Original headline: Miami PBS station films skunk ape-seeking expedition
David Shealy is once again ready for his close-up.
As Collier County's resident — and most high profile — expert on the mysterious skunk ape, Shealy will appear on "New Florida," a multiple Emmy award-winning public television news and lifestyle program, in late October.
Shealy will relate his tale of Southwest Florida's most pungent primate puzzle as part of the show's Halloween episode. Other Florida phenomena scheduled to be profiled for the show are a haunted ship in St. Augustine and the Cassadaga spiritualist community in Central Florida.
"It's a little more lighthearted than our typical weekly show," said Gabriela Vignolo, a publicist for Channel 2 WPBT in Miami, which produces "New Florida."
To the 40-year-old Shealy, though, the skunk ape is serious fare.
For years, he has appeared on TV shows such as "Unsolved Mysteries," "Inside Edition" and Comedy Central's "The Daily Show." He has made radio appearances. Soon, he hopes to be featured on a Los Angeles TV program hosted by comedian Steve Harvey.
Through these engagements, he aims to bring exposure to the legendary skunk ape.
"We've got an endangered species on our hands here, and people need to know about it," Shealy said.
Because it is a public television-produced show and Emmy award-winner, "New Florida" has a level of credibility Shealy finds appealing, he said.
"This is the quality-type stuff I like to do," Shealy said.
Frank Eberling, a "New Florida" contributing producer, remembers hearing of the skunk ape in the early 1970s, when he was working in West Palm Beach. There had been some alleged sightings in that area, and the skunk ape buzz was building.
When one of the senior producers at Channel 2 asked him to film a segment on the skunk ape, he was thrilled to comply, Eberling said.
"I like to do stories about people who are passionate about whatever they're doing, and Dave seems to fit that bill," Eberling said. "It's the old quest theme."
On Friday, Shealy took Eberling and Eberling's video camera into the mist and mire behind his Ochopee campground to search for the elusive 7-foot, reddish-brown skunk ape. Joining the pair was Michelle Maynard, a marine biologist and the first Miss Skunk Ape, crowned in June.
After trudging through the tall grass and mud, Shealy paused for Eberling to record the details of his boyhood brush with the beast.
He was just 10 years old, and out hunting with his brother, Jack, when they saw it.
"It didn't even cross our minds once to take a shot at it," Shealy recalled.
For a second take, Shealy fleshed out his memories even more. He described the surprise he and his brother felt at the sight, and their flight to escape. Later, he spoke about his 1999 attempt to receive money from tourist taxes to pay for his skunk ape research and promotion.
"Some people were skeptical about it," Shealy said. "I decided I was going to try and take those people who were skeptical and turn them into believers."
Dressed in faded jeans, a camouflage rain jacket, a black cowboy hat with a gator-tooth band and a gold gator necklace, Shealy looked every inch the backwoods adventurer for his interview.
And not an adventurer whose journey is near ending.
"There's no turning back now," Shealy said. "Collier County's got a skunk ape, whether they like it or not."
While skunk ape skeptics abound, Eberling said the purpose of the "New Florida" program isn't to be exploitative or controversial. It isn't to make believers or nonbelievers.
It's simply to share a South Florida story that has circulated for decades, he said.
"We're just going to present Dave's story and people can draw their own conclusions," Eberling said.
Conduct Search on FS for numerous stories on Florida's Skunk Ape.
