A woman in southern California is suing the state and its parks department for not recognizing Bigfoot as a species.
The woman claims authorities did not believe her when she reported a Bigfoot sighting. She and her two daughters were out walking in the early evening on March 17 when they spotted three Bigfoot creatures, according to ABC 7.
“If they wanted to hurt us that day they could have,” Claudia Ackley told ABC 7. “We were right there.”
When she reported seeing the animal, park authorities told her she saw a bear, but Ackley, a longtime Bigfoot enthusiast, didn’t accept that.
“If it was a bear, there would be claw marks on the tree,” Ackley told The Press-Enterprise.
Now she and other experts in the field of Bigfoot studies are suing the state. The 46-year-old mother, along with “Discovering Bigfoot” director Todd Standing filed the lawsuit against the State of California, California Department of Fish and Wildlife, and the California Natural Resources Agency on Jan. 18, according to a court document obtained by Gizmodo.
“If this goes to court, we will win, easily,” Standing said in an interview with the Press-Enterprise. “It’s not a joke. The best wilderness experts in the world are coming out to testify. It’s amazing.”
Standing filed a lawsuit in Canada with the same aims last year. He told the Press-Enterprise that a hearing date hasn’t even been set yet because Canada’s legal system moves slower, but the U.S. case’s hearing date has already been set for March 19.
Ackley told the Press-Enterprise she previously cited a Bigfoot in 2014 when she was out looking for them with other enthusiasts. But the incident that first ignited her interest in the field was a 1997 incident. She was out camping and heard a growl. When she looked out, she claims the creature she saw heading back into the woods could have been a Bigfoot.
“I don’t know if it was a Sasquatch, but that night changed everything for me,” Ackley told the Press-Enterprise. “I always wondered what it was that walked into the woods.”
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