if You Catch a Bigfoot By SAM HARTZ WASHINGTON (AP)
What if, while hiking through the’ Oregon woods, you stumbled across the legendary Bigfoot monster, – roped the beast and took it home. Next, you reported your catch to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Would the agency know what to do? Yes, says the agency, and to prove its readiness has written a lengthy news release describing just what it would do about your call.
But why. you might ask, has the U.S. government gone to such lengths over the possible capture of what, at least so far, is just a legend of long standing. Well. Fish and Wildlife reminds us, the gorilla was only a legend until the late 19th century. The komodo dragon, a 10-foot lizard, once a legend also.
To be sure’, added the agency, many sightings of today’s legendary “monsters’,’, are misinterpreted reports or even downright hoaxes. But there’s more to be said for the existence of a genuine Bigfoot. Not only have there been “sightings” of the purported 8- foot, 900-pound Pacific Northwest humanoid, but Skaminia County, Washington, is prepared to impose a fine of $10,000 and a 5-year jail term on anyone who kills a Bigfoot,. Last year the Florida and Oregon legislatures took up bills protecting Bigfoot-type creatures, and a Bureau of Indian Affairs policeman has a plaster cast of an 18-inch foot left after he claimed seeing Bigfoot in South Dakota.
So if Bigfoot were found, what then? The agency set up a scenario: “Word of its discovery would be flashed around the world within hours. Hysteria, fear or panic might accompany the news in the area where the creature was located. The throngs of curiosity seekers, would-be countless and others wanting to find Bigfoot would not only create a serious threat to the animal itself, but to public safety as well … .” And, asks Fish and Wildlife: “Would such a creature be subjected to the same kind of exploitation as the giant movie ape, King Kong?” Hardly, if the Interior could help it. : After receiving priority protection under Endangered.’ Species Bigfoot would undergo humdrum processing for term safeguarding. The following would be, How big is the Bigfoot population? Do Bigfeet occur anywhere else? Is the Bigfoot population in danger? Is Bigfoot’s habitat secure? Are the Bigfoot species being exploited? And what is Bigfoot’s reproductive cycles? “But for the record,” Keith Schreiner, associate director, “I doubt we’ll have to do anything, because I’m not sure I believe there any around here in the first place.” :
The Chillicothe Constitution-Tribune
30 Jan 1978,
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The Chillicothe Constitution-Tribune
30 Jan 1978, Mon • Page 6
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