Protecting the Planet from Our Bigfoot: Let's Endanger the Endangered Species Act

According to one news source, "Recently, a Canadian member of parliament from Edmonton, Alberta, agreed to introduce a petition that called for Bigfoot to be protected under the Canadian version of the endangered species act." Further, "The man behind the petition was a Bigfoot enthusiast who claims to have definitive proof of Bigfoot but is withholding it until protection for the alleged animals is in place" (Radford).

Now, let's think about this for a moment. Remember, our own species has been involved in the process of driving others into complete extinction for quite sometime. In fact, this author believes we are incredibly good at it, and we are usually a significant part of the problem. Additionally, when one takes a moment to analyze the facts, at our current rate of encroachment, there will be very little left for future generations to appreciate. We have pushed the environment's, and our own, resources to the limit. One nation turns to an alternative fuel source. Another nation rejects the idea and maintains all our problems stem from immigration and the lack of education in schools. You may as well call attention to the space program and jealous, homicidal astronauts while you're at it. As always, many of us stand back and place the majority of our blame on inept leaders who, by the way, we put in office to begin with. If given half the chance, it wouldn't surprise me, in the least, if some of us stood up one day and proclaimed gay marriage and Mel Gibson's Apocalypto were somehow the root of all our environmental fear and worry. Why not? It makes just as much sense. At any rate, we are beginning to take a serious toll on this planet. Take whatever political stance you wish on this, of course, but there is no denying it. Our world is in a bit of environmental trouble at the moment.

So, again, back to Bigfoot. Surely, there are other creatures far more deserving.

For example, although protected, take a closer look at the bonobo...

"At its present rate of decline, the bonobo will be extinct in the wild in a decade" (Park 158).

And the mountain gorilla...

"The rare mountain gorilla (made famous by the book and film Gorillas in the Mist) is thought to be down to fewer than 650 individuals" (Park 158).

Or, if this isn't too far out on a limb, yourself...

"Since Malthus's time, the human population has increased nearly six fold. Given the war, famine, and environmental degradation we see around us, we have every reason to believe Malthus was right and that with our current annual growth rate of 1.2 percent, we will eventually run out of something--food, water, land, clean air, patience with one another" (Park 380).

Point being--if there is still hope--the last thing we should be considering is protecting an endangered animal that, most likely, does not exist. There are real animals out there, with very real problems, and the mythos that is Bigfoot just isn't one of them. Yes, this is a very real problem, folks. If we give a damn about this planet, or our own future upon it, it is about time we realize it. Perhaps, it is about time we put all this Bigfoot business aside for a bit, don't you think? Let's just hope we don't stretch our imaginations too far out of focus before we find a solution.

Works Cited
Park, Michael Alan. Biological Anthropology (Fourth Edition). New York: McGraw Hill, 2005.
Radford, Benjamin. "Endangered Species Protection Sought for Bigfoot." Live Science. http://www.livescience.com/strangenews/070525_bad_bigfoot.html.