QUOTE
Making a fast buck from info on Bigfoot
12 Apr 2006 - By Chuah Bee Kim
JOHOR BARU: You want to know about Bigfoot? No problem. How much are you willing to pay?
Information on Bigfoot, according to biodiversity researcher and Bigfoot enthusiast Vincent Chow, is coming at a price as more people clamour to learn about the creature said to be lurking in the jungles of Johor.
Chow claimed that villagers were not as forthcoming with information as before but the minute they were paid, they become very helpful and vocal.
He said villagers were asking for between RM20 and RM200, depending on the kind of information they had or the length of time they spend with the interviewer.
"I think it is reasonable because these villagers are mainly farmers and we need them to bring us to the spot where the footprints are found," Chow said.
He said he had forked out much of his own money researching Bigfoot.
He said the villagers also lashed out at the media for making use of them to get information which sold newspapers without paying them a cent.
"Not even a cup of coffee," was one complaint Chow had heard.
Chow also said he could not understand why some people were complaining of virgin jungles being raped by researchers searching for evidence of Bigfoot.
"The discovery of the Bigfoot footprints is enough to boost tourism, and not every tourist is going to venture into the jungle," he said.
Citing an example, Chow said the published accounts of a 15-metre-long "monster" in a lake near the city of Inverness in northern Scotland had attracted droves of tourists since the 1930s.
"Scotland remains a big tourist draw even though the Loch Ness Monster was proven to be a hoax 12 years ago," he said.
Chow said Kota Tinggi could be turned into a "Bigfoot Haunt", where tourists could buy souvenirs of the creature.
"Homestay programmes which never really took off in Johor can also do with a little Bigfoot publicity," he said.
Chow, incidentally, believes that Bigfoot is a colony of descendants of prehistoric Man, as their unique footprints were reportedly commonly found at the height of jungle-clearing activities in the 1960s.
12 Apr 2006 - By Chuah Bee Kim
JOHOR BARU: You want to know about Bigfoot? No problem. How much are you willing to pay?
Information on Bigfoot, according to biodiversity researcher and Bigfoot enthusiast Vincent Chow, is coming at a price as more people clamour to learn about the creature said to be lurking in the jungles of Johor.
Chow claimed that villagers were not as forthcoming with information as before but the minute they were paid, they become very helpful and vocal.
He said villagers were asking for between RM20 and RM200, depending on the kind of information they had or the length of time they spend with the interviewer.
"I think it is reasonable because these villagers are mainly farmers and we need them to bring us to the spot where the footprints are found," Chow said.
He said he had forked out much of his own money researching Bigfoot.
He said the villagers also lashed out at the media for making use of them to get information which sold newspapers without paying them a cent.
"Not even a cup of coffee," was one complaint Chow had heard.
Chow also said he could not understand why some people were complaining of virgin jungles being raped by researchers searching for evidence of Bigfoot.
"The discovery of the Bigfoot footprints is enough to boost tourism, and not every tourist is going to venture into the jungle," he said.
Citing an example, Chow said the published accounts of a 15-metre-long "monster" in a lake near the city of Inverness in northern Scotland had attracted droves of tourists since the 1930s.
"Scotland remains a big tourist draw even though the Loch Ness Monster was proven to be a hoax 12 years ago," he said.
Chow said Kota Tinggi could be turned into a "Bigfoot Haunt", where tourists could buy souvenirs of the creature.
"Homestay programmes which never really took off in Johor can also do with a little Bigfoot publicity," he said.
Chow, incidentally, believes that Bigfoot is a colony of descendants of prehistoric Man, as their unique footprints were reportedly commonly found at the height of jungle-clearing activities in the 1960s.