Canada’s Coelacanth

The province of Alberta is sitting on an ecotourism-cryptotourism goldmine, and they little realize it. Pondering a bit about the cosmic joke of a related little story in today’s news, out of New York State, I’ll post this before I pack a final few things.

I’m still in Alberta, although I’m leaving momentarily. A major side focus of my interest (other than dragons, cryptozoology, and mammoths) has been the wood bison here. I’ve already posted why I view this animal as significant. Let me push that to an even higher level by saying that I think this species can be viewed and used, educationally and ecotourismwise, as “Canada’s Coelacanth.”

Could a bunch of huge, hairy, hirsute giants, be living unfound in America? Well, the story of the re-discovery of the wood bison should give anyone pause for the fact it has already happened.

Without going to the Wood Buffalo Park, hundreds of miles north of here, and only accessible by plane, wood bison can be found within a stone’s throw of Edmonton, Alberta. Although it is a relatively rare species, you can observe the animal in the Elk Island park only a few miles east of Edmonton. A herd of 450 exists there, and from my experience, you can get rather close to them in your car. (They had a temper a bit more unpredictable than the plains variety, and you always want to keep your escape route in mind, if you are on foot in the park.) As the largest land animal in North America, having been rediscovered in 1959, they are intriguing, beautiful, and easy to go see. Don’t ignore them as mundane. Go see them.

During my visit, I have been able to see live specimens, museum mounted ones, and the Royal Alberta Museum’s back room fossil and modern skeleton collection of the species (or subspecies, depending on your point of view).

As I prepare to depart, and review the news of the world, what should I stumble across this morning? News of an escaped bison herd! And from an area I fell in love with in the late 1970s = Trumansburg, New York. I have explored Trumansburg extensively, for it is rich in Finger Lakes cryptid reports of aquatic monsters and large black felids. Anyway, here is that breaking news from one of today’s papers.

Although not too cryptic or even about wood bison, I just find the timing some sort of cosmic joke. The lumbering animals appeared to be migrating north toward Trumansburg, from the Glenwood area. Police received reports of sightings and were chasing the animals up and down Taughannock Boulevard all weekend, according to the emergency dispatch center.

Paul Bart, a Trumansburg resident who lives near Taughannock Falls State Park, said people have been wandering off the trails near his home to tell him his buffalo are loose.

Bart’s son arrived home from the GrassRoots Festival of Music and Dance around 1 a.m. Monday morning and rushed in to tell his parents there were two bison standing in the driveway.

The number of missing animals hasn’t been confirmed, but Bart said he heard as many as 17 were spotted.

The bison reportedly escaped from Glenwood Farm, a family-owned farm that raises the animals organically for meat.

This is the second time this year the bison have made their escape, according to dispatch. In the spring the animals broke out and were missing for five days. They made their way up the railroad bed between routes 86 and 89 before being rounded up.

Several of the bison were sighted at Taughannock Falls State Park, with the most recent reports around 9 a.m. Monday, park manager Paul Thorington said Monday afternoon.

Thorington said the owner went with a truck to round the roaming beasts up, but wasn’t able to find them. Visitors have reported seeing the animals along the gorge trail, Thorington said, but all he’s seen are their tracks.

The only reason I assume the story is about plains bison is because, while in Alberta, I’ve learned that the plains bison is the one folks raise for meat. (Please pass the garden salad.)

The plains bison (Bison bison bison) is the species most Americans have in mind when they say “buffalo,” but Canadians are slowly beginning to realize the the wood bison (Bison athabascae or Bison bison athabascae) is worth noting as an extremely different animal with an interesting history.

I will share more stories I’ve learned in Alberta after today’s long, long flights. I say good-bye to my great visit to the Royal Alberta Museum. If you haven’t been there, and are local or visiting, go see the quite well-done exhibitions, the once in a lifetime Dragons exhibition (it is finished after this), and see how many wood bison you can find hidden throughout the exhibits. It is not an overwhelming number, but you might be surprised by how many are visible in the museum. After all, no one sees the wood bison if they don’t look for them.

Loren Coleman About Loren Coleman
Loren Coleman is one of the world’s leading cryptozoologists, some say “the” leading living cryptozoologist. Certainly, he is acknowledged as the current living American researcher and writer who has most popularized cryptozoology in the late 20th and early 21st centuries. Starting his fieldwork and investigations in 1960, after traveling and trekking extensively in pursuit of cryptozoological mysteries, Coleman began writing to share his experiences in 1969. An honorary member of Ivan T. Sanderson’s Society for the Investigation of the Unexplained in the 1970s, Coleman has been bestowed with similar honorary memberships of the North Idaho College Cryptozoology Club in 1983, and in subsequent years, that of the British Columbia Scientific Cryptozoology Club, CryptoSafari International, and other international organizations. He was also a Life Member and Benefactor of the International Society of Cryptozoology (now-defunct). Loren Coleman’s daily blog, as a member of the Cryptomundo Team, served as an ongoing avenue of communication for the ever-growing body of cryptozoo news from 2005 through 2013. He returned as an infrequent contributor beginning Halloween week of 2015. Coleman is the founder in 2003, and current director of the International Cryptozoology Museum in Portland, Maine.

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