Thanks to Jesse Walker over at Reason for pointing me in the direction of the following news story.

Apparently, in the 1980's, the British government and the Scottish government engaged one of the great conservation questions of our age: How do we protect the Loch Ness Monster from poaching should Nessie ever surface?

The Department of Agriculture and Fisheries ruled out the Salmon and Fisheries Protection Act because "Unfortunately, Nessie is not a salmon and would not appear to qualify as a freshwater fish." Meanwhile, Sweden apparently passed a special law specifically to protect its equivalent of Nessie --- though that act was revoked two months ago.