North Devon Chupacabra Hunter

A North Devon man has returned from a South American hunt for an elusive paranormal entity. John Downes, who comes from Bideford but is currently based in Exeter, has spent the last few weeks tracking down the chupacabra -- a three foot long animal resembling a kangaroo with spikes.

John said: "I spend my life travelling around the world looking for mysterious, hidden and unknown animals." He is one of only two cryptozoologists in the country -- normal zoologists with an interest in the paranormal or unexplained.

While John was tracking this mysterious animal across central America, following up 38 sightings of the beast, he visited a farm in the small Mexican desert village of Puebla where the chupacabra had reportedly attacked three sheep and a goat.

"Twelve hours after the attack a sheep had been drained of blood, it had no heart beat and was not breathing. But the animal was still alive. It was like it was in a zombie state. I saw all the medical reports but they did not know the explanation for this, they did not know what caused the sheep to stay alive. It was so bizarre," John said.

Unfortunately, John did not actually find the animal, but he has had more success chasing after other unusual beings.

Exactly a year ago he saw the Beast of Bodmin and has also found a foot print belonging to the Skunk Ape -- the South Coast of the United States' version of Big Foot, in the Florida Everglades.

But of 'Nessie' he is more sceptical. "There is no evidence for the Loch Ness monster apart from the eye witness reports," he said. "The more research I do the more I think it's not a flesh and blood monster."

John started on this unusual career path after he was made redundant from his nursing job. "It's something which has always interested me," he said. "I started writing articles about the paranormal for various magazines, then by chance I started publishing my own magazine." But it was not until about five years ago when he was described as the best UK cryptozoologist that he started the trips to find these unusual creatures. "A lot of what I do is very straight forward, sorting out zoological enigmas. A lot is not very exciting in people's minds," John said.

His favourite search was for the Shug Monkey in East Anglia on the site of the UK's version of the Roswell incident.

John said: "The Shug Monkey, which is a cross between a dog and a monkey, has been seen for about 700 years in that area. But I got really fascinated when sightings were reported across America in other UFO areas." He has footprints from this creature, but, like the Loch Ness monster, believes this is not a flesh and blood animal.

John has recently published his own book Animals and Men, detailing his search for the Cornish Owl Man -- the figure of a small man covered in grey feathers -- throughout Devon and Cornwall. "All the paranormal books mention him in passing. I went through all the 28 sightings and discovered similar things had been seen across the two counties. It's quite a regional phenomenon," he said.