Siberian village devastated by wildfire inferno

Twenty out of 35 houses were consumed by flames in the Russian village of Bayan-Bulak on Thursday night.
The steppe fire roared into the village, located 200 km from Chita, at 9 pm local time on Thursday due to strong winds. The fire took more than 12 hours to extinguish.
All 60 residents were evacuated to the neighboring village Tsokto-Khangil, where they were placed in a school and a cultural center. One woman broke her leg during the evacuation.
An investigation was opened on the accidental destruction of property.
Zabaikalsky region authorities promised to start reconstruction in May.
“It is necessary to sort out the issue of housing construction with everyone personally and start building no later than May. It is also necessary to tally the damage and process all the documents. We plan to open a charity account, organize a collection of clothes and money. We will build the houses. We will not leave anyone in strife,” said the spokesperson for Zabaikalsky Governor Ravil Geniatulin.
He promised Prime Minister Vladimir Putin that people would be able to move into their new houses by the start of heating season in autumn.
The governor visited the devastated village on Friday and held a special meeting with the local council.
Those whose houses burned down will be allocated money for immediate needs and provided with assistance in restoring their documents.
There is a storm warning in the region, and the steppe fire could strike other villages. More than 100 people and 26 fire-fighting units are battling the flames. Thousands of hectares of forest are on fire in Siberia in 34 locations.
Russian forest authorities will also send 200 fire-fighting paratroopers from the Moscow region, Karelia and Krasnoyarsk region.
The region is in the state of emergency because of dry weather with high winds and numerous fires. Grass burning is thought to be the cause of many fires. The authorities banned it, but locals still use it to remove old grass on hayfields and pastures.
Russia is plagued by wildfires every year. In 2010, burning peat bogs near Moscow covered the city in thick smoke, forcing many residents to flee the city.

Yeti to entice tourists to Siberia

Tales of Yetis are wafting from Russia’s remote parts. Locals in the rugged region of Kemerevo say the mysterious creature’s numbers have doubled, and claims of sightings are attracting official interest.

But more sightings of a creature hitherto believed to exist in the Himalayas could mean nothing more exciting than more interest in attracting tourists, as the area boasts a reasonable tourist infrastructure and an interest in return on its investment.

The growing numbers have locals on the lookout and Kemerovo Region governor Aman Tuleyev has taken defensive measures against unwanted intruders, Moskovsky Komsomolets reported on Tuesday.

However, a press release cited by the newspaper could not be traced on the regional authorities' website.

“The strange creature, which looked like a huge man, tried several times to get out of the water and to stand up on both feet, but dropped into the water each time and howled,” a spokesperson for the Tashtagol district in Kemerovo region told Itar-Tass earlier this year. “The hunters stood frozen… He threw the creature the dry trunk of a young aspen tree, the creature clutched to it and crawled to the bank.”

Deputies of the Kuzbass Regional Council took themselves to a cave in southern Kuzbass last year, a place where local legend has it that the creature be found. It was possibly a step to attract tourists.

Moscow Ethnology and Antrhopology Institute Anthropology department head Dr. Sergei Vasiliev said that Bigfoot probably does not exist as scientists have never found any bodies, and that any populations would be recorded.

PR and marketing specialists dismissed press reports about finding Bigfoot as fodder for gullible tourists. The visit of MPs to the cave was probably connected with the fact that the cave in question was “an emerging tourist destination” said Regional Council member Nikolai Shatilov.

He said that they should consider developing tourism in the region without creating myths and legends, and restrictions on the use of snowmobiles should be implemented. He also called for development of the areas with dense indigenous populations.

Creating a non-existant tourist attraction has a long pedigree. Visitors to Verona, Italy, have the chance to see Juliet's Balcony, inspired by the famous scene in Shakepeare's drama "Romeo and Juliet".

Meanwhile the Scottish city of Inverness has traded heavily on the nearby Loch Ness Monster to boost its tourist trade in the face of stiff competition from the natural beauty of the western Highlands.

Even here in Moscow, the Pushkin Gallery boasts a fine collection of ancient artefacts originally thought to be from Troy - though further archaeological research has cast doubt on whether the finds have any links to the likes of Achilles and friends.

Rare whale makes appearance off the coast of Kamchatka

A rare North Pacific right whale has been spotted off the coast of the Kamchatka Peninsula in Russia's Far East for the first time, said a local environmental official informed.

"The mammal, accompanied by humpback whales, was observed near the Kozlov cape," he said.

The North Pacific right whale is now extremely rare due to heavy whaling during the19th and 20th centuries . According to the Center for Biological Diversity, the North Pacific right whale is the most endangered whale on Earth, with the current population accounting of only 2,000. Before whaling, there were as many as 50,000 of them.

The spokesman said officials at a local nature reserve took samples of whale's skin using a crossbow in order to carry out genetic testing.

"The examination that has been carried out... proves that it was a Pacific right whale," he said.

He added that a dead North Pacific right whale was once found near the Lopatka cape off the Kamchatka coast