- and its depth, which he said indicated 'something heavy.' 'Or someone heavy,' noted ranch hand Miguel Torres, who wears size 11 Merrell Moab hiking boots and had walked past the goat pen that morning to check on the animals. Nocturnal did not interview Torres, explaining that 'witness contamination of the evidence site is a known challenge in cryptid field work' and that 'asking the ranch hand if the footprint is his would introduce bias.' A veterinarian who examined the deceased goats determined the cause of death to be coyote predation, noting bite marks and tracks consistent with a pack of three to four coyotes. 'Coyotes are the official explanation for everything,' Nocturnal said. 'At some point, we have to ask ourselves: are there really this many coyotes? Or is something else going on?' The plaster cast has been added to Nocturnal's evidence archive, which contains forty-seven casts. Forty-three have been identified as human footwear, two as bear, one as raccoon, and one as 'unidentified,' which Nocturnal considers his strongest piece of evidence.