PETA Doesn't Want You To Hunt This Mythical Animal

The animal rights advocacy group PETA doesn't believe bigfoot exists, but it has a message for the man who last month claims he hunted, shot and killed the legendary creature.

"The bottom line is, when someone sees a rare, exotic animal their first instinct shouldn't be to shoot and kill it," PETA spokesperson Lindsay Rajt told the Houston Chronicle. "Just because you see something pretty, that doesn't mean it should be mounted on your wall."

Rick Dyer claims he hunted, killed and preserved a bigfoot in 2012. He is taking the body on tour in February. (Image source: Rick Dyer/Facebook)

The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department reiterated this week that it was in fact legal to shoot bigfoot within the state, if such a creature exists. Bigfoot hunter Rick Dyer earlier in January posted photos showing what he says is a bigfoot he killed and preserved in 2012. In his defense, a blog post about how Dyer tracked and shot bigfoot said he killed the animal in defense.

To the naysayers of bigfoot's existence, Dyer told the New York Daily News he plans to go on tour with his evidence starting in Flagstaff, Ariz., Feb. 6.

"I've heard people say it's fake. They haven't seen the body. They haven't studied it," Dyer's marketing manager Andrew Clacy told the Daily News. "They're just guessing. They're not an expert in what they're talking about."

Clacy added that a college laboratory investigated the alleged bigfoot corpse and conducted DNA analysis, finding  its genetic code to belong to that of an "unknown" species, the Daily News reported.

"There's no DNA of a current animal," Clacy said of the purported research.

Earlier this month when Dyer's first photos of the alleged bigfoot were released, The Huffington Post pointed out that Dyer was involved in a 2008 bigfoot hoax where the body ended up being a rubber ape suit.

Known or unknown, real or not real, Rajt with PETA said "as an organization we do oppose hunting of any kind," calling it a "cruel and unnecessary" activity that "can damage populations and ecosystems."

For more information about Dyer's tour with his the so-called bigfoot corpse, check out the Bigfoot Tracker website.