FBI: Cryptozoology Is Number One Domestic Terrorism Threat
Posted by: Loren Coleman on April 1st, 2006
All Press Releases for March 31, 2006
Animal-Rights Movement is the Number One Domestic Terrorism Threat According to FBI
Reliable sources within the animal rights (AR) community report that some extremist elements within their organizations are involved in a conspiracy to report false sightings of large cats such as lions, tigers, and leopards.
(PRWEB) March 31, 2006 — In May 2005, John Lewis, FBI deputy assistant director and top official in charge of domestic terrorism, stated, "The number one domestic terrorism threat is the eco-terrorism, animal-rights movement. These groups have a history of disregarding personal and civil rights of citizens in attempts to further their agenda."
Reliable sources within the animal rights (AR) community report that some extremist elements within their organizations are involved in a conspiracy to report false sightings of large cats such as lions, tigers, and leopards.
Marcus Cook, director of the Feline Conservation Federation states, "Failure to prevent and report a big cat escape is a crime, therefore, a false sighting of any big cat is a false crime report, itself a felony."
An expert on large cat behavior, Cook has assisted law enforcement agencies looking for reported cats. Cook states, "In most cases it does not take long to realize that there is no loose big cat." Cook explains that if a feline is loose, it is going to be seen in a couple of hours and physical evidence will be discovered as well.
Noting the difference in behavior between truly wild and captive-raised large cats, Cook adds, "In the wild, the mother feline must teach human avoidance to her offspring. That is why reintroduction of captive tigers into their natural habitat would be difficult."
"For captive-born cats", Cook says, "it’s a simple equation. An escaped cat equals a dead cat."
September 2002 – an unidentified person allegedly dumped four African lions onto the rural Arkansas property of local lion and tiger owner, Steve Henning, without his knowledge or permission. Within the next 48 hours all four felines were sighted and shot dead by Henning, his neighbor Vaughan, a Cleburn County Sheriff’s deputy and a Game and Fish officer.
July 2004 – a Florida G&F officer shot Bobo, a tame tiger that, according to Bobo’s owner Steve Spiek, was allegedly released by a disgruntled former girlfriend.
February 2005 – a tiger sighted in a California neighborhood was shot dead later that same day by the authorities attempting to recapture it.
Cook wonders about the timing of some sightings.
October 2004 – coincidentally, on the same day the Kansas Wildlife and Parks Department held a public comment hearing on regulations to prohibit exotic cats, newspapers ran a story of a dead mountain lion found dumped near a southwest Shawnee County road.
Because a KWP officer had been on that road about five hours earlier, officials believe the sub-adult mountain lion had been dumped there to appear that a vehicle had hit it. A preliminary exam determined the declawed mountain lion had been dead for several days and had no broken bones. Investigators concluded its death was not vehicle related.
January 2005 – a pair of young tigers were picked up outside of Charlotte, NC. Cook described the young tigers as healthy, well behaved, and leash trained. He recalls how animal rights radicals issued statements ranging from "look at what someone abandoned" to "this is why exotics should not be kept in North Carolina”.
Cook said the evidence points to the cats having been acquired by animal rights fanatics and set free to be "discovered".
In other instances, Cook notes that the feline is never found.
Summer of 2004 – Ohio media spotlighted a series of “Gahanna lion” sightings. A law enforcement officer and a truck driver first reported seeing the large cat. Television helicopters hovering over the area failed to locate the alleged 300-pound feline. That same evening a military helicopter equipped with heat-seeking technology found only a horse, but no lion.
More sightings led Evelyn Shaw and other volunteers to search the Port Columbus International Airport. "We never found a lion, but we did see a coyote run off," says Shaw.
Weeks later Licking County schoolteachers and children sighted the feline. Sheriff’s deputies secured and searched the area using a dog but did not find any tracks, footprints or hair, school principal Patricia Doran said.
August 27 through September 12, 2004 – fourteen tiger sightings were reported at Fort Polk army base in Louisiana. One hundred soldiers, trackers, trappers and police using military helicopters equipped with the same technology used to flush out Al Qaeda terrorists failed to locate the large cat. "There has been no physical evidence such as tiger tracks found to prove the tiger is on the post," Fort Polk spokeswoman Samantha Bingham said.
March 2006 – the most recent round of tiger sightings started in Berlin, Alabama. All searches have so far failed to turn up physical evidence of the feline. Dubbed "the runaway tiger" by the media, newer reports in Cullman County continue being called in.
Participants in the animal rights "false sightings scheme" are encouraged to enlist friends and relatives in filing false reports to lend credibility with numerous eyewitnesses. Additionally, the groups are counseled to call reports when law enforcement staffing is at lower levels, such as Sundays and on holidays.
Cook advises citizens living near areas where large cats are reported to be especially vigilant and take proper precautions. "Take all reports seriously until the animal is found or a lack of evidence is established. Remember, a big black cat doesn’t necessarily mean there is a black leopard running loose. Many such sightings are just a big black domestic cat, as some can weigh up to 24 lbs."
Cook advises not to let fanatics succeed in enveloping America in a cloud of fear. "We have to continue to live our lives and use our power of reason and our superior intellect to outwit the extreme left-wing AR agenda."
Speaking for the Feline Conservation Federation, Cook stated, “If American citizens use terror tactics against their own people, it is imperative that we make certain that no matter what their objective, they do not achieve it through these means.”
About Loren Coleman
Loren Coleman is one of the world’s leading cryptozoologists, some say “the” leading living cryptozoologist. Certainly, he is acknowledged as the current living American researcher and writer who has most popularized cryptozoology in the late 20th and early 21st centuries.
Starting his fieldwork and investigations in 1960, after traveling and trekking extensively in pursuit of cryptozoological mysteries, Coleman began writing to share his experiences in 1969. An honorary member of Ivan T. Sanderson’s Society for the Investigation of the Unexplained in the 1970s, Coleman has been bestowed with similar honorary memberships of the North Idaho College Cryptozoology Club in 1983, and in subsequent years, that of the British Columbia Scientific Cryptozoology Club, CryptoSafari International, and other international organizations. He was also a Life Member and Benefactor of the International Society of Cryptozoology (now-defunct).
Loren Coleman’s daily blog, as a member of the Cryptomundo Team, served as an ongoing avenue of communication for the ever-growing body of cryptozoo news from 2005 through 2013. He returned as an infrequent contributor beginning Halloween week of 2015.
Coleman is the founder in 2003, and current director of the International Cryptozoology Museum in Portland, Maine.
If in fact the FBI issued this statement–which I don’t for one minute find improbable–all I can say is, “Consider the source.” The Bureau has been lying to America since 1908: publicly denying the existence of organized crime from 1920 to 1963; exaggerating and/or fabricating the “Red Menace” from 1917 through the 1970s; dreaming up “armies” of juvenile delinquents in the 1950s; financing right-wing terrorist groups including the SAO and various KKK factions from 1964-72; filling the airwaves with countless phony “terror alerts” in the months after 9/11, etc. After publishing four books about the Bureau in 20-odd years, the best advice when dealing with FBI public statements would be: Don’t buy it.
In response to eyeofnewt‘s comment, was it the FBI or the CIA that introduced narcotics to the African American populus?
In response to the article, it is understandable to think of animal rights extremists as domestic terrorists, but to label the entire animal rights community as, “the number one domestic terrorism threat” to the United States is sheer bs. This is the same scenerio as labeling all muslims fanatical religious extremists. Majority of those from the animal rights community are not the eco-terrorists they are so portrayed, but peace-loving individuals that fight for the rights of animals through flyers, sit-ins, and other non-violent strategies.
“The number one domestic terrorism threat” ??? I think Number One, alright ~ Number One April!
I ECHO FUZZY’S SENTIMENT.
GOOD CALL OLD SON! APRIL FOOLS.
Yeah, sure, and bigfoot lives in my garage.
I would think that Neo-Nazis and White Supremacists and all those militia nutcases up in Montana would rank higher than a bunch of people making false reports of big cats…But, even if you don’t buy into any of the so-called conspiracy theories, the FBI rarely have their priorities straight.