Sasquatch sighting by Nunavik berry pickers

Two women in Nunavik had an unusual encounter while berry picking on Saturday.

Maggie Cruikshank Qingalik, who is from Akulivik, Que., said her friend saw some kind of creature out in the wilderness.

Qingalik said at first, they thought it was another person picking berries. Then they noticed it was covered in long, dark hair.

She said it was walking upright along the side of a hill, and was taking long strides. They said it would also sometimes crawl.

"We weren't sure what it was first. It is not a human being, it was really tall, and kept coming towards our direction and we could tell it was not a human," she said.

Qingalik said the creature was 10 to 15 feet tall. Pictures posted on Facebook show the alleged footprints are 40 centimetres long.

The women said the creature didn’t appear vicious, nor did it appear interested in them.

Understandably for such a sighting, the women got scared, hopped on their ATV, and headed back to the community to warn people about what they saw.

Expert says sightings not rare in Canada

Loren Coleman, the director of the International Cryptozoology Museum in Portland, Maine, has been studying sasquatch and Bigfoot sightings in North America for more than 50 years.

"It sounds like a traditional kind of sighting. I think the only thing I would wonder about would be the height of 10 feet with a footprint as large as you said. But that happens people exaggerate," he said.

Coleman said Bigfoot or sasquatch tend to be six and a half to eight feet tall. He said they have been spotted throughout the U.S. and Canada since the 1800s.

Since the region has become more populated, Coleman said the sightings have been relegated to the wilderness.

He said he hopes someone took measurements and some good photographs of this most recent sighting.

"If someone could go back there and take some plaster casts, that might be quite helpful in terms of comparing it to the database of other footprints in Canada," he said.

In Nunavik or Nunavut, Coleman suggests sasquatch may hole up in caves to protect themselves from the elements.

He added they may sustain themselves on a diet similar to caribou. However, he said the omnivores are opportunistic and could eat a range of food including salmon or road kill.

Coleman said he is skeptical when he investigates these sightings. He said he wants to make sure it is not just a common animal, or people trying to make a buck.