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 Last week, the Times newspaper reported that Steve Feltham, who
gave up his job, house and girlfriend 24 years ago to look for the
creature full-time, had abandoned his long quest, causing ripples
among monster-lovers across the world.
But Feltham says he has no intention of quitting his hunt for the
prehistoric beast, which legend has it lurks beneath the deep, dark
waters of the lake in northern Scotland, although his current best
guess is that "Nessie" is just a large catfish.
"It's still a massive world-class mystery," Feltham, who lives in a
van on the shores of the loch, told Reuters.
"It's been a life-long passion for me and I'm dedicated to being
here and being fully involved in this whole hunt. I couldn't be more
content doing anything else."
Feltham said he suspected Nessie was most likely to be a large Wels
catfish, a native European fish that can grow up to 13 ft (4 meters)
long. Victorians introduced the fish to the loch near Inverness to
provide sport.
"At the moment, a Wels catfish ticks more of the boxes than any of
the other contenders for the explanation," he said.
"I would like it to be something new and undiscovered rather than
something a little bit mundane. People do report four- or five-feet
long necks sticking up out of Loch Ness. That's not going to be a
Wels catfish."
The first written record of a monster relates to the Irish monk St
Columba, who supposedly banished a "water beast" to the depths of
the River Ness in the 6th century. Hundreds of thousands of tourists
visit every year hoping to spot the monster peeping out from the
deep waters.
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Four years ago, the driver of a pleasure boat on the loch spotted an
object more than five-feet wide on its sonar equipment 60 feet
below, where the loch was 600 feet deep.
"That object is bigger than an estate car," Feltham said, adding
that explanations for the monster ranged from giant eels and
dinosaurs to a spaceship on the bottom of the loch.
"Everybody's got a different theory as to what the identity of the
Loch Ness monster is," he said.
(Reporting by Michael Holden; editing by Guy Faulconbridge, Larry
King)
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