Texas couple who claim to have captured live chupacabra euthanise the animal

Local wildlife experts said the animal was suffering from a mange disease

Arlen Parma and her husband Jackie Stock claim they captured a live chupacabra Sunday night (KAVU-TV)

A Texas couple who claimed to have captured a live chupacabra have since euthanised the creature after being advised it was suffering.

The Ratcliff-based family said they caught the mythical creature with a reputation for sucking blood from livestock across America, after it wandered into their back garden.

The somewhat unlikely tale began when Jackie Stock and her husband Bubba discovered a growling, hairless animal eating corn in one of their trees.

Bubba captured the wrinkly beast and locked it in a cage, but later decided to put it down after being advised the animal was suffering from mange.

"We were just trying to figure out what it is because we've never seen anything like it before,” Ms Stock said at the time.

Wildlife Diversity Biologist Brent Ortego from Texas Parks and Wildlife told network KAVU that the animal was most likely to be "some form of canine".

“I had gotten attached,” Ms Stock told TMZ after. “ I was calling him Chupie. He will be missed.”

Ms Stock said she had received several complaints from animal rights campaigners because the creature was being kept in a cage.

A DeWitt County game warden allegedly told Ms Stock that it was illegal to keep the animal in captivity, according to the Department's spokesman, Josh Havens.

Mr Havens told the New York Daily News he had instructed the couple to either euthanise the animal or release it.