Baffling Buffalo
Strange buffalo killed near Fort Smith

Fort Smith (Jul 24/00) - Whether it's a spiritual omen or just a genetic mutation, the peculiar traits of a buffalo shot by a Fort Smith resident last week has the community talking.

Bradley Laviolette, 19, was hunting with two friends on July 16 when they came upon a herd of buffalo. Laviolette didn't notice anything unusual about the bison he was aiming at until after he took his shot. The rest of the herd scattered and as Laviolette walked toward the dead animal he noticed some unusual traits.

"The head is shaped more like a moose or a cow head than a buffalo -- it's skinnier and longer -- and it has some white on its belly," he explained two days after the hunt.

"He was white from his knees down and the end of his tail is white. On the top of his head, between his horns, there's a white patch. His feet are almost pure white and they're shaped more like moose hooves, too.

"His hair is shorter and usually buffalo hair is pretty thick, but on this one, there's nothing to it."

Word of the unusual animal spread like wildfire through the community.

Between 50 and 60 people stopped in at Laviolette's home to look at the yearling buffalo's skin and skull.

"Rumours were going around and they just had to come and see it to believe it," he said.

While it sparked curiosity among some people, others believe the abnormalities have a more spiritual connection.

Laviolette's grandfather, 74-year-old Frank, said it's a "miracle."

"I've been dealing with buffalo for a long time. It's the most spiritual animal to the native people in North America," said Frank Laviolette. "It's a message for something.

"It has to be a good message because from what I know and feel, it's good, but it hasn't been told yet. This buffalo gave himself to (Bradley) to deliver a message and it will come."

Scientific facts have not yet provided any answers either. Resources, Wildlife and Economic development officer and bison ecologist John Nishi took samples of meat from the buffalo for analysis.

He said the animal is likely just a young bison cow with unique genetic traits, but decided to send the samples to a geneticist at the University of Alberta who has done previous work for RWED.

"Basically it's just an interesting case; you don't see that everyday," Nishi said. "What was really interesting is the colour of the hooves. They weren't black which is what you'd expect. That suggests to me a rare gene expressing itself in that part of the animal."

But the young hunter who bagged the strange buffalo doesn't seem to be taking the situation as seriously.

"After I killed it I walked up to it and it looked kind of like a cow," Laviolette said. "I just started to laugh because it was so strange."

Dawn Ostrem
Northern News Services

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Investigator Releases Report On UFO Claims

WHITEHORSE (Oct 25/99) - Martin Jasek thinks they're out there. In his mind there is no doubt that the 22 people he talked to from three different Northern communities saw an unidentified flying object. Along with his duties as husband, father, and Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development water-resource engineer, Jasek is a UFO investigator.

"We know some of these craft are large and encounters are close," Jasek said from his home in Whitehorse, Yukon.

"They also exhibit behaviour that's not explainable through human technology."

Jasek has compiled testimony from 22 witnesses who saw something in the air on Dec. 11, 1996, that was "larger than a football stadium." The sightings took place along a 216-kilometre stretch of the Klondike Highway in the Yukon.

The witnesses were located in three major areas along the highway: Fox Lake, the village of Carmacks and the village of Pelly Crossing.

After researching the incident for three years, Jasek has released his findings on the Internet and is preparing a hard-copy report for the RCMP.

"What I hope is that the report will encourage acceptance from mainstream science. I also hope it will help provide an atmosphere of legitimacy so people will feel more comfortable coming forward if they see something they can't explain," Jasek said.

Jasek said the sightings from witnesses were consistent, collaborating what was seen in each different area. All but one witness requested their names not be used in the report.

In the Fox Lake area, the report states two friends were following one another home from Whitehorse to Carmacks in separate vehicles. They both spotted the UFO and slammed on their brakes.

According to the report, one of the men got out of his vehicle to better observe the craft. The UFO proceeded to drift silently towards them and stopped directly over where they had parked.

He described seeing a "white light in the centre of an elliptically-shaped object." The object continued to travel over him and eastward out of sight.

In total, there were six witnesses in the Fox Lake area from different points along the lakeshore. In Carmacks,

the UFO was seen by nine witnesses, including a family of five.

The last seven recorded sightings were in Pelly Crossing. One witness was tending his trapline northeast of Pelly when he observed a long row of lights drifting over the hills.

In a matter of seconds, it was hovering an estimated 275 metres in front of him. He ran away from the object and when he turned back, it was gone.

A little later, four women who were taking an evening course at the Pelly Crossing Community College spotted the object from the school's front deck where they were taking a break.

"They were out on a break on the front deck of the one-storey building looking west when they observed a row of lights," the report's event summary states.

"The lights were travelling slowly towards them and slightly towards the north. They recall the object being huge and there was no sound at all."

Jasek said comparing the size of the UFO to a football stadium is not due to exaggeration on the witnesses' part.

"On the contrary. This comparison is conservative as it was shown in the report that the UFO was likely much larger than a football stadium," Jasek said.

He said a reasonably accurate estimate of the size of the UFO (or UFOs) was accomplished by a technique known as triangulation.

"Triangulation relies on the observation of an object from different vantage points at the same time. This method was employed six times to obtain six estimates for the size of the UFO," he said.

Jasek said by using this technique, he estimates the UFO to range anywhere from .88 of a kilometre to two kilometres in length.

After reviewing all his research, he's convinced that there was something in the sky that December night that can't be explained.

"I think the evidence is overwhelming. It's just a matter of acceptance and getting used to the idea," Jasek said.

"To some people, it may indicate there's extraterrestrial involvement. Based on the evidence I've seen, it's the most logical explanation. As to what they're doing here, we're not sure. But that's one of the things we'd like to find out."

Dane Gibson
Northern News Services

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Flying Somethings In The Sky
Tuk residents latest of dozens of Northerners who have seen UFOs

AKLAVIK (Mar 10/97) - Vera Ovayuak is a believer.

The Tuktoyaktuk resident is one of five people who claim to have been followed by two UFOs along the ice road near Aklavik in the early morning hours on Feb. 22.

"It hovered over the trees and then glided so smoothly down to the snow near the ice road behind us," she said. "When it started moving to the right, another one showed up."

Ovayuak, who is the community's wellness co-ordinator, describes the unidentified flying objects as silver-grey with rows of windows.

"The one in front had four big windows and the light coming out of them was bright blue," she said. "You could see the one in front real good."

Ovayuak spotted the pair with her son Grant, along with Dorothy and Churchill Wolki and Lena Kotokak.

She said they didn't stop their truck for fear of what might happen. "I think we panicked and we were kind of scared," she said. "We weren't about to stop."

The unidentified craft disappeared after about 15 minutes when the group took a turn along the ice road. "We expected them to be there, but they were gone. Then we all got real quiet for about 20 minutes."

Ovayuak's group is not alone. Reports of UFO sightings in Tsiigehtchic were also reported recently after CBC Radio broadcast an interview with Ovayuak.

Jim Bronskill, a reporter with the Canadian Press who has researched the phenomenon, said that dozens of Northerners have reported similar sightings throughout the Arctic over the years.

Bronskill said that UFO sightings from the NWT have been on file at National Archives in Ottawa since records were kept.

Sometimes dismissed as the Northern Lights, atmospheric irregularities, drug-use or overactive imaginations, mysterious lights in the NWT have been investigated by the Department of National Defence, among other government agencies.

"I wasn't a believer of such things," said Ovayuak. "But now that I've seen them, I'd say never underestimate peoples' word."

"I'll never again travel without my camera -- next time, I'm going to take a picture," she added.

Jennifer Pritchett
Northern News Services

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