NESSIE IN MAD COW SHOCKER

There are worries this week that the Loch Ness Monster may fall victim to Mad Cow disease. This has shocked her supporters at Loch Ness in the Scottish Highlands.

The scare came about when it was revealed that an American woman suggests emptying dead sheep and cow remains into the clean waters of the loch in a bid to lure Nessie.

Alice Heisten of Colorado Springs in the US said that she would like to "attract the creature with blood from a slaughterhouse poured in the water in areas where it is seen often". She added that carcasses of sheep with transmitters embedded in them could also be left for Nessie to eat.

Her ideas have been met with both shock and revulsion after Alice emailed her ideas to the "Nessie on the Net" internet site.

Gary Campbell, President of the Inverness based Official Loch Ness Monster Fan Club said yesterday "This could be a nightmare scenario. Loch Ness is used by many scientists as it is unspoiled by pollution."

"If some madman takes up Alice’s suggestions and fills the loch up with blood and guts and dead sheep, it could infect Nessie with mad cow disease - after all it was feeding sheep remains to cows that gave them BSE in the first place."

Alice however feels that her idea could help the tourist industry. She stated that "regular feedings in the same place could make Nessie dependent and a possible tourist attraction".

This however was rejected by Nessie experts. "The monster is a tourist attraction in its own right without this nonsense" retorted Gary , "she has surfaced nine times already this year and all that dead sheep floating on the loch would do is lead to an increase in fake sightings".

"Nessie has never been known to attack anyone in the past 1400 years but as well as driving her mad, this could give her a taste for blood and put tourist lives at risk. However , if she was tracked with radio transmitters I suppose we could issue warnings of where her next attack might be!"

The Loch Ness Monster has been making headlines since it was first spotted in 565AD by St. Columba. Many people claim to have seen the mythical beast but it has remained as elusive as ever when anybody has tried to catch her.