Michael Cohen m.cohen@allnewsweb.com

UFOs are being blamed for the mysterious disappearance of animals from a Russian wildlife sanctuary.

The Aksania-Nova wildlife reserve in Southern Ukraine is famous for the large number of animal species, mostly non-native, that live within its boundaries.

Lately, however, employees have noticed that a number of animals have vanished from the reserve without a trace.

Every year thousands of tourists visit the sanctuary and enjoy the unspoilt scenery and chance to observe bison, zebra, ostrich and other inhabitants at close range. Recently one such tourist took a photo of a herd of wild Przewalski horses.

On developing the picture he noticed an odd object or UFO hovering just above the horses.

The photographer handed the picture over to the park management who contacted Ukrainian ufologist Vladimir Kanuka. Mr Kanuka declared that the photo(above) does indeed show an alien or extraterrestrial craft. Mr Kanuka also suspects that this UFO might be connected with the animal disappearances.

Others are not convinced. Alexander Mezinova, the park's head zoologist doubts UFOs are the problem and places the blame for the disappearances on poachers.