The world is full of amazing and fantastic animals, with about 18,000 new species discovered every year – most of which are insects and many more being on the small side of the animal spectrum.
There are other strange and wonderful creatures that science hasn’t been able to officially categorize and account for in a modern context that many believe still exist from the distant past – like the giant beaver – or ones that seem to defy scientific verification despite repeated sightings over decades and centuries – like Sasquatch/Bigfoot or Loch Ness Monster-type animals.
One such fellow is Manitoba author John Warms from the Interlake community of Fairford, who has been exploring the topic for more than 30 years.
Last month, Warms was making his rounds touring across Manitoba in public libraries and community spaces to spread the word about his book Strange Creatures Seldom Seen: Giant Beavers, Sasquatch, Manipogos, and Other Mystery Animals in Manitoba and Beyond.
Warms’s book was published first in the United States in 2015 before he printed some versions for promotion in Canada about two years ago. Warms found that public libraries welcomed the promotion of his book, and the stop in Swan River on March 27 was a last minute addition to his month-long tour, where not only did he bring copies of his book and open himself up to conversation, but he also set up an extensive display that showcased the contents of his book, such as various drawings, artifacts and replicas for the weird and wild creatures and legends that he loves to research.
“Everything (in my displays) is also in the book,” said Warms, while he was set up in the Northwest Regional Library in Swan River. “It’s all about the creatures that I have never heard of 40-50 years ago.”
Warms explained that the first unusual and unexplained creature he had heard of was a giant snake in Manitoba.
He noted some Indigenous people had encountered and told stories about it and one fellow even told him what kind of bullet to use if he ever encounters one.
“‘If there’s one, there’s more’,” said Warms, quoting his friend. “It was kind of an interesting perspective for me to take all these years, and it made a lot of sense.
“When I realized that science wasn’t familiar or didn’t acknowledge all these other creatures that the Indigenous people were telling me about, I knew that there was something that didn’t quite match. So, I assumed with a lot of corroborating stories that the people of the land where they lived that they had the truth that their elders passed down and were experiencing themselves.”
Warms noted that every creature that is represented in his displays he believes to be extant, or rather not extinct. Creatures like the giant beaver or plesiosaurs – a water-based animal that draws parallels to the legends of lake monsters – are acknowledged by the scientific community to have existed once upon a time, whether it was thousands or millions of years ago. However, Warms and those he has talked to over many decades believes that these animals and many others are still out there living today.
“I wouldn’t be doing this if there was anything questionable,” he said, noting that everything in his book had enough corroborating stories about them that it was worth including.
“I may have very easily missed some creatures where I haven’t found the right people yet to clue me in on their existence.”
One such story he shared was that of Archie Motkaluk, who believes he spotted a Sasquatch near Renwer on Dec. 29, 1960, while visiting his parents’ farm.
Motkaluk recounted the story in 2011 with the Winnipeg Sun, and explained that he was out collecting wood about three miles into the bush when he saw this ‘man’ and realized that it was a Sasquatch when he got within a couple hundred yards.
Motkaluk only told his mother and made a sketch of what he saw, but only came out more publicly about his encounter 50 years later when he was watching a television program that featured someone that said there’s no such thing as a Sasquatch.
“I realized that the academic community is not aware of (these creatures) or does not want to acknowledge them,” said Warms. “There are so many land-based people that are very aware of them.
“I just feel like we are losing out if we are not given the opportunity to learn more about these creatures like the underwater moose (for instance).”
Warms’ book is available to purchase at 83 North Amazing Emporium in Swan River or on Amazon.ca.
Warms also has a Facebook page to keep up with what he’s up to and a YouTube channel that features some other videos on his endeavors.
Warms also encourages people to keep their eyes and minds open out in the wilderness of Manitoba to see if even more corroborating stories can emerge and get even closer to confirming the presence of these seldom seen animals.

Bowling leagues will soon be wrapping up the season at Up Your Alley Bowling Centre, with league playdowns taking place last week. 

Pro wrestling fans in Swan River were treated to a show from pro wrestling promotion Primos Wrestling, featuring some new wrestlers and some familiar faces, as they proved who was king-of-the-ring in the Veterans Community Hall on Friday (March 26).

The Swan Valley Cheetahs Gymnastics Club displayed the skills of the gymnasts across all ages with a showcase on Sunday afternoon (March 12), the first time it’s been hosted inside their new building.

The SVRSS Tigers Boys’ and Girls’ Basketball teams hosted the Dauphin Clippers on Tuesday (Feb. 14) in Game 1 of the best-of-three series to determine a zone winner and advance toward provincials.

Leon Church of Bowsman is a trainer who has spent the last few years conditioning his athletes and perfecting his lines so he could take them across Canada to participate in a considerable challenge. That challenge would be a 100-mile and 200-mile race in the Yukon and British Columbia, and the athletes would be a team of 12 husky/ labrador-mix dogs that Church would drive across Canada so that together they would make the incredible trek as a team of sled dogs and their musher.
“We’ve been developing a team that I feel comfortable taking travelling and racing, seeing what they can do up against other groups,” said Church. “I want to see how my dogs will do on the long trails and how things will go.”
Church has spent a few years growing his team. His oldest dog isn’t more than five years old, but through acquiring rescues and doing some selective breeding with the dogs he had, he was able to develop a team that he felt could go the distance.
“Last year, we did the Torch River Run, out of Christopher Lake, Sask.,” said Church. “It’s a 40 mile race two days in a row, so you run 40 miles one day and 40 miles the next.” That was Church’s first attempt at competitive sled dog racing, but this year brings additional challenges with a greater distance. The first race that Church will take part in at the end of this week is the Caledonia Classic in Fort St. James, B.C., from Feb. 3-5. This race will be 200 miles.
Church will follow it up on Feb. 11 with a 100-mile race in Whitehorse, Yukon at Yukon Quest. He noted that even though the second event had higher distances available, he wanted to take it easy on the second go around because he still wanted to participate in the Canadian Challenge that starts in Prince Albert, Sask. on Feb. 20. Church will be racing a team of 10 at each event, but will be bringing along two spare dogs in case he needs to change out his scratch list between races. “Each race is a little different,” said Church. “Each has mandatory rest amounts per race based on the distances you go.” He noted that the Caledonia Classic has a total of 14 hours worth of mandatory
rest periods divided between three checkpoints.
The mandatory rest periods ensure the health and safety of the dogs to make sure they can complete the whole thing. “I’m depending on my dogs to go about 50 miles in about six hours,” said Church, noting that training runs are currently running at an average pace of nine miles per hour.
“It’s very much a learning thing to see where we size up and find out what I can and can’t expect from them. I’m pretty confident in the group that we’ll have a good showing. “This has been something I’ve wanted to do for as long as I could remember,” Church continued. “This month coming up is a pretty big thing for me. The excitement level is high to get out there.” When Church started raising and training dogs to be sled dogs, he didn’t necessarily do it
in order to race them, as he felt it might have been a pipe dream. “That was the ultimate goal, but it didn’t seem like a possibility at the time,” he said. “The reason I got into it was because I’m a third generation trapper in the Porcupine Mountain and I don’t like relying on Ski-doos and machinery. I do a lot of things with hand tools and self-powered things, even boats in the summertime.
“I know that I can trust my dogs to get where we need to be no matter what. (Sled dog racing) is definitely a unique sport, but it’s one I really enjoyed since I got into it.” Church’s younger dogs have gotten used to the idea of being harnessed to the sled right from young, but serious training begins closer to when they were two years old, when they are more mature and able to focus on the task at hand.
Conditioning began in late summer, with Church getting his dogs to follow him on his quad, free running beside. Once the weather cooled down and the snow fell, then he could hitch them to the lines and incrementally get them running longer distances, just like any long-distance runner would. He conveniently has been able to run them up and down the Woody River located behind his acreage near Bowsman. “It’s very much how any other athlete would
go about training,” said Church. “Just consistent activity, good diet, good exercise and good rest. These guys have an unbreakable will to harness up and run. They love to go. No one wants to stay home when it’s time to go.”
Church also makes sure that he trains his dogs with an appropriately weighed down sled, to get them ready for the trail. During these competitive events, there is often mandatory gear to take, such as a sleeping bag, tent, first aid, boots and jackets for the dogs, an alcohol cooker to melt water, and the like, to ensure that the musher and the dogs are prepared for the long journey over the cold and remote terrain.
Church also makes good use of the Swan Valley Veterinary Clinic to check up on his team and double check that everyone is in good health for the big trip. “Some of the bigger races even have vet checks before and after the races as well,” said Church. “The dogs are very well monitored and safe.” In order to keep his athletes in tip-top shape, Church has also started making his own dog food, using meat and items from his garden to put together a product that he found to be more nutritious and more easily digestible by the dogs than the commercial dog food he had been feeding to them prior.
Of course, as is natural on any team, Church has to deal with the different personalities of the dogs and putting them in roles that they work best to create a better team overall. “The dogs all have their own way to be and even their own preferences of whether they want to be on the right side or the left side,” he said. “One of them can’t run or focus with anyone behind him, so he has to be at the back. “It’s like picking a hockey team. You monitor them to see who works well with each other and some don’t gel so you keep them apart. “The dynamic in my group is nice because everyone here has been together for three or four years,” Church continued. “Now that we’ve trained as much
as we have, when I get home from a run, instead of putting them away one at a time, I can just let them all go and they run around the yard doing their own thing. There’s no fights and everyone gets along. And, they come to me when I walk to their spot to give them food.
“It’s all a matter of how much time you put into them. If you really put the work in, they’ll reward you with the best behaviour you can imagine. It’s amazing what these dogs have been able to learn the last couple of years.”
Not all the dogs that Church has had were suited for his A-team, but he has made sure that those dogs were able to find alternative homes. Church also has enough dogs for him to train a second line, and then some so that he has a backup squad when it’s time to retire his stars.
At publication time, Church was packing up his dogs and gear and heading out onto the open road, hoping to come back with new experiences and stories to tell as he progresses further in his pursuit of sled dog racing.