Russia sets up university institute to study the yeti after spate of sightings

DATELINE ZERO – Officials in a Siberian region on Wednesday announced plans to open a scientific institute for researchers to study yetis.

Russia is setting up this university research institute following a spate of recent sightings in Siberia. Scientists say they have found 15 witnesses in the past year who gave statements that they saw the Abominable Snowman in one remote area, according to The Daily Mail.

“We spoke to local residents,” said Dr. Igor Burtsev, who conducted an expedition last summer and will head the new institute at Kemerovo State University. “They told us Yetis were stealing their animals.”

Dr. Burtsev believes there may be a local community of these creatures that are Neandertals who survived extinction. He suspects the local community is made up of around 30 Yetis, and that they live in a remote region of Mount Shoria in southern Siberia.

The Kemerovo region has used its reputation for sightings of yetis to promote tourism. Wired Magazine observes: “The belief in a population of “Snow Men” in remote areas of Siberia is significant enough to celebrate Yeti Day on November 11. Cynics will note that it also marks the start of the ski season at nearby resort, Sheregesh.”

That said, Dr. Burtsev strongly denies accusations that the sightings are a bizarre ruse to attract tourists to the far-flung region; and emphasizes that he takes this research with the utmost seriousness. “We think that the yeti is a separate branch of human evolution. …” 

Full article at Dateline Zero.