After a video taken from a train outside of Durango circulated online last year, we prodded Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW) Public Information Officer Kara Van Hoose for all the agency knows about Sasquatch and its mysterious whereabouts. The following has been edited for length and clarity.
What is CPW’s official stance on the existence of Sasquatch?
We don’t have any physical evidence that a Sasquatch exists in Colorado, so if people have real physical evidence we’d be interested in that, but we have not biologically observed that in the state.
How often does CPW receive reports about it?
It happens from time to time. They kind of fall into two categories: One is people who think they have seen a Sasquatch or some type of large mammal like that, or people who are just calling in as a joke. I’d say people who live in the southwest and the southeast tend to call our offices more about Sasquatch sightings than people here in the Front Range where I’m based, and that’s just probably due to the different geography that’s down there.
So I’d say it’s rare — maybe a couple of calls each year for the entire state. After that video down in Durango came out, we did have a few calls into our southwest office. But unless it’s like a certain thing that sparks people’s memories, or some sort of viral video like that, then it’s kind of a rare occurrence.
What are those reports like, and how do people describe what they’ve seen?
Kind of how you think it would be: large, hairy creatures standing on two legs kind of thing. We sometimes have people call in and ask, ‘Well, what if I see a Sasquatch while I’m out hunting or recreating? Do I have license to shoot it?’ So it’s more like what-if scenarios, which are good questions to have.
I think you should be prepared for any sort of creature while you’re out recreating in Colorado, and a Sasquatch is one of them. … If somebody does encounter one in the wild, it would not be legal to shoot the animal because it would be considered an endangered species.
Do you have any tips for people approaching a Sasquatch in the wild?
I’d say never turn your back to it. Don’t feed it. It should just be on the same line as leaving wildlife alone. The Sasquatch has clearly avoided human detection this far and doesn’t really need our help with finding food, so I wouldn’t recommend doing that. Otherwise get some stable, not shaky, video.
Any other fun facts to share?
People who report the existence of Sasquatches to us say their favorite food is Twinkies.
