OT ... but ....

Must admit this one made me smile....

OSLO - A hunt in Norway for a fabled serpent reputated to be a counsin of Scotland's Loch Ness monster has sparked protests among animal rights activists, Norwegian authorities said yesterday.

The Norwegian Environment Ministry said it had received a letter from US-based animal rights group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), asking Norway to stop the chase for the elusive lake beast, known to locals as 'Selma'. 'Certainly, such an animal, if its existence were ever proven, would immediately be placed on every protected species list in the world,' PETA said in the letter.

'It's inconeivable that government would permit the capture and killing of a species that is obviously endangered,' it said.

An international team of 12 experts gathered for two weeks earlier this month around Seljord lake in south Norway, about 110 miles (170 km) southwest of Oslo, hoping to catch the monster with a brand new 12-metre (yard) long tupe-shaped trap.

The trap, named Comet (Cooperative Monster Eel Trap), was lowered down to 100 metres near the sightings where the monster had been reported. But the team, struggling with stormy weather, went home empty-handed, with plans to improve the method for next year's expedition.

'It is a pioneer project which is still in an experimental phase and needs improvement,' Jan Sundberg, a Swede leading the team, told Reuters. And he said his intention was not to harm the beast but to prove to scientists that it actually exists.

'If we catch a monster, that's good, but the most important thing for us is to prove that it is actually there,' he said.

He said the project was still successful because the team managed to tape up to five-second long whale-like sounds from the monster, which have been sent to several international scientific institutions for analysis.

The Seljord beast was first spotted around 1750, and most accounts agree it looks like a serpent with the head of an elk or a horse.

LOL These guys come up with some good stuff though. Their eat the whales campaign made a lot of very good sense

So the Norwegian have found a Kelpie huh? It's description is identical to that of the mythical Scots' Kelpie (Water Demon with the head of a horse) which Nessie was originally supposed to look like.

Anyway, the Nessie hunt has proved futile here in Scotland, as i bet it will in Norway too. Like Loch Ness, the only evidence the 'hunters' have are audio recordings. The recordings taken from Loch Ness were said to match both Walrus and Orcas for some strange reason - neither of which can get into Loch Ness.

I'm one of these people who thinks it would be great to prove that these creatures exist - after all the Kraken of legend turned out to have an (if smaller) equivalent in *Architeuthis* - the Giant Squid.

Liam

I always did prefer calling 'Nessie' a Kelpie.

The 'Loch Ness Monster' is something I hope somebody can prove exists. I don't believe for one minute that a Plesiosaur (spelling?) survived in that Loch - for a start the last Ice Age would have killed it. According to the legend the Loch was formed from a spring that a local boy forgot to put a plug back into (Loch An Nis is Gaelic for there is a Loch now), while this is pretty unfeasible it suggests that the Loch hasn't always been there anyway.

I think there is something in that Loch, the audio recordings seem to support it too. Like I said, you could say the Giant Squid was the basis of the Kraken legend, Basking Shark bodies washed upon the shore were once the basis of Sea Serpent 'proof' and the so-called proof of Unicorns turned out to be the tusks of Narwhals.

Liam