With a climbing harness around his waist, the man initially told police he would comply with their orders and leave willingly. He refused to give his name, telling police to refer to him as “Sasquatch,” and spent about 45 minutes debating colonial history with the RCMP officers watching him and—when they finally became distracted—he dashed over a snowbank and into the pitch black forest.

In the middle of a pre-dawn RCMP raid Thursday on a Wet’suwet’en watch camp in northwest British Columbia, there was a land defender in a gorilla suit.

“Uh, Sasquatch just ran into the trees,” one of the officers said over his radio.

The tactical teams deployed after him, along with dogs and a drone with the ability to detect heat signatures in the darkness, causing more delays.

The land defenders’ actions were meant as a delaying tactic, trying to peacefully stall the RCMP advance as long as possible. It’s part of the reason why an RCMP raid on Wet’suwet’en camps remains ongoing more than 24 hours later, unlike last year, when militarized police removed 14 land defenders from the same area in just a few hours.

At issue is the $6.6 billion Coastal GasLink pipeline that will bring natural gas through Wet’suwet’en territory to the coast. Hereditary chiefs say they still hold title rights to the land, and have not given consent.

Today, land defenders at a second Wet’suwet’en camp have announced a snow plow and at least 14 RCMP officers are advancing on the gate.

Though faced with another long convoy of trucks and police tactical gear, according to video posted on the Gidimt’en Facebook page, it's not yet clear whether or not land defenders will repeat some of the same stalling tactics they deployed yesterday.

One woman, who managed to lock herself in the cab of a pick-up truck Thursday morning, spent 45 minutes relaying minute-by-minute updates over a radio to the Gidimt’en checkpoint camp at kilometre 44.