Wednesday, March 23, 2011

Yeti hand stolen from Nepal monastery

A yeti-seeking expedition to Nepal led by Peter Byrne in the 1950's was shown the preserved hand of what may have been an unknown primate at Pangboche Monastery. Tragically, however, during the 1990's, shortly after it had appeared on an American television program, the hand was stolen from the monastery by person(s) unknown, as was an alleged yeti scalp (though this was probably constructed from the skin of a serow, a native goat-antelope), and neither has been heard of since. Now, two decades later, the monastery will be receiving the next best things, when New Zealand pilot Mike Allsop donates replicas of the hand and the scalp. After learning about the thefts, Allsop had contacted Weta Workshop, a New Zealand firm of movie model makers, who agreed to create the replicas for free using photographs of the original specimens, and Allsop hopes that their presence at the monastery will help it to generate an income, by attracting tourists willing to pay a small fee to view them. The originals have never been recovered...