Thursday, May 16, 2024 | Today's Newsletter | Login
Sasquatch may have a Malaysian cousin
The Pacific Northwest's Sasquatch may have a Malaysian cousin.
Malaysia's wildlife department has said it would investigate claims that manlike beasts are roaming the 800 square kilometre Endau Rompin National Park in the country's southern state of Johor following claims by fish farm workers that they saw two hairy beasts about three metres tall and a smaller, apparently younger one.
They alerted their employer, who photographed what appeared to be footprints measuring up to 45 centimetres, said Lim Teong Kheng, the chairman of the Malaysian Nature Society in Johor.
The New Straits Times newspaper printed one of the photographs. It showed what appears to be a triangular depression in the undergrowth.
The director of the wildlife department's Biodiversity Conservation Division, Siti Hawa Yatim, said her office would examine the prints.
She said: "If we cannot work out from the evidence what it is and we can see the footprint is still there, and there is the possibility of something other than animals, then maybe we would put camera traps."
"Bigfoot" is the name most commonly given to apelike creatures seen in the forests of the western United States and Canada, where it is also known as Sasquatch.
In Nepal, there have been reported sightings of a similar creature dubbed the Yeti, or the Abominable Snowman.
Johor is home to large tracts of jungle and there have been occasional unconfirmed sightings of large creatures.
An adviser of the Johor branch of the Malaysian Nature Society, Vincent Chow, has been lobbying the government to look into the claims, and said an investigation could spur global interest.
He said: "We are sitting on a wonderful opportunity by way of the Bigfoot research to spur ecotourism in Johor, taking the cue from Loch Ness in Scotland."
Brown hair reeking of body odour was also reportedly retrieved near the area of the sighting.
Lim welcomed the investigation by the national park, saying Bigfoot sightings have been reported for decades in the area but were never taken seriously.
"Nobody dared say anything in case people say they are out of their minds,” he said.
Leave a comment
