SAN ANTONIO -- There have been numerous answers from across the world, but one San Antonio man believes he has the correct one in the mystery of the Cuero "chupacabra."

Sam Rodgers said he grew up in Mexico and has spent much of his life working there, which is why he's confident in proclaiming the animal as an old Aztec dog known as an itzcuintli.

"There's no goat-sucking-nothing there," he said. "I think the public's been soaked on that one."

According to Aztec legend, the itzcuintli was sent by the gods to accompany the souls of the dead to their eternal resting place. The dog is widespread in Mexico, Rodgers said, and rarely seen in this area of Texas.

Last week, two DeWitt County sheriff's deputies on patrol captured images of an animal running along a dirt road. Cpl. Brandon Riedel said he believed the animal was the fabled chupacabra, a mythical creature believed to be from Puerto Rico with supposed appearances throughout Mexico, Texas and the southwestern United States.

In 2007, a Cuero woman found what she believed to be a dead chupacabra, but later tests at Texas State University-San Marcos showed the animal to be of the canine family.