EXCLUSIVE

Someone dropped the 'Chupacabra' ... permanently -- TMZ has learned the weird-looking creature captured in Ratcliff, Texas has been put down.

Jackie Stock, the woman who found the animal which resembles a raccoon with mange tells TMZ ... she was advised to euthanize the animal because it was suffering.

Stock said after video of the creature went wide Thursday ... PETA started sending her and her husband messages, saying they were upset by the fact that the animal was in captivity and not receiving proper treatment.

She was also told if the animal really was a Chupacabra, it would have sucked the blood out of the goats next door before its capture. Stock was advised it was most likely a raccoon with mange that was in pain.

Stock adds the animal was never examined or tested to specifically identify it.

She took it to the shelter and was told "it went to sleep very peacefully," adding, "I had gotten attached. I was calling him Chupie. He will be missed."