Cadborosaurus: Survivor from the Deep

by Paul H. Lebond, E.L. Bousfield

Book by Lebond, P., Leblond, Paul H.

Genres: Cryptozoology

134 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 2000

Reviews

[Mathew White · Rating 2 out of 5]

Cadborosaurus is a middle league Cryptozoology player that, despite being reported around Cadboro Bay in British Columbia since the late 19th century, didn't really become manifested in the literature in its current form until the early 1990s when the two authors of this book published articles describing the discovery of the 1937 Naden harbour photographs of a now lost anomalous carcass found in the stomach of a sperm whale. In the flurry surrounding this, the late Ed Bousfield and Paul LeBlond published in 1995 a questionable scientific paper in which they erected the species name Cadborosaurus willsi to account for the carcass in the photos and the sightings dating back to the latter half of the previous century. Also in 1995, presumably to introduce this research to a popular audience, this book was published. The book is in its 134 pages a decent summary of all things related to and concerning "Caddy" but unfortunately, as is easily findable online, the conclusions drawn by LeBlond and Bousfield in both their paper and the book are some of the most flawed in what must be said is a flawed field in Cryptozoology (google the "Cadborosaurus Wars" and look at Darren Naish's Tetrapod Zoology blog to see what i mean) and it detracts heavily from the quality of the book and robs the volume of what can occasionally be a fun to read exercise in Cryptozoology: theoretical creature building. 2 stars is probably generous in that regard. Just as a completely superfluous postscript, the front cover of this book that depicts the titular creature which is often circulated in online articles related to Cadborosaurus was my introduction to the book as a kid. To 12 year old bizzare animal obsessed eyes it was and i suppose still is one of the most weirdly cool book covers I've yet come across. Look at the cover, ignore the research. Judging a book by it's cover can work both ways in that regard.