Chances of alien abduction highest in these Canadian cities, says gambling odds website

On "World UFO Day," Vancouver has been named one of the top cities in Canada for UFO encounters.

Just in time for World UFO Day, a lighthearted list based on historical data figures that Toronto, Calgary and Vancouver are the Canadian cities with the highest odds of being abducted by aliens.

It was complied by Canada Sports Betting, which crunched the numbers of unearthly sightings from the National UFO Reporting Centre.

“For me, I think maybe the aliens are fans of skiing,” joked Ben Mendelowitz, digital PR manager and analyst with Canada Sports Betting.

“I’ve got a friend in Vancouver who says there are a lot of weird, wonderful, colourful folks living there. Maybe that’s what draws them in,” he said.

There are hundreds of sightings reported in Canada every year, many more around the world, and most can be explained.

Even so, many remain unsolved and admittedly stump the U.S. Pentagon and NASA, which now investigates what it calls “unidentified anomalous phenomena.”

“Any interest anybody has in looking at the sky, I want to talk about it,” said Jesse Rogerson, an astronomer and assistant professor in York University’s Department of Science, Technology and Society.

He points out that most UFO or UAP sightings are not planned, and that makes studying them tough, because science needs more than anecdotal evidence.

“All the observations we ever see are by chance. Science cannot be done with chance observation, you need to have a dedicated study,” he said.

World UFO Day is designed to raise awareness, and is celebrated on June 24 or July 2.