A paranormal investigation group that is auctioning a cast of a 'Bigfoot' footprint has received an offer of US$50,000 dollars from a private US museum.

Paranormal Seekers Malaysia, a group which found the print during an expedition last year to find Bigfoot, put the unique cast up for sale on eBay Malaysia after running out of money, the Star newspaper said.

"We need equipment and material for our paranormal investigations and research but we have no funding nor aid from the government," said Syed Abdullah Al-Attas, the founder of the Kuala Lumpur-based group.

"Therefore we are forced to put the cast up for sale," he was quoted as saying.

Bidding opened at RM100,000 and a private museum in the United States had offered US$50,000, while a US Bigfoot researcher wanted to trade casts, he said.

"We will leave the offer open until the end of the year to see the highest offer," said Syed Abdullah, photographed in the paper holding the five-toed cast.

"If possible, we would like a Malaysian body, be it a foundation or a museum, to buy the cast because this is the only one we have and we hope it can stay here," he said.

Three creatures

He said the Seekers and other paranormal investigation groups had found 10 possible Bigfoot footprints during their expedition in the jungle of Johor.

"However, we only have enough material to make one cast or else, trust me, we would have made 10 there and then," he said.

Bigfoot fever erupted in Malaysia last December when some people claimed to have spotted three of the creatures, two adults and a youngster, on the edge of a Johor forest reserve.

Stories of mythical ape-like creatures have been reported in wilderness areas all over the world. They are known as Bigfoot or Sasquatch in the United States and Canada, and Yeti in the Himalayas.