HAS ANYONE ACTUALLY SEEN THE DEAD MONSTER PICTURE?

Yesterday evening I was about my business of being a step-father, (both my lovely step-daughters have been here for the weekend) and all round family person, (I have a family, and I'm fairly round), when an e-mail came into my inbox. It read:

A mysterious-looking body found along the shore of Okanagan Lake might be the remains of the legendary Ogopogo, an expert says. Dan Poppoff found the 1.2-metre-long carcass last month while he was kayaking in the lake, close to Kelowna.

The Kelowna resident immediately called Arlene Gaal, who has written three books about the legendary sea creature and documented sightings of the Ogopogo for the last 30 years.

The headline reads:

Mystery carcass may be legendary monster: Expert

It appears that Arlene, who I have been in correspondence with over the years, and who seems an eminently sensible person, is actually quite excited by this carcass, which is a good sign. She is one of the people in this business, whose opinion I tend to trust. However, there is a slight problem. No-one seems to have a copy of any of the photographs.

We are not being negative here. The fact that Arlene is quoted as appearing to give a certain degree of credence to this carcass can only be a good thing. But I would be very interested to take a gander at the pics myself.

However, despite the story appearing on dozens of websites, several of which, by the way, where it was illustrated by the picture above; which not only was taken by me (I don't care when people pinch my pictures by the way, but I do like to be credited, and for them to be used in context) but shows a fibreglass Nessie next to the Loch Ness Visitor's Centre in Scotland, there are no pictures (at least none that I can find) of the carcass itself.

This I find mildly disturbing, because whenever the words `lake monster carcass` are used I am reminded of the furore from 2005 when it was claimed that this specimen, which is undoubtedly the antler of a roebuck, was the tooth of the Loch Ness Monster.

Politely, I tried to explain what it was, but - once again - was accused of being a tool of the government and of oppression in general, masterminding a cover-up for having done so.

But I digress. In view of Arelene's apparent endorsement, I cannot but be intrigued by this latest story, so guys - if anyone out there has a copy of the picture, or if Dan Popoff himself is reading this, please email me a copy....