In this November 15 post, "stumpy waters" has questions for a poster called "AGFC Keith", who is said to be a spokesman for the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission (please note--when I post other people's words on this blog, it doesn't necessarily imply that I agree with any or all of those words):
Keith - I sent the following email below to Mr. Henderson and he forwarded the email on to someone else who replied. I got a very cordial email with a lot of informaiton (including the hint that there was "proof" the public had not seen, which makes no sense to hide "proof of the existence" of a rather useless bird??), but the simple question I asked was not answered. I responded back, but the question still has not been answered.
Perhaps you could help.
******ORIGINAL EMAIL****
I do have one more question.
How long will the AGFC continue to support the woodpecker hoax (forgive my negativism), without someone actually providing proof positive that the bird exists?
(Most folks do not agree that the blurry video and the sound recordings are proof positive.)
******SECOND EMAIL*****
I really appreciate all this information.
I have seen and heard all the evidence. If there is something that has not been released to the public, why no do that right now and dispel all disbelief? As amazing as it may sound, many folks including other ornithologists believe there is not enough evidence to verify the birds’ existence.
Yes, two scientists who are now making a lot of money over this claim to have seen the bird. The great bird watchers they are though, they couldn’t get a photo. They could be honest and really think they saw the bird, they could have done it for the money, or they could have done it knowing that it would at least strongly curtail hunting if not have it closed in this area. Only time will reveal their motivation.
I don’t want to start an email war here. I asked a simple question that was not answered and that’s all I was looking for. There is a lot of money being poured into this to recover a bird no one can even find, to recover. Look at how many people are in those woods on a daily basis now looking for this bird, yet they cannot find him. How long will this be allowed to go on without someone bringing a photo to the table that relinquishes all doubt? Are we going to keep going for the next 100 years based only on what we have now? At what point will we say either there was no bird, or the one bird is now gone?
At some point there has to be a responsibility check placed on the money being spent. I just want to know what that timeframe is.
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