Muggle Awareness of Beasts and Beings
For as long as magic and magical creatures have existed, the problem of hiding both from the non-magical community has perplexed magical governments all over the world. Muggles already have some awareness that these creatures exists. Simply by looking at Muggle fairy stories (the name itself should offer some insight), we can see depictions of unicorns, dragons, fairies, leprechauns, elves, ghouls, banshees; the list goes on and on. All too often, the descriptions of these creatures are quite inaccurate, but it does not change that fact that should a person of non-magical statues come in contact with one of these creatures, they will still know it for what it is.
In most cases, it is nothing to alarm oneself about. Should a child come in contact with a magical creature that is not seen as being particularly dangerous, it will simply be allowed to go upon its merry way, even if the child goes on to tell others. Even children who have never in their lives come across such creatures may claim to have seen them. Even adults who stumble across a creature and yet have no proof of their encounter can easily be dismissed. Usually, the moment they try to report their sightings to anyone, they are quickly dismissed as being either intoxicated, or mentally unstable. Even when they try to seek out groups of people of claim to have see the same, it is still not taken seriously, seen as know an entire group of ‘whack jobs’. In my travels, I have learned from Muggles that people who claim such sightings are given much the same credibility as those who claim to be abducted by aliens.
It is, however, when a Muggle manages to get proof of their encounter, such as a photograph or a video, that more serious action must be taken and the Department of Magic must step in.
One such famous case regarding this scenario was the famous British incident in 1917, Case of the Cottingley Fairies. Two young Muggle girls, Frances Griffiths, age nine, and Elise Wright, sixteen, claimed to go down to a stream near their home called Cottingley Beck and play with the fairies who resided there. No one in the government actually paid much attention to the whole incident until the girls actually managed to get photographs of their discovery and share them with anyone who would sit still long enough.
The entire British Ministry of Magic was jumping! If all this was true, it would mean countless memories spells, destroying Merlin-knows how many photographs and written reports attesting to the evidence, and hiring an entire team of Magiczoologist to report to Cottingley Beck to find out exactly what it was that made these particular fairies so outgoing towards Muggle contact.
None of this came to fruition, however, thanks to the efforts of one Muggle Liaison by the name of Gregory Kabber, who, posing as a Muggle reporter, managed to get his hands on a copy of one of the photographs for Ministry examination. Even before the Magiczoologists could be called in, he could tell something was a miss. In Muggle photography, nothing moves. Even the subjects have to remain completely still while the picture is being taken, for if they do move, their image on the photograph will come out blurred. There was a waterfall in the back of the photograph that was greatly blurred because of this. And yet, all the fairies were posed crystal clear in the photograph. Kabber was not an expert in Magical Creature, but he doubted there was any force outside of magic that could force something as wryly as a fairy to sit still for that long.
And once the Magicizoologists were finally called, the photograph was confirmed to be a fraud. In nature, fairy are usually no more than five inches tall, and are almost never seen in any type of clothing. The ‘fairies’ in the Cottingley photographs were all wearing dresses made from flower petals and each appear to be at least twice the normal of a natural fairy. In fact, they seemed more akin to ballet dancers than true fairies. Eventually, the Muggles deemed the incident a fraud as well, but much time after the wizarding authorities had.
Although the Cottingley case proved one not need the full force of the wizarding government, it still showed the necessity for Ministries of Magic all over the world to have a plan in place should Magical Creatures indeed be seen by those of nonmagical status.
In the early days of settlement in the New World, such incidents were about a common as a light rain shower. With creature unused to such a large influx of humans (the Native Americans already had their own methods of keeping safe from some of the more dangerous creatures) and Muggles wanting to wander further and further where no man had gone before, combined with no real government in place to oversee such interactions, results were disastrous. It didn’t take very long before settlers were disappearing by the dozens, both magical and Muggle alike. Muggles are capable of falling victim to dangerous creatures anywhere in the world, but the death toll for wizards appeared particularly and alarmingly high due to that fact that many of these creatures where ones not yet seen by the wizarding world and those unfortunate who crossed their paths had no idea of how to protect themselves.
In a historical meeting, the Departments of Magical Creatures from England, France, Spain, and Portugal, the four nations most invested in colonizing the new world, met in an attempt to quell the classes between the magic and the mundane. Keep in mind, however, these were still traditionally warring nations at the time, so the meeting was not one know for its decorum. Though, eventually (after an entire team of Healers were brought into the meetings to effectively remedy all fired hexes), a plan was formed for how to make Creature-Muggle interaction the rarity it was in Europe.
The first step was education. Each Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creature from each country sent their Magiczoologist to their individual colonies so that they may study and document all the new and wonderful creatures that had before been a mystery to much of the world. There was always something new to discover, so many of the researchers ending up staying and settling in the colonies, still continuing their work for their Ministries of Magic. In fact, a good number of families in the New World can trace their ancestries back to these very researchers.
Once the Ministries were satisfied in the knowledge the possessed of the creature of the New World, they established laws and regulations much similar to those that already existed in their own countries: creature reserves, controls on selling and breeding, disillusionment and memory charms, the Sub-Office of Misinformation (all of which will be touched upon in the next section).
However, eventually, one by one, each colonized nation began to gain its freedom. And with that, new Ministries of Magic had to be establish by those who were before considered lay wizards with no sense of government protocol. It took many, many for each nation to formally establish their own Departments for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures. But today, each nation stands confident that whatever new disaster of discovery comes their way, they will be able to handle it with great finesse.
How Magical Beasts are Hidden
In a perfect world, Magical creature would not want to appear anywhere near where humans might gather in large numbers, and Muggles would not wander into secluded forests, dark caves, and abandoned beaches. However, the world we live in far from perfect and there are times when the worlds of Magical Creatures and Muggles collide, leading to inevitable disaster. Which is one of the largest reasons why the Office for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures has so many laws, regulations, and sub-divisions.
One of the most essential steps in insuring the safety of both Magical Creatures and Muggles alike are Creature Reserves. Creature Reserves are protected from Muggle eyes Muggle-Repelling Charms. These wondrous implements have helped to make accident Muggle sightings a rare event indeed. And many of the Magical Creatures within these protective borders are only to happy to live away and undisturbed by the rest of the world. There are certain creatures, however, such as Agrapeltors, Deer Women, and Peruvian Vipertooths, who will occasionally wander out of their habitats and into human residence. When this occurs, though, the situation often falls beyond the control of most sub-offices in the Office for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures and sometimes even the wizarding law enforcement needs to be called in.
Most Creature Reserves are located in places where human habitation is rare. Many of these Reserves are clustered in Northern Canada, the American West, the Amazon rainforests, the plains of South America, and various Unplottable islands.
The possibility of a Muggle ever becoming armed with a dangerous Magical Creature is a terrifying idea for many wizards. And when arriving in the new world, many wizards were shocked to see that many members of the native populations had such undiscovered magical creatures living with them right in their villages and their homes. Controls on breeding and the selling of their young has greatly reduced this, however. Office for the Regulation and Control of Magical carries many laws and regulations when it comes to the possession of Magical Creatures and the 1965 Ban on Experimental Breeding, which made the creation of new creatures illegal.
All wizards who do have Magical Creatures in their possession are familiar with the Disillusionment Charm. By law, they are required to perform this charm on any creature they might own, in many cases, daily, as many of the charms wear off at the end of the day.
Sometimes, however, Disillusionment Charms fail and Muggles do indeed see a Magical Creature, there is the Memory Charm. Most of them time, the use of the Memory Charm is allowed to be used at the discretion of the owner, but in more serious cases, the Office for the Regulation and Control of Magical must be called in.
In the worst case scenarios, when the Office for the Regulation and Control of Magical needs to be called in, the Sub-Office of Misinformation is needed to be brought in as well. In the aftermath, when all the destruction and evidence are laying around for any Muggle to see, the Sub-Office of Misinformation is put to work. They are needed once all them Memory Charms are done and the creatures are contained, the Sub-Office of Misinformation must come up with a reason just plausible enough for the nonmagical community to believe. Not only that, they are also responsible for seeing that all photographic and written evidence are destroyed.
Although, if a certain piece of media is deemed ‘unprovable’, that the quality is either so poor or the image or small or hidden that it cannot be proven that it is indeed a real Magical Creature, it is not destroyed.