Bigfoot Holiday Resort to Open in Siberia

A holiday resort specialising in Bigfoot sightings is to open in the Sheregesh ski resort on Shoria Mountain in Kemerovo, Siberia.

The Yeti Park is being developed in an area that claims to have one of the highest number of Yeti sightings in the world.

Following the announcement, Kemerovo governor Aman Tuleyev offered one million roubles (£20,000) to anyone who can catch the mythical creature and prove its existence.

"I'll pay a million to anyone who will find the Yeti and bring it to me. I'll sit down with him, chat and have a cup of tea," he said.

Currently, efforts to prove Bigfoot is real are on-going, with scientists analysing the DNA of hair samples found in a cave in the region thought to be from a Yeti. However concrete evidence is, as of yet, illusive.

Anatoly Fokin, a Russian speleologist [a specialist in the study of caves], said: "In this cave we found the footprints and some hair of a Bigfoot. This is a hard-to-reach cave. It's virtually impossible to get there. If those had been human imprints, that would have been clear right away.

"Our expedition discovered a whole string of unique footprints typical of Yeti. We made a plaster cast of the imprints and sent a lock of the hair to a laboratory."

Researchers from across the globe at a Yeti conference in Kemerovo in 2011 said they were 95 percent sure the samples could be Yeti.

Yetis are thought to be ape-like creatures that are bigger than humans and covered in hair. Some of the first references to a creature of its type were in the 19<sup>th century.

The Yeti Park will have a museum with artefacts that supposedly prove Bigfoot's existence, a hotel and a themed children's playground. Tourists will also have the chance to see a real Yeti.

Igor Idimeshev, deputy head of the local administration in Sheregesh, is involved in the creation of the park. He told the Siberian Times he has seen Yetis a number of times and that he believes they are descended from aliens.

"I think it is most likely of the extra-terrestrial origin, not from this world. The Yeti might suddenly disappear and re-materialise. Another extraordinary thing is that Yeti's hair is luminous at night, and also that the Yeti can walk on water.

"I've met these creatures several times here in Tashtagol district and also in the area where I was born in the village of Toz close to Zelenaya Mountain."

Idimeshev also described the experience of having a close encounter with the creature: "The feeling is one of fear. It is a fear that you cannot explain rationally. You feel yourself very scared and tense at the same time.

"One of the closest comparisons is the feeling of looking into a wolf's eyes. If you've ever seen them - I mean a wild wolf, not a caged animal - you remember a feeling of them being something very unusual, alien.

"Like with a wolf, you can see a Yeti's eyes from a distance of some 100 to 150 metres. They are quite hypnotising. And when I saw the Yeti's eyes my only thought was that they are not from Earth.

"To me, the Yeti is an extra-terrestrial creature. I believe that it is like a controller to look over things here on Earth."

People more sceptical of the Yeti's existence say the park is a ploy to increase Siberia's tourism industry. One official said: "We can see how Scotland exploits the Loch Ness Monster, who why can't we do the same with the Yeti? We hope people will come from all over the world."