Today in Bigfoot History | JAN 22, 1996 | Grover Krantz Advocates Killing Bigfoot

Grover Sanders Krantz was a professor of physical anthropology at Washington State University

"Someday down the line, 50 years from now, somebody by the rare chance might just stumble across the skeleton of a Sasquatch..." Grover Krantz

Today, January 22, 1996, the late Grover Krantz picks a side on the kill/no kill Bigfoot debate. Krantz's idea that in order to preserve the Bigfoot species, we need a specimen to understand it first. This is one of the most polarizing debates in Bigfooting. Some have argued that Grover's stance is a little more nuanced than any newspaper article can convey. There are also those that argue Krantz's view would be different today due to the advances in DNA. Either way, the debate continues to stir high emotions among the community. Read the article below that touches on arguments for both sides.

The Salt Lake Tribune

January 22, 1996

WALLA WALLA, Wash. -- Dr. Grover Krantz, anthropology professor at Washington State University, has touched off something of a controversy in Bigfoot circles by openly advocating the view that a specimen should be hunted down and killed. "Someday down the line, 50 years from now, somebody by the rare chance might just stumble across the skeleton of a Sasquatch, and then the government sends out masses of [chimpanzee researcher] Jane Goodall's granddaughters, and establishes definitely, they were there, but they're extinct," Krantz theorized. "Everybody will be standing around wringing their hands saying: `If only we knew they were real, we could have saved them.' Well, they could have been saved if only we would blow one away now. The first one who bags one should get a big, big prize. The second one should be hanged."

One opponent of Krantz's view is Peter Byrne, director of the Bigfoot Research Project at Oregon's Mount Hood. Byrne is a big-game hunter in the classic tradition -- Irish, with a good head of white hair and a penchant for khakis and wool sweaters. He spent a good part of his hunting-and-tracking career in Nepal before developing an interest in the Sasquatch and undertaking the first major organized Bigfoot expedition in Oregon in 1960.

It failed to produce a Sasquatch, but Byrne hasn't quit looking. He now spends much of his searching tracking down witnesses, carefully probing their stories for holes and sending investigators to look for corroborating evidence.