April Fools Joke Becomes Law

...or bigfoot can put you in jail.

On April 01, in 1969 Skamania County, Washington was the first official U.S. governmental body to legally recognize Bigfoot as a species. By passing of Ordinance 69-01, Skamania County declared the killing of bigfoot illegal; punishable by a $10,000 fine and 5 years in prison. Although originally an April Fool's joke, it sat in the books for over a dozen years before becoming an official statute with legally binding consequences.

In 1984 the ordinance was repealled and amended as ordinance 1984-2. The new ordinance reduced the fine and jail time to “gross misdemeanor” status. Don't be fooled by the lighter misdeameanor status, due to an exception written into the ordinance, if the animal (Bigfoot) is found to be humanoid, the person who killed the Bigfoot will be tried for homicide.


Even more interesting, the more recent ordinance sets up all of Skamania as a “Sasquatch Refuge.” The reason – Bigfoot is an “endangered species” in Skamania County. Skamania does not claim Bigfoot is endangered overall, just within its own county lines.

EXTERNAL LINKS
Skamania County's official Ordinance Listings (look for 1984-2)
The entire ordinance text