by Cockney Robin | cross-posted at BN-Politics | Apparently two men from Georgia (USA) have recovered
the frozen 7'7, 500 pound body of a creature they believe is
Sasquatch---or rather a sasquatch (NYT; click to see photo), since they claim they saw other similar creatures in the same area. (CNN) One of the finders is a former police officer and another is an ex-corrections officer. (CNN)
They won't say where they found it so as to protect those other
creatures. I call that very wise of them---and no, I'm not being sarky
here.
According to The New York Times:
[O]n Friday at a hotel in Palo Alto, Calif., a pair of Bigfoot hunters say they will present what they contend is the most definitive proof yet of an animal that science says does not exist: DNA evidence and photographs of a dead specimen they say they found in a remote swath of woods in northern Georgia.
“It was very frightening at first,” said Rick Dyer, 31, a former corrections officer who — coincidentally — runs a business that offers Bigfoot tours. “And it got even more frightening when you saw the others.”
Indeed, Mr. Dyer said he and his partner, Matthew Whitton, saw three more of the beasts nearby as they dragged the body of said creature out of the woods. Moreover, Mr. Dyer says he has video clips and photographs to prove it...(NYT).
Jesse McKinley, the author, says:
One photograph provided to the news media showed what resembled a gorilla — or maybe an old sheepskin rug — lying twisted in a freezer, with a dollop of intestines protruding from its belly.(NYT).
What would surprise me much more than the discovery of some sort of new species would be a sheepskin rug "with a dollop of intestines protruding from its belly." (NYT). That would be a true anomaly (and a horror as well).
But clearly---as the CNN video shows---the media are terribly afraid that the whole thing will prove to be a hoax.
I hope it's real partly because I would love for there to be a new or (newly discovered) species and partly because I would enjoy watching sceptics eat their words. Why not a new species, eh?
Tom Nelson, chairman of the biology department at North Georgia College and State University in Dahlonega, said he's "pretty skeptical" the world will feast its eyes on a new species Friday.
"That would certainly rock mammalogy," joked Nelson, who specializes in the study of mammals. "I see a research grant in my future."
The finders are having DNA testing performed and are promising to reveal the results next week.
Aficionados of this sort of thing will remember that back in 2003 a US forensics expert said that he believed footprints found in Washington State were genuine:
Investigator Jimmy Chilcutt of the Conroe Police Department in Texas, who specialises in finger and footprints, has said he believes he is certain around six footprints found - claimed to have been made by Bigfoot - are genuine
He added that one 42 cm (18-inch) print found in Washington in 1987 has convinced him.
"The unique thing about this cast is that it has dermal ridges - and the flow and texture matches the ridge flow texture of one from California," Mr Chilcutt told BBC World Service's Discovery programme.
"The ridges are about twice as thick as in a human being." ..He added that the ridge flow pattern was crucial in proving the prints had not been made by a very large-footed human or other primate...."The ridges run down the side of the foot - in humans, the ridges run across the width of the foot," he said.
"That's what makes it unique. The only other animal I've seen this in is a howler monkey in Costa Rica. (BBC News 10-2003)
Of course, the creature found by the two men was in Georgia, not Washington state. But the Director of the Texas Bigfoot Research Center, Craig Woolheater, said that there have been sightings in every state except for Hawaii and Rhode Island. (BBC News 10-2003) He pointed out then that if the sasquatch exists, it's "not the missing link, it's not an extra-terrestrial, it's just an animal---a flesh-and -blood primate that has learned to be elusive around man and avoids man where possible."(BBC News 10-2003)
Given that so many species of primates have been red-listed---and are among the most threatened animals on the planet---the discovery of a different sort would be very slightly cheering. (NB. This article explains why the fact that nearly 50% of the 634 species of primates are in danger of going extinct should make a chill run down your spine).
DAMOZEL ADDS: Here's the CNN footage (H/T Donklephant)
Comments