A mythical monster, believed by some to have lived for hundreds of years in the murky depths of a Swedish lake, is now fair game for hunters - if they can find it. Authorities have agreed to lift its endangered species protection.Hundreds of people claim to have spotted a large serpent-like creature in Lake Storsjön in the northwestern province of Jämtland, and in 1986 the regional council put it on a list of endangered animals.But a government watchdog challenged the decision, saying such protection was hardly necessary for a creature whose existence has not been proven. The regional council agreed to remove the listing this month, but declined to rule out that there is a monster living in the 100-meter (300-foot) deep lake.

”It exists, in as much as it lives in the minds of people,” the council’s chief legal adviser Peter Lif said about the purported beast. ”But I guess we’ll have to agree that it cannot be proved scientifically, and then it should not be listed as an endangered species.”

View: Full Article | Source: Sveriges Radio

thats right, but what if' there is really something down there...

Exactly, what happens now if some trigger happy hunter goes and shoots down Nessie's cousin, I won't be best pleased!

That I believe, could be a catastrophe. I know the probability and all that, but what if?

I heard about this on the radio yesterday. Apparently in 2002 some guy tried to get permission to take eggs from the creature, but he was denied.
I wonder if he'd really found any eggs, or if he was just hoping to do so...?


I think people in Sweden would be pretty miffed too if someone shot it...

if i killed the creature...i woudn't tell anybody....but instead I would probably eat it.

yeah, you would go to ebay right away if you killed that thing.

I agree with darknight I don't think that there's anything on the bottom of the sea.

The bottom of the sea might be empty, but 'tis a lake we're talkin' 'bout here...

I remember some years ago there were a couple of li'l girls on the tv who claimed to have seen the beast. They said it looked like a "långhals", i.e. long-neck, which is the child word for any kind of sauropod.

So do you roast or deep fry sauropod meat?

You chop the meat up in li'l pieces, fry it carefully, and eat it. It tastes like chicken, so basically what you get is Dino McNuggets.