A scientific row about Bigfoot has escalated in America after a researcher published 'DNA proof' of its existence - in a journal they earlier purchased and renamed
Texan Melba Ketchum claims she has spent five years studying DNA samples of the Bigfoot.
Ketchum insists she can prove samples of its hair, blood, saliva and urine are genuine. She adds that following work of a team under her direction at DNA Diagnostics, also in Texas, she knows the mythical animal is a real human-primate hybrid.
She has asked the US government to recognise Bigfoot's kin as an indigenous people who require official protection.
Her group have published the following 19-second clip of a 'sleeping bigfood' recorded in Kentucky in 2005. It has not explained the context of the clip or why it took eight years for the 19 seconds of footage to emerge.
Ketchum also claims that her attempts to have her work peer-reviewed and published in well-known journals were blocked by scientists embarrassed to admit the yeti may exist.
"We encountered the worst scientific bias in the peer review process in recent history," Ketchum wrote recently.
"Several journals wouldn't even read our manuscript when we sent them a pre-submission inquiry."
Eventually a paper containing her claims and evidence was published in the 'DeNovo Scientific Journal'. But while the journal claims it is peer-reviewed, this has been questioned by other scientists who say the journal is a stooge for Ketchum's data.
Ketchum has now admitted buying the rights to the journal and renaming it, but says her research was peer-reviewed and accepted before she did so:
"After this journal agreed to publish the manuscript, their legal counsel advised them not to publish a manuscript on such a controversial subject as it would destroy the editors' reputations (as it has already done to mine).
I have documentation on all of this drama.
So, rather than spend another five years just trying to find a journal to publish and hoping that decent, open minded reviewers would be chosen, we acquired the rights to this journal and renamed it."
Academic and anthropologist Jeff Meldrum told HuffPost in the US that he wouldn't rule out that some publications were biased against running papers in favour of Bigfoot's existence - but said Ketchum's behaviour didn't inspire confidence in her claims.
Meanwhile other researchers continue to claim proof of the sasquatch's existence, though none has yet delivered conclusive video or photographic evidence.