Mania has reported that in 2005 the UK government released what were previously concealed files regarding their plans for the discovery and protection of the world’s most renowned LAKE MONSTER — the LOCH NESS MONSTER.
Even now, a decade into the 21st century, the controversy surrounding whether or not there is (or was) an anomalous, long necked, FORMERLY-EXTINCTanimal living in the murky, peat smothered depths of Loch Ness is enough to incite heated debate.
Some researchers conclude that a still-living colony of plesiosaurs — carnivorous reptiles that surfaced at the start of the Jurassic period — lurk within the deep waters of Loch Ness. Others believe that the creatures may be giant, monstrous eels. And, of course, there are some who conclude that the stories are nothing more than fabrications, and an ingenious ploy to help boost Scotland’s tourist-based economy.
For certain branches of the British Government and military, however, the monsters of Loch Ness have secretly been a favorite topic of investigation for decades. For example, in the late 1970s, official documents made available to the public in 2005 reveal, the then-Conservative government of Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher had seriously considered a request to use dolphins in a search for the creatures.
Amid complaints from the Scottish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, however, the plan was never put into action… One has to wonder, were the members of the SSPCA worried about the safety of the creature or the dolphins?
In the mid-1980s — now-declassified files demonstrate — the government secretly tried to determine if the Loch Ness Monsters were at risk from hunters and poachers. At one point, government officials were seriously considering drafting new legislation to protect the animals, despite the fact that no one could even be sure they existed. Eventually the government concluded that:
“The legislative framework to protect the monster is available; provided she (or he) is identified by scientists whose reputation will carry weight with the British Museum.”
In 1965, additional files show, the British Royal Air Force’s Joint Air Reconnaissance Intelligence Centre at RAF Brampton analyzed film-footage taken on April 23, 1960 — by eminent Nessie researcher Tin Dinsdale — that purported to show a large, unidentified, round backed creature navigating the loch. The RAF concluded:
“One can presumably rule out the idea that it is any sort of submarine vessel for various reasons which leaves the conclusion that it is probably an animate object.”
