Bigfoot Wanted Dead Or Alive

By Michael Dennett
From Omni Magazine, May 1991

If Bigfoot actually does exist, he may be in grave danger. The peril: A number of Bigfoot researchers, who now say that they must supply their critics with positive proof of the animal if their claims are to be believed. "It is important that we collect a specimen," says Daniel Perez, an active Bigfoot buff and member of the International Society of Cryptozoology, also known as the ISC. ISC member Mark Francis agrees. Speaking to a group at the society's annual conference, in fact, Francis called on fellow members to go out and shoot a Bigfoot for the cause. Perhaps the most outspoken advocate for the acquisition of physical proof is Washington State University anthropologist Grover Krantz. According to Krantz, "If top scientists at places like the Smithsonian Institution" are to accept the existence of Bigfoot, then killing a creature is an absolute must. Even game officials, says Krantz, have said, "Go out and shoot me one, and then I will believe that your stupid animal is real." Of course, not all students of Bigfoot think that one of the elusive critters should be killed. Bigfoot devotee Paul Freeman, fot instance, advocates the use of a camera, instead of a gun. "These creatures don't bother anybody," Freeman says, "so why harm one of them?"