Monsters and Myths

THE Yowie has been unfairly blamed for the death of a dog in the Top End, according to one of the world’s leading cryptonaturalists.

Territory Yowie researcher Andrew McGinn told the Northern Territory News yesterday the dog’s death could be the work of the Bigfoot-like beast.

“The way the guy’s dog was killed was typical of a Yowie,” he said.

“I know it sounds fanciful but over the past 100 years, dogs get killed or decapitated and people report feeling watched, having goats stolen or seeing some tall hairy thing beforehand.”

But Tim the Yowie Man, a former economist who turned his hand to Yowie research after spotting a hairy beast on a bushwalk 15 years ago, said the Yowie was not to blame.

“I’m very concerned that the Yowie is being incorrectly portrayed as an aggressive creature that is posing a danger to people’s pets,” he said.

“In over 150 years of Yowie reports all over Australia, I’ve never heard of a Yowie ripping an animal’s head off.

“It is my understanding that in this case there is no evidence that proves a Yowie is responsible for biting the head off a seven-month-old puppy.

“To speculate, with a lack of conclusive evidence to back the claims, that the decapitation of this poor puppy was the work of a Yowie is alarmist.”

The Canberra cryptonaturalist said there had only been a handful of Yowie reports from the Territory in the past 15 years.

“One turned out to be a hoax, another turned out to be a hairy naked human running across the Stuart Highway near Alice Springs and the other was of spurious origin,” he said.

Source: ntnews

FAIRFIELD — It’s big, it’s hairy, and it’s been sighted in Jefferson County. Just don’t call it bigfoot.

“I’m not saying that is what it is by any means. I just had somebody call this office and report that is what they’d seen,” said Shawn Morrissey, operations and natural resource manager for Jefferson County Conservation.

Morrissey has received two reports of a large biped roaming the Skunk River valley on the eastern side of the county in as many years.

The first report came during the summer of 2007, and the second during the fall of last year.

The most recent caller claimed to have waited several months to contact officials after seeing what he described as a large hairy beast walking on two legs.

“It was pretty wishy-washy,” Morrissey said. “It’s my own personal feeling they saw something that tricked their eyes and was a very explainable animal.”

Morrissey said a more probable explanation would be the person saw a horse or a hunter wearing a Ghillie Suit, a type of a camouflage that can look like it’s covered in hair.

“I’m not going to say they didn’t (see something). But I think the more likely thing is they saw something in a flash or at a strange angle,” Morrissey said.

The sightings have not been investigated by county officials. Morrissey said he did not know the names of those who made the reports.

It’s unlikely a large fur-covered biped could play hide and seek in Iowa wilderness and remain undocumented. The state simply doesn’t have enough large stretches of timber where such a creature could live, Morrissey said.

“This is a very populated state really. There aren’t any big chunks of wilderness,” he said.

And during the winter when trees are stripped of their leaves, the ground is wide open to any plane passing overhead.

“Most actual animals have some kind of physical evidence,” Morrissey added.

However, common sense hasn’t stopped Sasquatch from popping up all over the state.

The Bigfoot Field Research Organization Web site, www.bfro.net, lists 40 bigfoot sightings in Iowa dating back to 1970, three of which come from Jefferson County, and one from Lee County.

thehawkeye.com/Story/bigfoot-030209

It seems so long ago that a couple of chancers from the state of Georgia declared that they had found Bigfoot. And it seems almost as long ago that it was discovered that they had merely purloined a gorilla suit and stuck it in a freezer.

However, one of the most renowned naturalists in the world, Sir David Attenborough, said this weekend that he still believes it might be out there.

Appearing with British talk show host Jonathan Ross, Sir David, the man whose whispering voice has never disturbed even the most skittish bird, said, “I’m baffled by the Abominable Snowman–very convincing footprints have been found at 19,000 feet. No-one does that for a joke.”

I find myself on my knees and differing. Perhaps people might not do it only for a joke, but, as the Georgian scoundrels, Messrs. Dyer and Whitton, proved, you might be suppressing a giggle as you’re reaching for a large wad of paper money.

However, if Sir David believes that it’s out there, someone should really grab a few of the brightest and most underemployed enthusiasts around, and hike the Himalayas until they find the hairy beast.

Perhaps we could have a reality show in which two sets of teams are given a seemingly impossible task, and the first to achieve its goal wins $5 million and a mortgage.

I have a name for it: “Bin Laden or Bigfoot?” I think that I’ll call Fox right now and pitch it.

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