Posted on 01/24/2012 9:27:44 PM PST by DogByte6RER
If You Spot Bigfoot, Should You Shoot Him?
In the new Animal Planet reality TV show optimistically titled "Finding Bigfoot," a team of experts examines video of an alleged Sasquatch spotted in the Canadian Rockies. The video, shot by a man named Todd Standing, shows something large and dark, standing atop a wooded ridge and then ducking back behind a bush. It could pretty much be anything, and when the experts concluded that the subject was probably not a Bigfoot, Standing expressed his frustration: "No video is ever going to be evidence, ever. It's never going to be good enough…"
Standing, like many Bigfoot researchers, misses the problem: It's not so much that any Bigfoot video is inherently worthless, it's that his video, like all that have come before it, is of such poor quality that there's no way to know what we're seeing. It could have been anything – a guy in a dark jacket (or gorilla costume), a bear or even Bigfoot. The fatal flaw in Bigfoot photos and videos is the image quality, not the image subject. If Standing, the "Finding Bigfoot" team, or anyone else shot well-lit, clear video of what was obviously a 12-foot-tall, hairy bipedal creature in the woods, that would be compelling.
But even the highest-quality photograph or video can't be considered definitive proof of Bigfoot, the Loch Ness Monster, or any other mythical beast. Similarly, if the goal is to simply make scientists and the general public take Bigfoot seriously, then some verified remains of the creature – be they hair, teeth, blood, bones or something else – would do the trick. [Infamous 'Yeti Finger' Flunks DNA Test]
But definitive proof is a very high standard. Most Bigfoot enthusiasts — and the general public — would be satisfied with nothing less than the rock-solid definitive proof offered by a living or dead specimen.
This issue brings up a longstanding debate within the Bigfoot community: Would be ethical to shoot and kill a Bigfoot? Some say yes, because that's the only way to prove they exist, and once proof is found, funds could be made available to protect them as an endangered species. Others say no -- that because Bigfoot sightings are so rare, they must have very small populations and killing one might drive the animals to extinction. Shooting a suspected Bigfoot with tranquilizer darts is an option that has gained some steam.
Ethics and the lethal-or-nonlethal debate aside, there's a good reason aiming your gun at a Bigfoot could be a bad idea: It might be illegal. A Texas teen shot what he believed to be a Chupacabra earlier this year, and while charges were not brought against him, if the creature turned out to be someone's dog or a mangy coyote, he could potentially have faced a felony charge.
The point is, you simply can't know for sure if the mysterious, burly figure you have lined up in your sights is the real beast, or a bear or someone's pet – or, even worse, just a person in a gorilla suit.
Nah, WildBoy would probably get very annoyed with you.
(obscure 70's reference)
The story of bigfoot precedes any modern documentation. Many old cultures have stories of these hairy men. There must be something to it. I’m more inclined to say they’re more of a demonic embodiment since no concrete evidence ever seems to come up. I don’t know. I’m fascinated by this. The most compelling thing has been the Patterson/Gimlin film; and people are 50/50 on that one.
Or just someone in a dark down jacket. The figure in Standing's video could be just that. You're more likely to run across a hunter in the woods than a guy in a gorilla suit so the Big Foot you shoot at might shoot back too.
You skeptics make me laugh. I don’t whether or not bigfoot exists, but if the species is shown to exist, you guys are going to be the new flat earth society. Then you all will be trying to prove that something that exists, doesn’t. LOL.
Good answer. He’s been messed with enough...lol
Tranquilizers have to be carefully measured to the weight of the animal. If you load one up for a big 12 ft. creature that Big Foot is supposed to be and shoot a human with it instead you’ll still have a dead human on your hands.
I’d hit him in the head with a rock and see what happens.
Unless he can belt out a smoking rendition of “Suspicious Minds” and has the moves and mojo to sell it....
Hell yeah....
When I see anything Bigfoot, I think of Harry and the Hendersons.
Shoot him? No way...I want to liberate him, and make him a productive member of society.
;o)
I have watched the show. A claim that “Bigfoot” exists is extraordinary. An extraordinary claim requires extraordinary evidence such as a dissected body studied by competent scientists. Witnesses are deceived, make mistakes or are outright frauds.
“I’d hit him in the head with a rock and see what happens.”
Probably something like this...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xhxDmVc3VAw&feature=related
No, it's just some dude running around the woods in a ghillie suit
It's called hypertrichosis:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypertrichosis
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