The Skunking Problem

[Tom Shirley]

This is a very important point of study that needs to be done. There are persons that have been skunked by a FF/Bigfoot that have ended up with bronchial problems. It depends on the strength of the odor and how close a person is to how bad they are affected, and for what amount time the bronchial problems last. In some way a sample of this needs to be collected for Scientific analysis.

Are the Forest Friends aware that this, be it defensive or bad hygiene, harms some of us in such a manner? Probably not, I do not think they mean to harm us in any way.

I will be posting some articles after this post. If anyone has something to add, please do.

Tom S

[Tom Shirley]

This is a great report on the subject manner by:

Vanishing Bigfoot and Anecdotal Accounts:
Implications and Challenges for Researchers

By Sharon (Eby) Cornet © May 22, 2005

http://www.unifiedworlds.com/BFvanishing.htm#discussion

[steve a]

i was with jan and tom and my wife, in another state doing research, when a big grey bigfoot was swaying on the side of the road in front of the house, and i was talking to it and i got a little to close, it skunked me and jan, it was more of a chemical smell then any things else, i was sick for 3 days after that, the next day we found a 17 1/2 foot print where it was standing there swaying, and a poop mark, from its anal gland, and a sample was taken there by jan, so yes we need to learn more about this, is it defensive or what?,

[riley_knows]

i haven't been skunked, but several years ago while driving with my mother through the wooded area near the river, we smelled a horrible smell of rotting meat and just an unimaginable stench! we joked about it being a bigfoot, but weren't serious, and when when we came back through about 90 minutes later, the air was as clean as can be!

i've concluded that:
1.) it very well could have been a dead animal, and a shift in the breeze could have cleared the air. however, it was a pretty quiet and still summer night.
2.) it could have been ol' Ed Yeti himself, just making his way through the area.

haha.
any thoughts?

[Jan]

i haven't been skunked, but several years ago while driving with my mother through the wooded area near the river, we smelled a horrible smell of rotting meat and just an unimaginable stench! we joked about it being a bigfoot, but weren't serious, and when when we came back through about 90 minutes later, the air was as clean as can be!

i've concluded that:
1.) it very well could have been a dead animal, and a shift in the breeze could have cleared the air. however, it was a pretty quiet and still summer night.
2.) it could have been ol' Ed Yeti himself, just making his way through the area.

haha.
any thoughts?

It could have been a dead animal somewhere you smelled, but that would not seem likely if there was no wind. Maybe you did catch a whiff of a bigfoot in passing. Guess we will never know for sure.
Yours,
Jan

[Beliver]

Hi

Wow that page has some good stuff, i am not into BF being spooky or magical in anyway but i am always open to reading about it, i have read about BF stinking so bad as to drive people away and other times no oder, possible he also gets a little scared when confronted by a human


Peace
Tim

[southernbigfooter]

I've only been HIT 1 time by them and man o man it was aweful. If you're ever been around teenage boys that NEED to use deodorant and don't, imagine 20 of them that just ran a marathon standing next to you LOL was aweful and darn sure ran me outta the woods.

[Tom Shirley]

I've only been HIT 1 time by them and man o man it was aweful. If you're ever been around teenage boys that NEED to use deodorant and don't, imagine 20 of them that just ran a marathon standing next to you LOL was aweful and darn sure ran me outta the woods.

I would like to ask you if you were close enough that it made your eyes water?

Did it choke you?

Did it cause any affect with your breathing for the next few days after?

[joep]

I do not think it is funny to get skunked. I cross over a marker when my guts told me not to and got blasted by something. The smell was surphic and had some sweetness in it. It watered my eyes and had some breathing problems. Being out of commission almost two weeks and did not smoke or eat good meal during that time.

At a Fest in 2003 when I first meet Janice and explain what happen. Janice told me I may have comes around a female with a child. I look back and believe it to be so. If you watch a mother dog with it's puppies nursing . The smell is about the same with that surphic thing threw in.

[southernbigfooter]

took awhile before the hair on the back of my neck laid down LOL Felt like someone or something was staring a hole through me though. I've been in the woods all my life and have felt that before but when the smell hit me, WOW.

[Pearl Jo]

Yes It is nice to see Sharon's work. We both worked on this article starting out as co-authors about half way I started writing PPIT and Sharon continued with the article.
Her mapping is also worth a look.

Here again I offer an alternative explanation. I think it may have something to do with what they eat. Here is a page giving further information.
http://hometown.aol.com/osareal/page67.html

Pearl Jo%(

[steve a]

:confused: i BELIEVE THIS IS A GOOD QUESTION AND WE NEED FURTHER RESEARCH ON THIS, HOW EVER , IF YOU EVER BEEN SKUNKED, YOU NEVER WILL FORGET IT, IT HAS HAPPENED TWICE TO ME, AN AS A RESULT , ON THE SECOND TIME, WE HAD A CHANCE TO DO A LITTLE RESEARCH IN THE WAY IT HAPPENS, JAN AND I AND THE REST OF OUR RESEARCH PEOPLE WENT OUT OF STATE, TO A RESEARCHERS HOME , WHOM WE WILL NOT MENTION HERE, WE HAD THE ENCOUNTER ACROSS THE ROAD FROM HOME, AND I GOT TO CLOSE SETTING OUT FOOD AS A GIFT, AND AS A RESULT, ALL GOT SKUNKED FROM THIS MISTAKE, SORRY ABOUT THAT:D, ANY WAY , WE WENT OUT THE NEXT DAY AND FOUND THE FOOT PRINTS, AND A SMALL STOOL MARK ON THE GRASS IN BETWEEN WHERE THE BIGFOOT STOOD , ROCKING BACK AND FORTH ON ITS FEET AS IN A AGITATED STATE, THE FOOT PRINTS WERE DEEP FROM THIS ACTION, I BELIEVE THAT THEY DELIVER THIS FROM THEIR ANAL GLANDS, AND IS DIRECTED TO THE PERSON OR PERSONS IT WANTS TO DELIVER TO, THE SMELL WE SMELLED WAS A CHEMICAL ODOR, IT MADE ME SICK FOR THREE DAYS, BREATHING PROBLEMS, SLEEPY ALL THE TIME, NOT ALERT AT ALL, FINALLY IT GOT BETTER FOR ME,

THIS COULD VERY WELL INDEED BE FROM WHAT THEY EAT, AS A DEFENSE MECHANISM, THESE HOMINIDS ARE VERY INTELLIGENT, AND THEY KNOW WHAT THEY ARE DOING, FOOD SOURCES ARE ABUNDANT IN THE WILD TO DO THINGS TO A BODY, WE HUMANS ARE STUDYING ABOUT,

PLEASE TAKE IN CONSIDERATION , THE SMALL HUMAN BODY, AND THE GIANT HOMINID BODY, THAT WE KNOW NOTHING ABOUT, THE HUMAN BODY WE KNOW A LOT ABOUT , BUT WHAT ARE THE EFFECTS ON THE BIGFOOT BODY,

MORE RESEARCH MUST BE DONE ON ALL THIS,

[BBray34]

I was watching something on National Geographic about gorillas putting off an odor when they perceive a threat to their enviroment and it got me to wondering if Bigfoot does the same thing. It would make sense in places where they were doing alot of logging such as the Pacific Northwest.

[Tom Shirley]

Hello BBray,

We do not have documentation on this as of yet, but believe they are able to excrete a substance from the anal glands/sacs. This is probably about the same as gorillas. The FFs do have characteristics of both gorilla and us. I believe that we had these glands also at one time in our past, but have lost the need for them.

Jan use to work with a veterinarian and she also groomed dogs. She has told me about certain types of dogs having a problem with these glands getting impacted and she would have to express them. The odor is terrible when doing this and the bacteria can cause terrible sickness.

Now this a Theory and has not been proven yet.

Tom S.

[BBray34]

You're probably about our early ancestors having this odor, the development of weapons is probably the main reason that our later ancestors didn't have this odor which was probably used by our early ancestors, the australapithicines as a defensive reaction to change in their environment.

[Regina]

What a topic!


Personally, the only skunk I have ever smelled was an actual skunk. I have never smelled or been sicked by anything in the woods. I do recall that we had a male dog when I was a child who had to eventually have scent glands removed due to constant impaction and I recently had to ask about an odor released by my female dogs. The vet said it occurs during states of anxiety.

All I know is that when humans are upset or anxious, they can emit an odor too. Further research into primates and this "skunking behavior" needs to be done. My guess is that this is still a defense/anxiety reaction.

Here's some info I found on this:

scent gland
A specialized apocrine gland and that opens onto the outer surface of animals, producing odorous compounds that are used for communicating between members of the same species (pheromones), or for discouraging predators or competitors.

http://www.anapsid.org/pheromones.html



I tend to think that primates may have these glands located in different places.

See last part at the bottom of this page.

http://www.seaworld.org/animal-info/info-books/gorilla/physical-characteristics.htm

Hope this helps!

Regina

[Vile Ent]

I had never heard of this problem! I am learning a lot of new things since reading this forum. Just out of total irony and nothing more, when I started the internet research that led me to this forum, a skunk went off. As I wrote on another site,

"Maybe it was some sort of sign, I was on my comp researching Bigfoot when I smelled something strange. They say Bigfoot smells really bad (the southern States version of it is even called the skunk ape), so maybe I'm being warned??!?...Almost running (from my home, which had all windows and doors shut) into the parking lot the stench was still so bad I was practically vomiting. IN FACT, the smell was still evident 2 square blocks away!...That stench was almost 5 times stronger than any skunk I have smelled in my life, and the distance it carried and strength it had even outside is testament to that."

Strange that it would happen at this time, a renewed interest in Bigfoot that had me combing the net for 12 straight hours, and back at it the next two days. I knew of the smell they may possess, but certainly no "skunking" capability!!!

[ravellette]

I had a bull Mastiff that had the anal gland problem....The smell would make my husband sick for a couple days, He would hold her for the vet lol....anyway the vet said it was common in big dogs and is normally due to eating table foods.
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