- Business at the Florida Panther Gift
Shop on U.S. 41 in Ochopee is slow, and owner Dave Shealy has once again
spotted the elusive skunk ape. Shealy, who claims to be the proprietor
of the world's only skunk ape research center, took 27 photographs of the
7-foot-tall creature in the Everglades on Tuesday night [Sept 8]. Shealy
said the photographs are the product of eight months of sitting in a tree
in the hope of coaxing the animal out of its native habitat.
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- "I had been sitting up in the tree
for about two hours every night for the past eight months, and I didn't
feel particularly good about seeing anything that night," Shealy said
of his alleged encounter with the hairy beast. "I dozed off for a
little while, and when I woke up I saw it coming straight at me. At first
I thought it was a man, but then I realized it was the skunk ape."
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- Shealy said he carries a camera at all
times while he is perched on his homemade lookout. He pulled out the camera
and shot a whole roll of film when he allegedly saw the skunk ape about
50 yards away from him. "I tried so long and worked so hard, you can
imagine spending eight months in a tree," Shealy said. "I saw
the skunk ape and knew what I had to do."
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- Shealy said he was never afraid of the
skunk ape while it was walking toward him. He said it was apparent the
animal would never do anything to harm him or anyone else. "After
taking the photos, I sat back and took a deep breath and thought what a
docile, docile animal was out there," Shealy said.
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- Shealy knows there are more than a handful
of skeptics. That he first thought the animal was a man makes some wonder
whether the figure in Shealy's photos might in fact be a human in a gorilla
costume. "Walking around in a gorilla costume in the middle of hunting
season would be crazy," Shealy said. He went on to admit he does not
know of any gorilla hunters in the Florida Everglades. "It's a shame
there are people in this world that refuse to believe there is something
they don't know about," Shealy says of the skunk ape skeptics. "I
call them know-it-alls, and nobody likes a know-it-all."
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- Shealy said that the day after waking
up and allegedly seeing the hairy beast approaching him, he returned to
the same area to follow the tracks of the animal. It was while he was following
the tracks that Shealy made what he said could be the biggest skunk ape
discovery since the first sighting - small footprints he says appear to
be from a baby skunk ape. "I found some small tracks, definitely those
of a skunk ape, and I think it was probably about 140 pounds, compared
to the adults which are 350-plus pounds," Shealy said.
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- Shealy now estimates there are between
nine and 12 skunk apes roaming the Everglades, and said most people who
have spotted the creature usually see them in groups of three or four.
Shealy said skunk apes are skilled at covering up their dead, which explains
why skunk ape fossils have never been found.
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- In order to attract the skunk ape to
his perch high above the Everglades, Shealy leaves piles of lima beans
on the ground, which he says are the animal's favorite food. "They
prefer a large lima bean, about the size of a half dollar, which I soak
in water and place in piles throughout the area," Shealy said. "I
have probably purchased over 200 pounds of lima beans this year."
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- Shealy has been interviewed on several
television programs and in worldwide tabloids about his skunk ape tale.
Most recently, Shealy appeared on cable's Comedy Central, where he led
interviewers on an unsuccessful hunt for the skunk ape. Shealy estimates
he has received more than $30 million in free advertising because of all
the media attention, but insists he has not made a cent off his sightings.
He said about 50 people a week come to his gift shop in the hope of seeing
the skunk ape or talking with the world-famous founder of the skunk ape
research center. Although Shealy's only sightings of the skunk ape have
come during periods of slow business at the gift shop, he insists the sightings
are not a publicity stunt. "There is absolutely no doubt in my mind
that the skunk ape exists. If it is a hoax, I'm not aware of it,"
Shealy said. He plans to continue his nightly skunk ape vigil alone among
the Everglades, and promises more pictures the next time he encounters
the animal.
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