Tuesday, September 05, 2006

baby, why does it have to hurt?

One of the things that forms the dark flipside to the bright world of possibilities that attracted me to cryptozoology is human greed. While I was away from my e-mail this weekend, helping my mom move, a controversy has erupted over claims that a juvenile cryptid has been captured "deep in the north woods" of Maine and cruelly transported to New Jersey, of all places. Whether this is a hoax or not (and chances are that it is), it plays up some of the human weaknesses that have made the field of cryptozoology a less-than-friendly place, almost since the beginning.

Please see Loren Coleman's posts on the incident for all the details:
http://www.cryptomundo.com/cryptozoo-news/yarwen/

If the claim is true, then the perpetrator has no compunction against:
1) Killing an adult cryptid for profit
2) Keeping a juvenile cryptid captive
3) Selling a juvenile cryptid for profit

While it's unlikely that eBay would allow the sale of said cryptid, the cold-blooded intent of this person ensures their willingness to pursue other out-of-eyesight avenues of sale.

To point out one of the many flags in this account that scream "HOAX!," please note that the captor states that he drove back from Maine to New Jersey with the juvenile cryptid handcuffed to the rollbar of his truck. If that didn't excite any attention on the open road, I don't know what would.

1 comment:

Chris said...

This looks like a hoax brought on by the recent news of the "beast" in Turner and of Coleman's involvement.

I think one of the commenters at Cryptomundo got it right: "who among us would have used the 'slew' instead of 'shot' or 'killed'? A 40-year-old D&D-playing nerd who lives in his parents’ basement and works at Chuck E. Cheese is my guess."