Paul Stuart drives down Gosling Road near Woodlands Parkway almost every day, but it's not every day that he encounters a legendary beast. But Stuart says it happened, and it was so unbelievable that he immediately pulled out his video camera and began to record.

Chupacabra sighting in The Woodlands?

That was, at least, his first reaction. Stuart said he had no idea what the nearly hairless, four-legged creature could have been. In fact, he'd never seen anything like it.

"Whatever it was, it wasn't right," he said. "I can't confirm nor deny. I don't know what it is."

The chupacabra is a legendary beast rumored to inhabit parts of the Americas. The name comes from the animal's reported habit of attacking and drinking the blood of livestock-especially goats. Physical descriptions of the creature have varied.

Biologists and wildlife experts dismiss the chupacabra as nothing more than an urban legend.

But what makes Stuart's story unique is that chupacabra sightings usually happen in Mexico or other parts of Texas-not here in the Houston area.

"This rare sighting certainly resembles what other people report as being a chupacabra," said Stuart.

Keith Crenshaw, an urban biologist with Texas Parks and Wildlife, said there is no such thing as a chupacabra. After viewing Stuart's video, he said he knew exactly what the unusual animal was.

"It's a coyote. It's a coyote. No doubt," said Crenshaw.

Crenshaw said the coyote had a very serious case of mange, and proper authorities need to be alerted.

"At this point I would contact the local vets in that area and let them know that a wild animal has been indentified that has this type of mange," Crenshaw said.

But even though Stuart's chupacabra appears to be nothing more than a sick coyote, the legend of the mythical creature said to stalk the herds of farmers and ranchers is unlikely to die.