The first reported attacks ocurred in March 1995 in Puerto Rico. In this attack, eight sheep were discovered dead, each with three puncture wounds in the chest area and completely drained of blood. A few months later, in August, an eyewitness, Madelyne Tolentino, reported seeing the creature in the Puerto Rican town of Canovanas, when as many as 150 farm animals and pets were reportedly killed. in 1975, similar killings in the small town of moca. were attributed to El vampiro de Moca. Initially it was suspected that the killing were comitted by a satanic cult.

Puerto Rican comedian and entrepeneur Silverio Perez is credited with coining the term chupacabras soon after the first incidents were reported in the press. Shortly after the first reported incidents in Puerto Rico, other animal deaths were reported in other countries such as the Dominican Republic, Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Panama, Peru, Brazil, United States, Mexico and Venezuela.