Cryptozoologists, scientists who research undiscovered creatures like Bigfoot and the Loch Ness Monster, say their work is misunderstood by other researchers and is extremely important for understanding nature.
Cryptozoology is the study of, and search for, hidden creatures, called cryptids.
Some of the best-known cryptids are the yeti, sasquatch (more commonly known as Bigfoot) and mysterious sea creatures.
John Kirk, co-founder of the British Columbia Scientific Cryptozoology Club, said there are certain procedures followed when searching for a creature.
Cryptozoologists can photograph and collect evidence of cryptids, but cannot capture them.
“We are not in the habit of trying to catch these things,” Kirk says. “There is no problem if they are already dead and you fish them out of the lake.”
“The same thing applies to sasquatch,” Kirk added. “You wouldn’t send somebody out there with a tranquilizer to try and shoot one. That would be completely, utterly wrong. What we do hope for is that there is one that has died of natural causes so we can obtain the carcass and have it properly autopsied.”
Robin Bellamy, a cryptozoologist for Paranormal Studies and Investigations Canada, explained that when somebody reports seeing a cryptid, the cryptozoology team researches the area of the sighting and then looks for the cryptid, but agreed with Kirk that killing cryptids goes against the study of them.
“We would not kill anything unless we are in mortal danger,” Bellamy said.
“We try not to interfere with the environment.”
In the world of more traditional science, opinions about cryptozoology vary.
Kirk explained there are many scientists who are actively involved in cryptozoology.
“At the same time there are a lot of scientists who think we are wasting time, resources and energy,” he said.
Archeologist Robert Bell, who runs a crytpozoology website, said he is skeptical about cryptozoology and believes it is a pseudoscience. Bell said he publishes information about cryptids regardless of whether or not he thinks the creature exists, and is merely putting the information out there.
Matt Bille, who has published books on cryptozoology, said that traditional zoologists and cryptozoologists do similar work.
“The funny thing is that even though they don’t call it cryptozoology, zoologists are discovering stuff all over the place,” Bille said. “It is just the word cryptozoology that scares some people off.”
Kirk said if certain cryptids, like the dinosaur-like Mokele-mbembe of the Congo, are proven to exist, it would impact zoology and other sciences.
“If it turns out to be a living dinosaur, the implications of that are just enormous on the scientific community,” Kirk said. “For one, or several, to have existed to this day defies all the odds. We would have to rewrite science books.”
Kirk added that the sasquatch is likely more human-like than ape-like.
“If we were able to discover yet another type of homo sapiens, or something from the homo family, it would be just incredible,” he said.
Bille said cryptozoology is significant for environmental reasons.
“We have done a lot of damage to the natural world and we are waking up to that and we are thinking about how best to do conservation,” Bille said.
“To do that intelligently it is like putting a puzzle together, you need to know what the pieces are. If there a lot of animals we don’t know then the decisions we are making about conservation are not as good as they should be,” he said.
Overall, cryptozoologists say their works is scientific and others must realize that.
“I think one of the things that has to happen is the — for lack of a better term — real zoologists have to understand that they are also cryptozoologists,” Bellamy said.
“We are just trying to think outside their box.”