Chinese scientists, explorers seek help in search for elusive ape-man

NEW DELHI - Chinese scientists and explorers are looking for international help as they begin a new search for the elusive ape-man known as Bigfoot or Yeren.

The half-man, half-ape creature is said to exist in the Shennongjia Nature Reserve, a remote, mountainous part of Hubei province, in Central China, China Daily reported.

In the 1970s and 1980s, authorities had organized three high-profile expeditions to search for signs of Bigfoot, but were not successful in locating the creature.

As a huge amount was required for these expeditions, the government decided to put a stop to them.hen, last November, the Wild Man Research Association was founded in Hubei, pulling in more than 100 members interested in the search for Yeren, including a number of scientists and experts.

Wang Shancai, 75, of the Hubei Relics and Archaeology Institute, who is vice-president of the association, happens to be a strong believer in Bigfoot.

He said there were more than 400 people who claimed to have seen Bigfoot in the Shennongjia area over the last century, and to him that is proof enough.

And he’s gotten support from a local “witness”, Zhang Jiahong, a sheep rancher in the town of Muyu in the nature reserve, who says he saw two wild men as recently as September 2005.

As for the new expedition, he has new ideas and blames the failure of the previous searches on their “unscientific” nature.

“It’s difficult and expensive getting all the technology to cover a 3,200-square-kilometer range of mountains, a large part of which is primeval forest,” he said.

So, the association is looking for volunteers from around the world to join this latest high-tech search for Yeren.

According to Wang, the team’s first hurdle is to come up with about 10 million yuan so they are talking to companies and other organizations about funding. (ANI)