Hoax? Failed hunt? Mistaken identity? An update from PNG appears to have a different point of view that the last report published.
Papua New Guinean authorities have called off a four-day “Komodo hunt”, believing reports of an escaped Komodo Dragon could be a hoax.
The lizard was reported on the loose in PNG’s second largest city, Lae, on PNG’s west coast, and was said to be terrorising locals after it escaped captivity last week.
But after extensive investigations authorities believe it could be a similar looking Salvadori Monitor, common to the Papuan region and not the endangered Indonesian reptile.
Police, administrators and locals began a search after sightings and media reports that the rare Komodo Dragon was destroying gardens and frightening villagers who had never seen such a creature.
Reports of sightings continued over the weekend and the Army and Department of Environment and Conservation were called to retrieve the giant lizard.
Reports and rumours escalated and soon there were two Komodos leaving giant footprints, the lizard had attacked and killed two dogs and the expatriate owner was offering 1000 kina ($400) for its return.
The Komodo Dragon, is found mainly on the Indonesian islands of Komodo, Rintja, Padar, and Flores.
The drama captured the imagination of one enterprising local who designed and sold T-shirts supporting the city’s new celebrity.
But Morobe Province Disaster and Emergency officer Roy Kamen told PNG’s Post Courier the search was called off because they had no new leads and the search was costing too much.
“This situation has spread fear and panic among the people,” he said.
“It may be a hoax … highly skilled soldiers have been in the bushes for four days but have not sighted the reptile,” he said.“Search for rampaging lizard called off,” From correspondents in Port Moresby, February 12, 2008.
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.
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