AP Photo/Saurabh Das

ABC News has posted an AP story about how growing modernization, outside influences and tourism are threatening the yeti’s place in Bhutan’s national identity:

In a remote Himalayan kingdom that held out against the modern world for as long as it could, the old man remembers a time when the yeti was a normal part of life.

“The creature has always been out there, and it’s out there still,” says Sonam Dorji, 77, sitting on the pockmarked wooden floor of his small farmhouse. It’s a cold Himalayan morning, and he warms himself beside a wood stove. The smell of burning pine fills the room. “If you travel the ancient trails, even today, there’s a good chance you’ll meet him.”

His son-in-law, listening to the old man’s stories, laughs dismissively from across the room.

Link to full story