Posted by: Loren Coleman on January 27th, 2008
This was passed along to me this morning. It raises many good questions:
So you’ve seen a Sasquatch. Who are you going to call?
The provincial wildlife branch’s 24-hour hotline, 1-800- 663-WILD (9453) is a possibility.
Ever had any sasquatch reports?
“I don’t believe we have,” the operator said.
Actually, the hotline is for such sightings as cougars or bears being where they shouldn’t or injured goats along the Trans-Canada Highway, according to the operator.
Nor does the wildlife branch bother with Sasquatch sightings or the hairy humanoids themselves, according to spokesman Don Gilmour. “We don’t track them,” said Gilmour, who refused to comment on their status as an endangered species.
If anyone at the branch studies Sasquatch, apparently they don’t talk about it.
And they’re doing it on their own time, he said.
Just because the provincial government seemingly ignores Sasquatch, it hasn’t stopped people — and the media — from reporting sightings. Those that occur tend to be in the province’s coastal region.
On the Island, the Port Alberni/Tofino corridor has had several provocative reports. In 2002, Graham Andrews of the Alberni Valley Times wrote about sightings, first in the woods and later on a darkened highway, by Arnold Frank and his nephew.
“We just saw some real big orange eyes, real high off the ground,” Arnold is quoted as saying.
Arnold is convinced it wasn’t a bear. “It was too big to be a bear. And bears don’t walk on two legs.”
But the sighting garnering the most response allegedly occurred near Tofino in the summer of 2006. The jumpy video Strange Humanoid Encounter debuted last February on YouTube.com.
By late last week, the clip had been viewed 1,146,627 times on YouTube.
“My hypothesis is that this was a bear, although my memory deceives me,” writes the man identified only by his e-mail address in the preface to the video.
“The animal was about seven feet tall, give or take a foot. It hunched over quite a bit.”
The clip, however, is one of the more plausible of YouTube’s sasquatch or bigfoot videos. In many, the creature looks like an escapee from a costume party.
While Sasquatch sightings tend to be sources of fun, the British Columbia Scientific Cryptozoology Club (www.bcscc.ca) takes them seriously.
The club opposes the killing of any cryptid — creatures presumed extinct or known only anecdotally.
If you think you have seen a Sasquatch, click on the “sightings” logo on the club website. Be prepared to give exact location and terrain, weather conditions, landmarks and witnesses, as well as the creature’s height, weight and body covering. A photograph or video helps.
The website also offers Sasquatch-sighters souvenir clothing from T-shirts to barbecue aprons, along with mugs, mouse pads and a wall clock.Jim Gibson, Times Colonist, Victoria, British Columbia, “If You’ve Seen a Sasquatch, Please Call,” Sunday, January 27, 2008.
Thanks to Patrik Zetterberg for this news item.