(Original headline: Bigfoot In Johor Believed To Be From Perak )
Charlkes Goh, whose Singapore-based group API is currently engaged in actively investigating these reports, wrote the other day:
"Recent developments in Malysia has left me bewildered.
"One group, known as Johor Wildlife Protection Society, has claimed they got a colony of bigfoot but evidence is locked up in a safe.
"The latest is that Johor now bans any foreigner from going into Johor forest to look for bigfoot, though they allow interviewing of witnesses and if you have permission from private property owners.
"API is lucky in this aspect as we have been been focusing on eye witness investigation and rational analysis of information gleaned from newspaper reports, photos, local knowledge.
It is hard to keep up, and sometimes hard to make sense of it as well. Now everything and anything that can be attributed to Bigfoot will be attributed to Bigfoot.
"Here are the links to those stories in case you haven't got them."
[Converted to shortened URLs - fs]
tinyurl.com/qckbr
tinyurl.com/qbn8s
tinyurl.com/q8ytw
tinyurl.com/mgym3
Given the enthusiasm and declared intent to boost eco-tourism in this area by the local Malay tourist authority, it's not unreasonable to suggest that some of the Johor Bigfoot accounts and physical traces could have been based on conjecture, rather than solid evidence. Case in point is the latest news item, where some quite detailed information regarding apparent activities of a Johor Bigfoot population hinges on an unnamed 'source'. - fs
JOHOR BAHARU -- A colony of "Bigfoot" believed to be roaming the jungles of Johor is said to have moved there from the jungles around Gerik in Perak, according to a source.
The source said the colony, now numbering about 40, had originated as a group of 17 and had moved away due to three main reasons -- the skirmishes between soldiers and communist guerrillas in the early 70s, construction of the East-West Highway and the building of a dam.
In its search for a new habitat, the colony had moved southwards and reached Pahang before getting to Johor, the source told Bernama, here today.
When the colony was first detected in the jungles of Johor in the 70s, there were only 15 members, the source said, adding that two members are believed to have died or got separated from the group and set up their own colonies or groups.
The source said the older members of the Bigfoot then were in their 20s, adding that it was believed that Bigfoot there were now in their 50s to 60s.
Over the years, the source said, their number grew to about 40, made up of three families.
"The 40 comprised adults and young ones, as well as males and females," the source said.
Asked why the Bigfoot did not move northwards to the jungles of southern Thailand, the source said the jungles there were unsuitable for them.
The source also said that there was a possibility that the Bigfoot in the jungles of Johor would seek a new habitat because of logging and development.
Recently, an association called the Johor Wildlife Protection Society claimed that one of its members had conducted a six-year study on the Bigfoot.
The source said the Bigfoot seemed to be a mix of man and ape, with a ratio of 70 per cent and 30 per cent respectively, and easily reached a height of 10 to 12 feet for an adult and six to seven feet for a young one.
The association had also said that the Bigfoot was not totally covered with hair but had a dense growth of hair on several parts of the body.
The main diet of the Bigfoot comprised fish from the rivers and wild fruits.
Lately, Johor Menteri Besar Datuk Abdul Ghani Othman confirmed the existence of Bigfoot in the jungles of Johor based on information from the Orang Asli community.
The stories of sightings of Bigfoot by people reported in the local media have encouraged international media organisations to send crew to document evidence of their presence in the jungles of Johor.
