QUOTE
Identification key to protecting Johor Bigfoot
10 May 2006
By R. Sittamparam
JOHOR BARU: Until researchers have determined the species and family of the Johor Bigfoot, its only completely safe haven is Johor. The Wildlife Department says scientific identification is a prerequisite for declaring it a totally protected species.
The State Government has announced total protection for Bigfoot. This means it is forbidden to injure, capture, kill or transport the animal out of the State.
Wildlife Department Biodiversity Conservation Division director Siti Hawa Yatim said it would be difficult to provide protection to an unknown creature.
"The footprints and sightings are not enough for us to act on. We have no way of providing protection for unknown animals under the Wildlife Protection Act."
Siti Hawa said if there was sufficient proof of Bigfoot’s existence, it could be listed as a rare species and protected.
Her division had not made any move to investigate as the State Government had not furnished the department with any convincing reports so far, required for the Wildlife Department to order the installation of devices such as camera traps and sound monitors in the areas with sightings.
On claims that a baby Bigfoot had been captured by a team of men in vehicles bearing Wildlife Department markings, she said the department had mounted no such expedition.
Meanwhile, two American-based Bigfoot web sites, BFRO and Cryptomundo, are at loggerheads over a New Straits Times report on a Bigfoot book to be published soon.
Cryptomundo broke the story of the book, which is said to include photographs of the Johor Bigfoot, last week. BFRO, which has long been following the story, says Cryptomundo has been too patronising in its coverage.
10 May 2006
By R. Sittamparam
JOHOR BARU: Until researchers have determined the species and family of the Johor Bigfoot, its only completely safe haven is Johor. The Wildlife Department says scientific identification is a prerequisite for declaring it a totally protected species.
The State Government has announced total protection for Bigfoot. This means it is forbidden to injure, capture, kill or transport the animal out of the State.
Wildlife Department Biodiversity Conservation Division director Siti Hawa Yatim said it would be difficult to provide protection to an unknown creature.
"The footprints and sightings are not enough for us to act on. We have no way of providing protection for unknown animals under the Wildlife Protection Act."
Siti Hawa said if there was sufficient proof of Bigfoot’s existence, it could be listed as a rare species and protected.
Her division had not made any move to investigate as the State Government had not furnished the department with any convincing reports so far, required for the Wildlife Department to order the installation of devices such as camera traps and sound monitors in the areas with sightings.
On claims that a baby Bigfoot had been captured by a team of men in vehicles bearing Wildlife Department markings, she said the department had mounted no such expedition.
Meanwhile, two American-based Bigfoot web sites, BFRO and Cryptomundo, are at loggerheads over a New Straits Times report on a Bigfoot book to be published soon.
Cryptomundo broke the story of the book, which is said to include photographs of the Johor Bigfoot, last week. BFRO, which has long been following the story, says Cryptomundo has been too patronising in its coverage.