take advantage of the gullibility of some tourists to lure them into the "dahu hunt" (French: chasse au dahu). The animal was touted as a rare and precious bounty, the capture thereof required waiting alone all night on a chilly slope, crouched in an uncomfortable position. In the second half of the 20th century, the supply of naive hunters had dried up, and the dahu hunt enjoyed a second life as a summer camp practical joke. The dahu today As of the last decades of the 20th century, the dahu is widely recognized as a tall tale and a source of humor. The Alps Museum in the Bard Fort, Aosta Valley, dedicated a part of its permanent exhibition to Dahu. It has been adopted by other mountainous regions such as the Pyrenees. Recreational "dahu hunts" are sometimes organized as outdoor activities in France and Switzerland. There are dahu websites and dahu aficionados, such as Marcel Jacquat, former director, now retired, of the Natural Science Museum of La Chaux-de-Fonds in Switzerland, who wrote a monograph and opened an exhibition devoted to the animal on 1 April 1995. On 1 April 1967, the Prefect of Haute-Savoie (France) officially made the mountainous suburbs of the small town of Reignier a "Dahu Sanctuary" where hunting and photography are forbidden. See also Peña Dahua French aircraft design named after the animal Sidehill gouger Snipe hunt Fearsome critters Wild haggis References Further reading Italian legendary creatures Italian folklore French folklore Swiss folklore Mythological caprids French legendary creatures