Up ahead, the quest is nearing its end. The leeches are sucking the
energy from the media crew who forgot to wear their leech socks.
Bees are buzzing around. Bird songs fill the air. But what’s that
sound?
A heavy breathing is heard. Sweat falls from the brows onto the
heaving chests as the chase picks up speed. Footprints have been
found, the live capture gear is at hand. The moment is here.
Shooting to kill has been rejected. The searchers round a corner,
and are met with an image of an unknown hominoid not unlike Peter
Loh’s latest best rendering above. The realization is startling. It
is a Bigfoot-cum-Mawas in Johor that the local scientists have been
tracking for three nights through the steamy rainforests. What now?
And what happens when the creature is captured?
What are the best laid plans of Mawas, Men and Women when this
moment occurs?
And has it happened before?
Perhaps it is not so much that it hasn’t taken place as the process
for that first actual capture of Bigfoot has not been thought out
clearly? And thus the dawn of discovery of a Bigfoot-like creature
breaks anew every moment this horizon is crossed again.
Could it be that the event has transpired before, but not in such a
textbook fashion as generally assumed? If most discoveries are
merely accidents and coincidences turned into moments of
revelation, why should we not be surprised to discover things have
gone badly in the past?
For example, this drawing above ilustrates the case of the
capturing of a Russian "Wild Man" in 1989. Four apple orchard
guards secured him, and placed the unknown hominoid in their
automobile’s luggage compartment. This allegedly actually took
place near the town of Saratov, in the heart of the Volga River
Valley, Russia, a mere 17 years ago. But how is this said to have
ended? After several hours they released the "Wild Man" because of
the strong sickening smell from the hominoid, coming from their
trunk.
Will it happen again, or can we set up a more thoughtful scientific
approach when a capture occurs? How do we move such events from the
mundane but typical to a more controlled situation in which
humankind appreciates the earth-shaking nature of such a
find?
It already seems to be taking place, right now, in Johor. The
pressure to produce is there from the ever-impatient West. But in
the land of the Mawas, things are progressing at their own pace. We
congratulate the Malaysians for bringing their pursuit to a new
level of discussion and possible fulfillment, without an
unnecessary rush of innocents and the aware to the missteps of the
past.
