A collection of local animal news

I had saved the following news items from October, not knowing quite what to do with them. I only had the feeling they were important, and, was struck by the juxtaposition of these items; all appeared in the local paper on the same day. October 27, 2017.

Nothing of a supernatural cryptid nature, but still interesting for the number of animal related items on the same day, as well as the content itself.

All are from the Eugene-Springfield, Oregon, Register Guard newspaper.

First item: Cougar Sightings on the rise near Oregon Coast. 

An updated cougar management plan, approved by the Fish and Wildlife Commission in mid-October, found that the coast management zone has reported a rise in cougar sightings, as well as an increase in conflicts with the big cats. 

Now, state biologists based in Newport are beginning the first-ever coastal effort to attach GPS collars to adult cougars and track their movements to see just how far these predators wander, what they eat and where they might be going next. 

The coast management zone is a large area that includes the northern section of the Cascade Mountain Range, the Portland, Salem and Eugene metroplexes and the rural North Coast. For years these areas were written off, not considered good cougar habitat, said Derek Broman, carnivore-furbearer coordinator for the Oregon Fish and Wildlife Department.

Next: Clusters of butterflies stuck up North (could not find a link for this item)
An AP news item about Monarch butterflies still in the PNW and Canada, when they should be on their way to Mexico. Overall, Monarch butterflies have been staying in the northern part of the U.S., as well as Canada, long past when they should be staying. The reason: "…unusually warm weather and strong winds" according to biologist Elizabeth Howard. (Register Guard, October 27, 2017.)

Then an item about wolves in Oregon: Reward offered in killing of protected gray wolf.

Ending with Sea Lion Alert: The outbreak killing the marine mammal also is a danger to pets:

A bacteria outbreak is making sea lions sick along the Oregon Coast, so state officials are warning people and their dogs to stay away from the animals.

The outbreak began in September and likely will last into December, said Jim Rice, a researcher at Oregon State University. He studies and helps sick or stuck animals along the entire Oregon Coast as stranding coordinator with the Oregon Marine Mammal Stranding Network. Calls about distressed or dead sea lions have been coming in regularly.

“I’m getting at least one a day,” he said Thursday. “It’s sometimes four, maybe five.”OSU’s Oregon Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory has confirmed at least eight cases of leptospirosis in dead sea lions since the outbreak began, Rice said. The most recent such outbreak in Oregon was in 2010

Twenty something years ago, in grad school, I told my mentor/professor that I was collecting news items about animals, and specifically, any strange animal behavior items. (my area was supernatural folklore.) He told me that my project sounded promising, but, he asked, what was the "why?" Why was I doing this? What was I wanting to show, to learn?

I didn't know. I still don't. The above items are not supernatural in any way, but , aside from any unexplained mystery aspect, any news about animals is interesting. We can learn from the signals. The relationships, predictive programing, seeming prophetic signs. Clues to not just the mundane -- which is proving to be anything but, given our global envirnomental context -- but the things that go bump in the night.

Thom Powell's Edges of Science

My copy of Thom Powell's Edges of Science arrived yesterday. I started reading right away and reluctantly put it down only because I had to get to sleep in order to be fresh and bright eyed for students the next day. So far, I 'm loving the book. Powell writes about interesting examples of dreams concerning Sasquatch from witnesses. More on that later.

The point is, Powell is of the "paranormal" school regarding Sasquatch, citing other researchers who also fall into this camp. The division is a strong one, bordering on down right vicious at times, but there are those who have experienced the "stranger side of Sasquatch" and aren't shy about sharing their theories.

(cross posted, with minor alterations at UFOMystic.)

After listening to another intriguing and spooky interview with David Paulides (Coast to Coast, George Knapp host) last night, I found myself rethinking not only Dr. Ketchum, but Bigfoot as well.

For awhile I was excited about what Dr. Melba Ketchum would find. So was last night's C2C host George Knapp, who interviewed Dr. Melba Ketchum some time ago. Lots of games, it seemed, lots of attacks, lots of the to be expected nonsense in the world of Bigfoot.  (UFO World doesn't fare any better in this context.) Then I was disappointed and jaded. Then I just didn't care. 

But if David Paulides's explanation on the entire Ketchum journey was accurate -- no journal would review her findings, etc. -- and if the evidence is truly what it says it is, then there's still hope. And bafflement, for it seems everyone just walked away from this. Of course, I haven't read the report, and Paulides pointed out that many who criticized Ketchum and the findings haven't actually read the thing. I can't comment much more than these idle musings of mine because I am not a scientist, and I haven't read the report; just the reports of reports. It is also too bad Ketchum seems to have behaved badly at times. Maybe this was due to simply being overwhelmed by her lone seeker status out there in Bigfoot Land. Lots of naivety, at best, and silly sloppy missteps seemed to have happened, adding to a carnival-like,  here we go again feeling in Bigfoot Land.  But all that can be ignored if the evidence is what it's supposed to be: Bigfoot is not a giant ape, but something completely different. That's huge of course and huger still: Bigfoot is both its own mysterious self, as well as part of us. Yet after a few people acknowledged this finding, people went missing. Some were offended, some laughed, but we haven't seen any paradigm shifting news stories break on CNN. 

Meanwhile, David Paulides continues his research into the strange stories of missing humans in parks and forests. Many of these missing are children. He alludes to the possibility;  Bigfoot, or a Bigfoot like creature, as being responsible for these disappearances. The few children who have been found alive after going missing for a few days have strange tales to tell of "ape men" and other high strangeness. In last night's interview on C2C, Paulides referred to Native Americans and their tales of Bigfoot -- as being human -- and their on-going relationships with this being. Yet, with some exceptions, most, including BF researchers, ignore this fact.

What's strange about the missing humans is that they disappear abruptly, often in daylight, often while in the near proximity of others. While logic says these missing people would be found downhill, or near water, they are often found (if found at all) quite a distance aways, and uphill, over extremely rough terrain difficult to cover. Very weird for adults, and much stranger still in the case of little children. Stories of "ape men," and other inexpiable events add to this mystery. Adding fuel to conspiratorial speculation (which doesn't mean it's invalid) is the presence of military in some of these cases, who act covertly and separate from parks authorities and local law enforcement agencies while ostensibly searching for the missing.

IF Bigfoot is responsible for these disappearances, that's cause for a shift in beliefs about we think Bigfoot is. Many of these stories contain really weird "high strangeness" elements that have always annoyed many a Bigfoot researcher. UFOs? Aliens? Underground beings -- reptilians? Of the latter, Paulides said he's received a few detailed emails about that subject, but he is unfamiliar with that realm and doesn't want to go there. He referenced John Mack and his work concerning abductions -- will we hear of a Bigfoot/UFO theory from Paulides in the future?

There's enough strangeness, and enough references to a Bigfoot creature, in Paulides missing persons work, to consider that Bigfoot is more than "just" a big ape, or strictly a flesh and blood creature. It's possible this BF being is a variation of Bigfoot, another type, related or something else altogether; something that looks like an "ape man" but clearly has abilities transcending ours at the moment.

Robert McLuhan on Anecdotal Evidence | TDG - Science, Magick, Myth and History

The very excellent Daily Grail brings us the following, by Alan Borky:Robert McLuhan on Anecdotal Evidence. Borky comments on his reading of McLuhan's article on anecdotal evidence:

In his piece McLuhan makes the observation "the skeptic’s most popular arguments is that anecdotal evidence can’t be relied on".

The problem with that particular skeptical position is it misses the point ALL EVIDENCE IS ANECDOTAL.

There is much more that is insightful and powerful. In this brief review Borky really gets it.

From "Denying Science" to "Anomalist Historian."

Lesley at The Debris Field linked to, and commented on, Melisa Hovey's post about my post: The Search For Bigfoot: Denying the necessity of Science.....

Melisa wrote on her blog The Search For Bigfoot:

What do witnesses want?

I have to say, I disagree with Regan Lee. When witnesses contact a person they know is a “Bigfoot Researcher” they may believe with all their heart and soul they have seen a Bigfoot, but they, as much as any researcher, want proof.

Why do I think that?

Because witnesses contact people within the “Bigfoot Research Community.” They send emails to Bigfoot Organizations. They call the 1-800 numbers, asking us to come and take a look at their property, or an area where they had a sighting. They write in their emails, “I know I’m not crazy”. Witnesses think, if anyone can prove they seen a Bigfoot – it is someone within this community. Witnesses know we collect any possible evidence of what they are reporting. Witnesses allow us to stay on their properties and hold “night ops”. If they didn’t want proof as much as your average researcher, they wouldn’t contact us, or allow us on their property.

I actually agree with Melisa in many ways. Read her post for my comments.

I also commented at Lesley's blog. One thing I wrote at Lesley's blog that just came out and inspired me for more on this is what I said about the need for having a Fortean, or "anomalist junkie" etc. along on BF teams. That'll tick off some, I'm sure, but if we can have scientists, and nuts and bolts (to borrow a term from UFO research) kind of researchers, why not those kinds of investigators, researchers, and writers who come from a different perspective altogether? An "anomalist historian" along for the journey?

From Thom Powell: "Bigfoot Research: Intel not Science"

 "...we should regard them as guerrillas, not gorillas." ~ (Thom Powell on how we need to think about Bigfoot.)

Author of The Locals and Bigfoot researcher Thom Powell has a great post at his blog on Bigfoot research, and why the "scientific" approach is just not sensible. Powell comments that Bigfoot are intelligent, highly, extremely intelligent, and not "...dumb apes or wild animals." As I've ranted here on Frame 342 and elsewhere many times, Bigfoot/Sasquatch research still surprises me with the attitude, the innate assumption, that Bigfoot is basically just a big animal. Many acknowledge that Bigfoot is intelligent, but "just", really, a big animal. Still "lesser than" us, in every way, and an animal as yet unidentified but in the end, nothing more than an extremely smart bear or ape or even some entirely new creature but, "just" an animal that is below us, even if just a notch. Part of that assumption that Bigfoot is below us, no matter how short that distance may be; includes the attitude that this "less than" no matter how slight, gives us the right to hunt, trap, trick, kill, dissect, and or exploit. Often, "in the name of science" is invoked as justification, but sometimes it's just an arrogance, the assumption that we, as humans have the right because we want to, because we can, because "it" (Bigfoot) is there, because it'd be astoundingly way cool. But I don't want to get off on a rant :)...

As to using scientific means with equipment and methods, Powell writes:

While I am saying you'll never collect truly valid scientific evidence, I'm not saying you should find another hobby. I'm just saying you will not be able to satisfy that rigorous expectation called scientific proof. That's because you cannot do science on an intelligent and elusive being that does not intend to cooperate with our attempts to scientifically document its existence. Even though various items of credible evidence have been gathered over the years, such as the PGF, the Skookum Cast, and more track casts and hair samples than you can shake a bag of plaster at, they all fail the rigors of science in one important regard: they cannot be replicated.

Thom doesn't say we should give up looking for Bigfoot, but that we need to change our perspectives, our assumptions, and our approach when we do go out in the field:

...you are making a mistake by trying to be utterly scientific in your approach.  Instead, you should recognize the difference between science and intelligence gathering, and recognize that it is more pragmatic to settle for collecting intel as opposed to unassailable scientific data. 

Intel. Like the CIA, government spooks, spy stuff. Intelligence gathering. This is the shift in thinking and approach that needs to happen. As I frequently do, I see parallels to UFO research. After sixty years or so of research, we haven't found any answers to the UFO phenomenon. Well, that's arguable but also another article for another day. But  the following comments from Powell on research methods concerning Bigfoot and using an intelligence gathering mind-set can be applied ot the shift that needs to happen in UFO research as well:

Everything they [intelligence ops] gather is a bit uncertain but this does not justify throwing that data away . . .  That's how intel goes. It ain't science, but it ain't worthless, either.  It's all we got and it may someday be useful in designing and executing a truly scientific experiment but we aren't there yet. 

Powell is not "against' science, and this isn't about bashing science. The entire article is excellent and, a brave one in the sense that, in my experience, Bigfoot research is a conservative arena, more so than UFO Land. I think things are shifting though, in a new and creative direction.