Source: La Arena (newspaper) and Fundación Argentina de Ovnilogía (FAO)
Date: March 12, 2019
By Avances Newsroom - A "Gorilla" On The Loose in San Luis?
Argentina: A "Bigfoot" Reported in San Luis?
A situation has been causing concern in the community of Quines, located in northern San Luis. The environmental police appears to be seeking a "gorilla" in the Banda Este region, a rather rural location full of chacras (small ranches).
According to El Diario de La República newspaper, the animal appeared two days ago prowling around the chacras. They do not know if it is some kind of ape or where it comes from. "We don't know what it is, but we have found footprints similar to those made by that animal," said the officer in charge of the operation, the sherrif and Marcelo Díaz, director of Environmental Police Unit No.5
The policeman remarked that the initial appearance took place at night around 22:00 hours in a small tambo (cattle farm). As reported on this site, a man stepped out to his yard when he saw a shape measuring 1.80 meters, approximately, that was black in color and leaped over two wire fences without touching them.
Something similar this Monday night. A witness claimed seeing the creature some 200 meters distant at a chacra. "He described it as a black shape heading toward the wilderness, calmly. It walked and stopped now and then," he explained.
Diaz explained that footprints were found in a flat area and in the wilderness. "They are similar to a human foot, but given their considerable size, we are discarding the likelihood of a person being involved," said the officer in charge of the operation.
The fact remains that this alleged apparition mobilized 10 officers and 5 rural guides in search of the mysterious creature in the wilderness. Diaz added that no one in the town knows anything about it, and no one has had an animal of such size in captivity.
A new effort aimed at finding the "gorilla" will take place today at 22:30 hours.
Experts believe the appearance of a primate of that nature to be unlikely. "There isn't much information on the physical aspect. Some say it has a tail. The showed us tracks, but they do not look like those of a gorilla or chimpanzee," said Nicolas Bistolfi, a member of the Flora and Fauna Section of the Ministry of the Environment.
"It is unlikely that a gorilla is involved. Perhaps it could be a Carayá monkey from the north. It isn't the most common, but it could be a Latin American monkey of some sorts. But these animals measure less than a meter tall." He explained the difference with the one sighted, which stands at 1.80 meters.
Those in charge of monitoring provincial flora and fauna believe that if a monkey is involved, it has been brought illegally to the province. Ownership of such specimens is forbidden.
[Translation (c) 2019 S. Corrales, IHU with thanks to Fundacion Argentina de Ovnilogia]