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© Andrei AlexandrovThe edges of the footprint were sharp, which means the creature left the footprint not too long ago. There also was a freshly dug pit nearby.'
Schoolboy 'finds giant footprint in clay near campsite'.

The alleged footprint - twice the size of a man's - was spotted close to the Mras-Su River in Kemerovo region, Russia's main area for alleged Yeti sightings. Denis Alexandrov, 12, saw the giant's mark as he wandered around his campsite with other children early in the morning.

The boy asked his father Andrei, 49, for a camera, saying he had found an 'unusual footprint'. Andrei said that until now he did not believe in Yeti, but he has changed his mind after inspecting what his son had found.

He described the print as being 'from the ring finger to the elbow of an adult', or twice the size of his own, but resembling a human foot.

'I'm into hunting so I understand a bit about footprints. We went to the place were the kids saw the footprint, and the only thing I can say was 'I now know it exists'. 'The creature must have been very tall,' he said. 'The edges of the footprint were sharp, which means the creature left the footprint not too long ago. There also was a freshly dug pit nearby.'

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© Andrei Alexandrov

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© Andrei AlexandrovHe described the print as being 'from the ring finger to the elbow of an adult', or twice the size of his own, but resembling a human foot.
The print was in clay, but had not been denuded by the heavy overnight rain. 'It seems that the one who left it was walking not long before we woke up.' He said: 'No-one heard any noises during the night, or maybe they couldn't because of rain.'

The father, from Novokuznetsk, took more pictures of the print and pinned the location - which is in the majestic Shorsky National Park - using GPS.

'We were a big group of four adults and three children rowing from Ust-Kabyrza to Chuvashka. We arrived at our camp site in the evening and everything went normally,' he said. 'The children explored the surroundings, taking photos of everything. The adults were set up the camp site, and made dinner. During the night a strong warm wind blew and around 1 am it started to rain.'

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© Andrei Alexandrov Denis Alexandrov, 12, saw the giant's mark as he wandered around his campsite with other children early in the morning.
This drenched the ground but by morning the rain had stopped, he said.

It is the second recent alleged Yeti event in Kemerovo this summer. Kemerovo artist and sculptor Andrey Lyubchenko drew a picture of a Yeti that he claimed to have met while out walking in the early morning on 27 July. The footprint 'discovery' by Denis was three days later on 30 July, but details of it have only now emerged.

Lyubchenko said: 'It happened so unexpectedly and fast that I had no time to get scared,' he said. 'There was a clear feeling that this was a thinking creature, I felt he was trying to 'talk' to me. The Yeti was about two and a half metres tall, with thick dark brown hair like a bear's - but a lot softer. He was holding a wooden stick, with bits of hair wrapped around it. But the main thing was his eyes, they were just like light-coloured human eyes.'

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© Andrei Alexandrov'We were a big group of four adults and three children rowing from Ust-Kabyrza to Chuvashka. We arrived at our camp site in the evening and everything went normally.'
His 'sighting' was close to Chernukha mountain, he said. This Yeti - or Big Foot - likewise had.....big feet, some 46 cm in length, or 18 inches.

Russia's best known Yeti hunter Igor Burtsev - head of the Russian International Centre of Hominology, based in Kemerovo region - has previously estimated that as many as 30 Yetis roam this part of Russia. 'We are on the brink of finding the Yeti at long last,' he said in 2011.

Another academic claimed the following year there were 200 in southern Siberia. However, many sightings or finds of 'Yeti hair' or footprints have been disputed by other experts who say the creature is mythical, and point out no remains have ever been discovered.

In 2013, Professor Bryan Sykes, of the Wolfson Institute, in the UK, analysed three samples of suspected "Yeti hair" from Kemerovo region. They were found to belong to other animals. His DNA tests established that the hair was from a horse, a racoon and an American Black Bear. The latter two are not native to Russia.

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© Natalia Guzeva Kemerovo artist and sculptor Andrey Lyubchenko drew a picture of a Yeti that he claimed to have met while out walking in the early morning on 27 July.