“But it will probably take a dead Bigfoot to prove the creature exists. The taking of one individual, to prove and establish a species, could well result in the saving of more.”

Agreed. I am one of the biggest “Kill” supporters on the site here. Its just in this situation, where “Gorillas” are sighted, I’m hesitant due to the possibility here that this case could very well be a escapee Gorilla. If the news report was “Bigfoot” i’d say kill. But since people were calling it a Gorilla in this case, I’d hate t plug one.

But yes, without a body, you have no proof.

I am generally opposed to the killing of harmless animals, cats in particular.
But it will probably take a dead Bigfoot to prove the creature exists. The taking of one individual, to prove and establish the species, could well result in the saving of many more.

One of the cardinal rules of hunting, or shooting in general, is to be sure of your target. If an armed person sees a Bigfoot, and does not know what it is, then it would be a violation of that basic gun safety rule to shoot it. On the other hand, if that person knows what a Bigfoot is, and is tempted to shoot it, how can he be sure it is real, and not a human being? It all comes down to a problem of identification. As long as there is a chance of mis-identification, that chance makes it too great to risk shooting one.

If the Bigfoot is threatening the person’s life, then killing one could be justified, even if turned out to be a person. But what person would attempt to kill a frightened, armed individual?

If Bigfoots are real (and I think there is good evidence that they are), then they certainly have the capacity to kill people. Consider what chimps are capable of doing. And they are much smaller than Bigfoot.

If a person would be attacked by a Bigfoot, gorilla, or whatever, preservation of the creature’s gene pool would hardly be a priority. Preservation of one’s own life ought to be the priority.

If Bigfoot is real, it must be peaceful in relation to humans. There have been plenty of situations where Bigfoots have had the opportunity to kill humans and have not. I think this says a lot about the nature of the beast.

Would I kill a Bigfoot if I had the opportunity? Only if it was threatening me or someone else. Same goes for a gorilla.

Would I kill a loose chimp if I had the chance? Beyond a doubt.

“Aww. I wish we had cool cryptid sightings here in Finland to…”

Alien Big Cats (i.e. large felines sighted, killed or captured far from their native habitat, i.e. a Lion in the Andes Mountains, a Cougar in Antartica, etc) have been seen in Finland (Imatra, Kekaleenmaki, Kristinestad, Ruokolahti (Lioness-like, seen 1992, named “Elli” by Media, left tracks and a Moose corpse), Vaasa).

Lake monsters have been spotted there too, in lakes Langelmavesi (1945), Loukusajarvi (1963. described as a white log-like creature nearly 2 meters in length with a Salmon-esque cranium)

Source: Encyclopedia of Crypto-zoology: a Global Guide, by Michael Newton, pages 16, 148, 157, 255, and 275

Most likely, I’m guessing most sightings dealing with quadrapedal apes are animals escaped from research facilities or private (and illegal) ownership. However, if there is a population of actual Gorillas Orangs or Chimps living in the US, or a species of ape unknown to science found in Alabama of all places, that will be an explosive find.

Normally I am for a shoot to kill policy on Cryptids, but due to the fact that this might indeed be an actual Gorilla I think it would be horrendous to use bullets; Gorillas of all subspecies are endangered. This is one they do not need to shoot. Tranquilize it, yes. Trap it, yes. Kill, no. We don’t want a repeat of that situation up north where Lions and Tigers and Bears were let loose and shot, despite the endangered status of the Big Cats let loose.

If they do kill a Gorilla, I hope and pray they take sperm/ovaries and DNA samples to aide in breeding the creatures in captivity.