Bigfoot
Bigfoot
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Jonathan Kent
BBC correspondent in Kuala Lumpur
Monday, 27 February 2006
The southern Malaysian state of Johor has threatened to jail foreigners who venture into its jungles looking for a legendary ape man, dubbed 'Big Foot'.
The state's Forestry Department says Big Foot enthusiasts found on its land without a permit will face up to three years jail or a fine of up to $2,500.
The hunt for Big Foot has gripped Malaysia after a spate of sightings.
Now authorities are determined that if the ape man exists, Malaysians will be the first to find him.
Malaysians are being invited to pay just over $1 for a permit to roam around Johor state's forest reserves, where most of the reported sightings have taken place.
The state also plans to sponsor a scientific expedition, and although Malaysia has few primate specialists, foreigners will again not be invited.
Local tourism industry leaders told the BBC the ban on non-Malaysians entering forest reserves was daft and should be rethought.
The country hopes to lure 20 million foreign visitors next year and its main attractions are its beaches and its jungles.
Tourism bosses say the move will simply confuse and possibly drive away just the people they want to attract.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/4754424.stm
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Johor gives Bigfoot full protection
22 Apr 2006
JOHOR BARU: News of the alleged capture of a baby Bigfoot in Kota Tinggi last month has started an international debate on the need to protect the mythical creature.
Following this, the Johor Government has announced total protection for the Bigfoot, as a State heritage, which cannot be injured, captured, transported out of the State or killed.
This has won the praise of the American based Bigfoot Research Organisation (BFRO), which said: "The proactive step by Johor to declare the Bigfoot totally protected has disproved the assumption that no government would ever declare the species protected until at least one specimen was obtained by a hunter.
"Given the rarity of the species, it would have been a sadly ironic event if the world's first declaration of protection would have required the death of one of these rare animals."
BFRO in its website said Johor had thus taken another bold, historical step that other countries could only follow.
It added that the governments of Nepal, Tibet, Bhutan, India, China, Russia, America or Canada did not collect information on Bigfoot sightings from their citizens for the purpose of government-sponsored scientific research.
"Sightings in all of those countries do not get documented by any government agency. In the US and Canada, sightings reported to police and forest rangers are ignored and denied, even if the witnesses are the police and rangers themselves," it said.
"Malaysia is the only country that attempts to collect information on sightings from its citizens. Although sightings and track finds are not frequent, the Malaysian Government is still the only government in the world that will not hesitate to disclose any sighting information to the media.
"Laws regarding endangered species are typically set this way to provide for situations where a newly-discovered species with a very limited habitat is in need of immediate legal protection to prevent its extinction."
The only previous 'law' enacted that prohibits the killing of the Bigfoot is the 1969 ordinance in Skamania County, Washington.
http://www.nst.com.my/Current_News/nst/Saturday/National/20060422130832/Article/index_html
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Johor serious about search for Bigfoot
March 24 2006
JOHOR BARU:
The Johor Government is fully committed to investigating the Johor Bigfoot phenomenon and will not condone any destruction of "evidence" that could prove the creature's presence.
State Tourism and Environment Committee chairman Freddie Long said it was therefore wrong to accuse the State Forestry Department of destroying purported Bigfoot footprints found in secondary forest at Kampung Temening in Kota Tinggi.
Long said the bulldozing of a 10m stretch of forest, where giant footprints and "evidence" were found on a tarred road and muddy forest floor last month, could have been done by the land owner.
"The land on which this evidence was found is private land and we have no jurisdiction to do anything there," he said in response to a New Straits Times article yesterday, which reported that authorities had plugged the unregulated tourist influx from Singapore to the village area by bulldozing the secondary forest where the Bigfoot evidence was found.
Asked why the State Government had not advised villagers in the area on ways to optimise on the eco-tourism potential of interest in Bigfoot, he said this was difficult as the villagers themselves did not believe the creature existed.
Long said he and officials from the Johor Wildlife and Forestry departments had together visited the spots where the Bigfoot footprints and "evidence" were discovered.
"We could not find solid evidence of Bigfoot there and we found that the people there remained unconvinced.
"As the Bigfoot 'evidence' is largely on private land in Kota Tinggi, there is little we can do to promote Bigfoot tours."
Long said the state Bigfoot research steering committee was searching Johor jungles for evidence.
He said since Dec 30, the Johor National Park Corporation and state Wildlife and Forestry departments had carried out short expeditions in the jungles of Kahang, Endau-Rompin, Lenggor, Padang Temumbun and Sungai Semerong.
"The Bigfoot research steering committee, which I chair, has decided to organise the state's official Bigfoot expedition on May 15 to 20.
"A total of seven scientists from local universities in various disciplines such as zoology, primatology and IT will join the expedition together with relevant government agencies and representatives from non-governmental organisations."
Long also clarified that the State Government had not banned foreign Bigfoot experts and enthusiasts from investigating the Bigfoot phenomenon in Johor.
"They can send in their applications to us and we will arrange for them to carry out their studies as soon as the local expedition is completed by the end of May," he said.
He urged those with information on Bigfoot to contact the committee's hotline at 07-2222221. He said the committee would promptly investigate any sightings.
http://www.nst.com.my/Current_News/nst/Friday/National/20060324082315/Article/index_html
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KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) - Apparently, nobody wants to meet Bigfoot.
The Malaysian Forestry Department says there are no takers for permits on offer to explore a protected forest for the mythical creature, despite initial excitement over reported sightings of the beast, The Star newspaper reported Wednesday.
Authorities printed 500 application forms anticipating a rush, but none has been filled, Che Hashim Hassan, the department's director in the southern state of Johor, was quoted as saying.
The Malaysian media has been gripped by Bigfoot fever since November 2005, when fish farm workers reported seeing three giant human-like creatures in the Endau Rompin park in Johor. They also claimed to have seen a gigantic footprint.
Park officials combed the site but found no physical evidence of a Bigfoot. However, they recorded more reports of sightings from aboriginal villagers who live on the park's fringes.
"We thought that with all the interest in Bigfoot, we would have a lot of inquiries from the public," Che Hashim said. "However, this is not the case."
He said forest rangers patrolled the jungle boundaries at night, but have not heard or seen any evidence of the purported gigantic beast, and did not plan to capitalize on the craze by organizing forest tours for adventure seekers.
Officials weren't immediately available for further details.
Johor state officials said in January that they planned to send a team of scientists and researchers alongside a routine scientific expedition into the forest park to track the creature down. Officials did not reveal a date for the expedition.
"Bigfoot" is a popular name given in the United States to giant hairy creatures walking on two legs. Sightings of such beasts have been reported in many parts of the world but their existence has never been proven.
Tourism officials said they planned to use the interest in Bigfoot to draw tourists to Malaysia. Wildlife rangers said they may set up camera traps in the jungle to capture images of the creature.
http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/World/2006/03/08/1477811-ap.html
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Large trail and unusual stool found
Date: summer august 29 2003
Travis county, TX
Nearest town: Austin
Nearest road: 360-in Hill Valley
Conditions: cloudy....about 93 degrees
Time: late afternoon 6:45 pm
Location: Have to go back and map it out. I will if it is of interest
Description of event: there was a trail where an animal had passed. Broken limbs and terrain was compressed slightly. Didnt think much of it...but found very unusual stool waste...too large for the local wilflife and doubtful someone had been through there on a horse...I would have spotted tracks easily. My boyfriend and I took a stool sample and gave it to a lab here in town...they told us it was high in iron and some other substance which was the main content of bark off of a tree. The iron ....I guess....had to come from some aquatic nature...here that would be the only way a high Fe content would be present. Fish, bark and a abnormal sized stool sample. I dont get it...but it is spooky.
Source: oregonbigfoot.com