Yippee, I just spotted a yowie

Yowie expert Paul Compton with one of six grass beds he claims belong to the elusive yowie. He said the beds were always built

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• Motorist catches sight of a yowie

By LEIGH PRITCHARD

THERE are yowies in the Clarence Valley.

That's the claim of the yowie expert, Paul Compton, who believes yowies are residing in Jackadgery and Washpool.

"There is a big chance they are here, there has been a sighting before in Grafton," Mr Compton said.

For 15 years Mr Compton has been searching for yowies, which are primates (gigantopithecus). The species is thought to have died out 100,000 years ago.

Mr Compton said the last sighting in the Valley was 15 years ago on the Old Glen Innes Road.

In 2004, Mr Compton said he saw his third yowie on the Tenterfield Road, 15 kilometres from home at Glen Innes.

"It was seven foot tall, with long hair, an orangy brown colour," Mr Compton said. "It is like a large ape."

He said evidence he had collected included footprints, photos, faeces and hair samples, which he claimed matched 'Bigfoot' and 'Sasquatsh' hair found in the United States.

On Monday Mr Compton received a report of a yowie sighting at Cessnock, in the Hunter Valley.

The Clarence Valley National Parks and Wildlife Service spokesperson, Lawrence Orel, said the chances of yowies existing, without the National Park's knowledge, were slim.

"A lot of the area (between Grafton and Glen Innes) is former state forests or grazing land," Mr Orel said.

"It is rugged, it has been fully utilised by humans for more than 100 years."

Anybody who thinks they have seen a yowie can email Paul Compton on yowiie@hotmail.com.