Thylacine Sightings 2000 – 2010
Hi Murray,
I just wanted to tell you about my thylacine Hi there, thank you.
It was around 2009 and it happened in broad daylight around 11am. My husband and I were driving into Yallourn North from Newborough in Latrobe Valley, Gippsland, Victoria. I’ll see if I can circle the location on a map for you. This road goes past Loy Yang Power station and over a bridge by a river into Yallourn North. So close to people and hardly what I would call remote which made it all the more fascinating.
As we were coming up the road we had a steep cliff full of trees and bushes to our right and to our left a steep cliff with lots of shrub down to the river below. This light brown/fawn coloured creature just ran out from the bushes from the left and bounded across the road about 4m in front of our car and hurried down the cliff towards the river below. As our car came closer to it we had a great look at the back of it. What stood out immediately were the very dark almost black stripes all the way down it’s body and onto it’s very thick long rigid tail. The way it bounded across the road was quite unsual, it’s gait was unlike any animal I recognised. Its tail was super long and pointy. It’s head was quite large but it was quite low to the ground and had quite a long body. My husband and I were initially saying what is that?? It definitely couldn’t be mistaken for a fox, dog or cat. We couldn’t resister what we were looking at until we saw the back of it disappearing down the embankment and the the tail and stripes. It’s was at that point it was undeniable what we saw. I said to my husband, I want you to tell me what you think that was before I say it! He said Tassie tiger?? I said exactly! It was the most incredible experience.
Sunday July 29 2007 at around noon Steve R. had the following experience whilst driving his car with his family 3 km’s West of Angelsea on the Great Ocean Road in Victoria. It was a Crystal Clear fine day and we were travelling at approximately 70 kms per hour along the Great Ocean Road around 3 kilometres from Angelsea an animal about 20 to 30 meters (Max) in front of us runs from bush side of highway across road to coastal side and into the bush –
I looked at it — mind was thinking — Dog?/No…. Fox?… No…. feral cat?… No…. looking at features…. TAIL … strange, seems long, stiff and strong thick look — extends out rear of animal, not fluffy at all like fox…. the tail really caught the eye because in my mind I have really tried to zoom in on it because it was unusual…..it ruled out fox/dog completely… Sandy Brown in colour….. size…. medium sized dog… head looked dog…commented shortly after — strange run… more like a horse gallop — sort of athletic looking animal…not fat Immediate reaction… slowed car…. almost shouted to all kids (two boys in back seat didn’t see a thing!) — I shouted — “WHAT WAS THAT!”…… couldn’t stop as there were now cars closing in behind me….
Daughter laughed — “no idea”…. Talked of all above characteristics…. daughter spoke of faint striping mid rift….. boys in back said was it Tasmanian Tiger? — daughter said — “no idea… I dont know what a Tasmanian Tiger looks like!”
Within 20 minutes kids went for a surf… I was still stunned so phoned my wife and text messaged a few close friends.. Browsed web that evening….. a number of things made me think… that’s what I saw… particularly the gallop action…and the tail .. as the 2 outstanding features….. they hit me really hard at the time….I didn’t identify stripes… although my daughter mentioned faint stripes….. that’s the only missing element from me personally A number of photos looked very similar….. one stuffed animal photo on a site I browsed was incredibly similar…. In my few hours of web browsing… I read a report of a siting… very close to Angelsea….. a few years ago…. and a siting near Colac….. both deemed highly creditable descriptions…. Another point of interest….. the bush side land where I sited this animal has been recently burnt and I think is being cleared for an estate?
The absolute last place I would have expected to see an animal like this was so close to a residential area — Pt RoadKnight/Angelsea is walking distance to the east (2klm?)……
I dont know what I saw — but I saw it! — I have ruled out Dog/Fox and Feral Cat….. if it was a dog… it was really wierd…
Steve R.
Thylacine prints alongside an Australian 50 cent coin obtained in September 2007. A Fox print in the left of photograph.
Perry E. and his wife were travelling through the township of Loch Sport in Gippsland on the 2nd of October 2007 at 6.15pm when they had the following encounter. It was just on dusk and we came over a small rise in the roadway in our car and then through a roundabout when we both saw this large animal about the size of a great dane dog but with a greyhound like body walk onto the road about 40 – 50 metres in front of our car. The animal stopped for a couple of seconds and we slowed the car down. It was golden brown in color and we could both see the stripes as plain as anything starting from the shoulder region and down to its tail. It soon took off as quick as anything it was so fast. Our immediate reaction was to say that’s a Tassie Tiger we’ve both heard reports of other people in the area seeing them, but we couldn’t believe it when we saw this one! We drove the car around the side streets in the area it ran to but he was gone and we couldn’t find him.
Whilst tending to our camera equipment at around 7.30pm on Wednesday January 9th 2008 my son Callum and his mate Jordan had the following experience. We had been targeting a number of farm paddocks in and around the Cape Patterson area over the past couple of years and had found an area that we considered ideal for our research as it contained numerous species of Australian wildlife that appeared to be situated in a somewhat wildlife sanctuary or haven situated approximately 3 kilometers inland from the coast. Previously we had encountered echidnas, a mob of up to 25 Eastern Grey Kangaroos, a number of wombats and blue tongue lizards in conjunction with a vast array of unique bird life. On this occasion we had our cameras set up in a slightly raised hill area overlooking a number of cow paddocks and the cameras were placed in a lightly treed area with a large undercover of waist high bracken fern. We had a number of meat baits placed on some ropes hanging from one of the trees so that they might last a little longer in terms of decomposition and to prevent fly strike and maggots having an impact. I was standing in front of the camera set up and asked my son Callum to take a photo for our collection and records. My youngest son Daymon had a set of binoculars around his neck and Callum’s mate Jordan asked if he could borrow them to have a look. With my back turned away from the paddock below Callum proceeded to take a couple of photos and Jordan looked through the binoculars towards the cow paddock in the distance below.
Jordan then said “There’s a dog in the paddock down there!” He then repeated “There’s a dog in the paddock down there!” Callum who was also facing in the direction of the paddock said “That’s not a dog it’s a Tassie Tiger!” As I had my back turned I didn’t observe what they had witnessed and by the time I turned around the animal had crossed the paddock and under a strand fence into scrub land(This was approximately 100 meteres away from where we stood). They were both convinced that they had seen a Tasmanian Tiger. Jordan had the better view as he had seen it through the binoculars. They described it as being long in the body and the tail hung like that of a Kangaroo. Jordan said that he could see the stripes on its back and that it just trotted slowly across the 50 meter clear section of pasture. When they returned to my vehicle they both picked out the exact same thylacine images that I had on a sticker made up on my car rear window. This sighting was particularly encouraging as it vindicated my assumptions on where the animal might be located in relation to my research in that region and both Jordan and Callum have seen more than myself in the Wonthaggi region to date as I have yet to have a sighting. Further to this we set cameras up in a secluded tea tree area near where the sighting took place with a large quantity of baits as a lure and left the cameras in place for a month. Unfortunately nothing had been touched on our return and the camera revealed only half a dozen kangaroo images which added to our frustration.
March 2008 Noel B. Had 3 seperate thylacine experiences within a week.The first sighting occurred near his home in Loch Sport. He was standing on his veranda just on dusk and noticed an animal trotting across a vacant block of land opposite. Noel was particularly taken by the way the animal tended to hug the vegetation for camoflage and not cut directly across the vacant open sections of the paddock. “It seemed to move from tree shrub to tree shrub and not in a direct straight line” he said.
Noel’s second sighting was a couple of nights later when once again standing on the veranda having a cigarette he saw an animal walk up to the top of the drive way of a house almost opposite. “It stood at the top of the drive way for a few seconds and then went over the small rise and down the other side out of sight. It then came back up the rise and when I called out to my wife it took of into the bush real quick. It was a large animal” said Noel. “A real beauty I could see his stripes and all”. Noel’s neighbour up the road (Russell) and his wife had mentioned that they surprisingly saw one laying on the couch of the same house under the veranda early one morning. But as soon as it heard their voices it once again took off!
Noel’s next sighting occurred just a few days later as he and his wife Wendy drove heir car towards Golden Beach. “It was a real bright sunny day and as we neared track three we could see this animal crossing the road from about 80 odd metres away. It wasn’t just a walk but more like a trott. The animal then just stopped briefly at the side of the road and look at our car travelling towards it. This animal was magnificent! It was golden brown in color and you could see the stripes on him as plain as day. He was pretty big as well around about 5 feet long but pretty low to the ground when compared to normal dogs. As the car got closer he just ducked into the bush. We were both really excited about the sighting because we had a great view of him”! said Noel.
Steve S. had 2 thylacine sightings. The first being in 1995 and the the second in 2007 near Halls Gap and Roses Gap in the Grampians.
The first sighting was for almost 5-10 minutes. I was walking along a wallaby track in the region when I came upon a large thylacine. I considered it to be a female and it made a dry cough like call followed by a more phlemmy bronchial cough. I was pretty scared to move forward and she dropped her bottom jaw and bounced forward onto her front legs. It was clear that she didn’t want me to go any further and it gave me the impression that she was protecting a pup as she kept looking behind her.
She had a real wolf like face and her jaw dropped like a draw bridge. At the rear she appeared to have a higher hind quarters and her tail just stuck out like a stick. Eventually I backed off and she went off into the bush. But the memories of that encounter will last with me forever.
The second sighting was along the Bolte Hwy near Mt Dryden of an animal crossing the road and that took place in either August or September2007.
Tuesday December 2nd 2008 Amelia and her husband Tom were sitting in a room in their house in Loch Sport and at approximately 2pm in the afternoon they saw out there window a small thylacine trotting through their back yard. “It was about twice the size of a cat,and it was greyish in color but the stripes on the rear of the animal were unmistakable. Its tail hung downward and it was like a kangaroos tail but on a smaller scale. It also was carrying something in its mouth. possibly a bone from one of the neighbours yards”. said Tom. “We only saw it for a few seconds or so. But as soon as we both saw it we knew that it wasn’t a normal animal that we had seen and straight away both of us thought that it was a tiger!”.
Leslie D. a ten year resident in my research area and a past observer of a thylacine in the Bairnsdale region some years ago could scarcely contain herself when I visited her at 3pm on Sunday 21st December 2008. She conveyed to me the amazing story of thylacine sighting that had occurred at 1.20pm earlier that day. Her home has an amazing Bay widow and the house is in an elevated position overlooking Lake Reeve. From her room you almost feel as though you are in a helicopter overlooking the entire lake area and her views of the lake are simply stunning. Leslie conveyed her story. “I was sitting at the window doing my craft work and looking out at the lake, when I noticed this dog like animal on the shoreline of the lake in the distance. Being an avid nature watcher and carer my immediate reaction was ‘who’s let a dog loose on the lake?’ But I soon realised that this wasn’t a dog! It was some 500 -600 metres away so I had a look through my binoculars for a clearer view and I could see the tail hanging down like a kangaroo and the animal was running around near the edge of the water. I then thought ‘Where’s my camera? It was in the car, so I raced out to get it’. When I returned I managed to take a number of photo’s of the animal trotting slowly through the water to the salt marsh land areas in the middle of the lake. The images won’t be that good because I don’t have a zoom and the camera is an old 35mm style.
The animal was very wet and it walked around on the salt marshes snuffling and hunting for food in a zig zag fahion as it made its way to the 90 mile beach side of the lake. I saw it moving in and out of the bush on the far side for a while and then it disappeared she said”. Asked about her total time observing all of this Leslie surprisingly mention at least 10 Minutes. She also mentioned that the animal was a large animal tan in color. As for the animal being very wet I made mention that many animals tend to use this tactic to get rid of the ticks and fleas that they might be carryinging in their fur. There is quite an array of young duck and bird species around the lake and it was clear from Leslie’s observations that the animal was obviously hunting for a meal. She later called a neighbour who put on some waders and ventured out into the area where she saw the animal in the hope of finding some good footprints but the ground surface was far too hard.
My stay in Loch Sport was brief and I headed home on the Monday afternoon. Wednesday 24th December 2008 I received an exciting telephone call from Leslie D. on yet another great sighting.
Leslie mentioned that she looked out of the window over Lake Reeve at approximately 7.50am and was amazingly surprised to see the thylacine once again on the hunt around the lake. This time Leslie decided to use the binoculars and to just sit and watch it. Incredibly this viewing will become one of the most historical viewings of the thylacine in its natural state as it lasted for almost 45 minutes to 8.30am. Leslie made mention of the following interesting observations. The animal visibly followed the same tracks that she herself had made with her neighbour from 2 days prior when they ventured out onto the lake in search of thylacine footprints. “It just followed my tracks every step of the way!” Leslie remarked.
“The animal was on the far side of the lake near the 90 mile beach and it cantered like a horse. Two legs out in front and two legs behind. And it was so quick! It’s incredible how fast the animal can run! Much faster than anything that I’ve seen!” said Leslie.
“From the distance (500-600 metres) I could not see any stripes on his rear hump and the color of his fur was tan or golden brown. It appeared that his coat was lighter on his left side and darker on his right for some reason.”
“When he walked he was lopping along and at times hurdle stepping which appeared unusual, but the tail just hung out behind him like a kangaroo tail.”
“It was hard to pick him out at times as he appeared to blend in with the color of the vegetation. I also once saw him sitting back on his rear tail and upright, just like a kangaroo and then he moved back down on to all fours and trotted off again.”
“One of the most facinating things was that he got really excited for some reason and jumped high into the air! Boy they can jump! He did this on at least 4 occasions and it was real high. You can understand reports of them jumping fences” said Leslie.
“It was obvious that he was on the hunt as he kept snuffling the ground on the salt marshes in search of food and he’d cover it pretty thoroughly before he’d move on to the next one. The roos didn’t really move off but they were very wary of the thylacines antics and presence but he didn’t appear interested in them. Maybe more so on the ducklings and any other small animals that he could find!”
Eventually as the time passed he made his way out to the 90 mile beach side of the lake and then disappeared into the bush.
Xmas Day 25th Dec 2008
At 7.32am Leslie went to her viewing window and saw the thylacine on the middle sand marsh island in the water. It moved up onto the land mass and was moving quickly spinning and turning as it went. She noticed at one stage the animal squated for a pee and had ts tail arched up slightly as it undertook this task. Eventually the animal galloped along the shoreline and went in amongst some bushes and tussocks near what Leslie calls a ‘muddy inlet’.
26th Dec 2008
At 7.54-7.59am Leslie observed the animal through her binoculars alot closer to her house and near Lake Reeve. “I noticed groups of birds becoming startled and in flight” said Leslie. “On looking through my binoculars I could see the tiger on the hunt. It was hunting the birds and looked like a big cat because it crept and crouched amongst the tussock grasses after the seagulls and ducks. Eventually He moved out of sight and I thought that he had gone so I went and made myself a cuppa”.
“When I returned from making my cuppa I saw him once again going across and jumping onto the sandmarsh island before heading across towards the muddy inlet and the 90 mile beach. 8.56-9.09am.
Leslie D.
January 2009 has been a productive period for our thylacine research with some great sightings.
Friday March 20th 2009 Andrew from the Bakery in the township of Loch Sport was driving in his car at night with his wife beside him when he had the following encounter. We were driving slowly along the road near the Dolomite Swamp when we saw this animal crossing the road up ahead. We pulled up and it walked casually in front of the car across the road towards the swamp. It was about the size of a German Shepherd dog but skinny in the stomach and we could see the stripes clearly on its rump whilst it was in the headlights. The tail was long and stuck out at the back like a broom stick but it was in no real hurry to hide from us. I couldn’t follow it into the area where it crossed as it was too bushy.
We both couldn’t believe our eyes especially when we had heard reports of other people seeing them and not being sure whether to belive them or not! But now we’re believers!
Wednesday 20th May resceived a phone call from Keith S. from Loch Sport who had been out and about walking his dog. Not far from his home he came across the carcass of a medium sized kangaroo. The significance of this find was that it was missing its head. Keith stated that there were alot of scuff marks on the ground nearby. I asked him whether the animal was a road kill and had been hit by a car and he said “No It’s definitely been attacked!” The missing head is a common feature of thylacine predation, so I have no doubt that the thylacine had been involved in this.
Things have been extremely quiet in my research area for the past 6 months. Possibly due to the backburning of vegetation that has occurred during August. The landscape has ben scorched for almost a 10 km stretch and there is little wildlife travelling through the region. Hpefully things may improve over the next 12 months.
Hi Murray, Im Clint from Maffra in Gippsland I just found your site through phantoms and monsters and I wanted to let you know of a possible sighting I had late last year.
17th November 2009 just on dusk in clear weather about 5 kilometres from Mount Burnett, below Emerald, on Pakenham Road. Its a winding road with drop offs and quite dense forest on both sides. I came around a bend in the road and saw an animal standing beside the road. As my car approached, the animal turned and loped off into the bush. It was about the size of a German Shepard, but skinny through the stomach and was a fawny-brownish colour with some variance of shading on the body.
Thanks Clint
Xmas Day 2009, Geoff K and a friend turned off the Princess Hwy on the Outskirts of Pakenham Victoria and then into a gravel dirt road when they had the following experience.
It was around 12 pm during the day and we were making our way towards Emerald in the Dandenongs when we travelled up this dirt road off the Princess Highway. We hadn’t gone far maybe 400 – 500 metres and we were travelling quite slow when we saw up ahead an animal snuffling on the side of the road at what we think must have been road kill. The vegetation in the area was quite scrubby and we managed to get within 40 – 50 feet of it before it turned side on and sauntered off into the bush. We both couldn’t believe our eyes It really looked magnificent. It was about 1.2metres long from the nose to the end of the tail and the stripes were really prominent on the rump and they tappered down to the tail. We had a good view because it was a nice and sunny day and the animal seemed to be not too alarmed by us driving the car close to it but it just sauntered off into the bush. Afterwards we both couldn’t believe what we had seen (That is an animal presumed extinct for almost 80 years) but I looked up the thylacine images on the internet and I’m certain that that’s the animal that we saw! Geoff K.
Sunday Jan 17th 2010 whilst turning into the Loch Sport Rd near Golden Beach 3 people had the following experience. It was just on dusk and as we turned into the road we saw a dark brown animal loping across the road ahead from the left hand side of the road to the right.It had a long thin tail sticking out and as it glanced at our approaching vehicle its eyes shone yellowish/green in the headlights. Straight away all 3 of us thought Tasmanian Tiger! It definitely wasn’t a dog, or a fox or a cat. After it crossed the road it disappeared into the bush. Liza, Katie and Pamela.
30th January 2010 Diana T in the township of Loch Sport woke at 2.30 am to this:-
It was a full moon which lit up most of the area outside and i heard a constant yapping sound but I couldn’t work out where the noise was comming from. Later I heard a blood curdling scream, like a cat getting its legs ripped off out somewhere on Lake Reeve. I was really scared to look out of my window but when I drew back the curtain, outside I could see this dog like animal walking along the road. It then stood up like a kangaroo on its hind legs which had me confused and then it got back down on all fours and started walking like a dog once again out of view. The terrifying noise in the bush continued on and off and the time was around 4.00am neadless to say I didn’r get much sleep afterwards.
Dianne T.
Wednesday 24th March 2010 Helen along with her friend Kate and sister Mercedes were driving back along the Cape Patterson/Inverloch Rd at 4.30pm towards Cape Patterson when they saw an animal race across the road in front of their vehicle. It was a fine but overcast day and we were just returning from Inverloch. As we drove along we saw this dog like animal run out onto the road. It was a couple of hundred metres from our vehicle but we were getting closer. I slowed the car down and the animal stopped for a few seconds on the road. I said to Kate “It’s not a dog, and it’s not a fox as it had a skinny body with stripes all over its back. It had a skinny tail, not a bushy one like a fox. It just looked at us and then it ran very fast back into the bush on the beach side.” This sighting was only approximately 500 metres from the turn off into Cape Patterson. We were all very surprised at what we saw and so close to the caravan park said Helen.
Thursday August 18th 2010 Things have been extremely quiet on the thylacine front for the entire year even in areas where thylacine evidence and sightings have been recorded over recent times. One must start to wonder whether “Fox Baiting” programs and “Rabbit Removal through baiting” might also be having adverse impacts on thylacine populations I believe that the thylacines staple diet is that of the rabbit and with the removal of these species through poisoning it could also be effecting the existence of thylacines who eat the rabbit and then in turn become poisoned and die off themselves. Similarly when the rabbit has been removed from one area the thylacines move on to more remote areas where the baiting program is not in place and where the rabbits are more plentiful. Block clearing and housing development along with CFA controlled bush fuel reductions all seem to have caused a disturbance to the movements of wildlife throughout the township of Loch Sport. Locals have also indicated that wallaby and kangaroo populations are also not as frequent as they have been in the past. Road kills of kangaroos also remain largely untouched whereas in the past quite often the heads had been removed indicating thylacine predation but this has been reduced dramatically all of the way from Loch Sport through to Golden Beach and Sale. One must also start to think that the thylacine might now be extinct in Loch Sport. But who is to know!
Wednesday September 1st 2010 Hello my name is Andy B. I live at Golden Beach in Gippsland Victoria. I was driving west along Star Glow way coming home at around 12pm when about 200 mtrs away from my front gate a strange cat like animal crossed the road about 25 mtrs in front of my vehicle. It was only a fleeting glimpe of a couple of seconds at most. It was about the size of a medium size dog say labradoor size maybe a touch bigger it had a coat like a scruffy cat to irish wolf hound like, not short and shiny. It was charcoal grey to black with wisps of grey in it and a little bit of tan with a long tail held in an “s type shape” like a big cat this was the most prominant feature that I noticed it had a short blocky sort of head sort of half cat and half boxer dog I cant say much more than that. I took my gun dog down to where it crossed the road and watched.He got the scent near the road but would only go into the bush a little way i walked in and noticed some large holes in the sand probably wombat holes but they seemed very big i dont think it looked like a tassie tiger or a real panther if anything more bob cat with a long tail and tabbie cat markings but I believe it was too big to be a feral cat.
Andy B.
Perhaps one of the most encouraging sightings that I’ve recorded came from Mark H. From Western Australia on Tuesday 7th September 2010.
Hi Murray as we discussed, I was driving a log truck into a pine plantation coup near Manjimup in Western Australia and I missed the turn off road and proceeded on. It was around 6am in the morning and I stopped the truck at the end of the road but found it difficult to turn around. I got out of the vehicle but left the motor running and I walked off into a paddock. I started walking towards a farm gate and I couldn’t believe it when I saw what I first thought was a statue of a thylacine standing some 20 – 30 feet away from me near the farm gate. It was about the size of a kelpie dog and it just stood there. My first thoughts were, ” who would put a statue of a thylacine next to a farm gate?” But I soon realised that it wasn’t a statue at all and that it was a real living thylacine. It didn’t hear me or turn to look at me and it just stood staring at something. I too just just stood and stared at it for what felt like almost 5 minutes. I could see the stripes as plain as day and the coat was golden brown in colour. In the end I picked up a stone and threw it at it. It missed and the animal ran off in a real clumsy like pattern across the paddock some 100 -150 metres before it disappeared. This place is 80 kms away from the nearest town Unicup and my uncles farm is 10 kms away where he also claimed to have a sighting some 12 months ago.
Mark H.
Sunday September 19th 2010 My Tasmanian tiger research since 1998 has produced alot of unexpected and unexplained happenings over the years. I have met some unique people that are also on their thylacine journeys, had some facinating and frustrating sightings, developed some remarkable friendships and received support in my quest from many unimaginable sources. On this day I decided to take the families new Samoid dog on my regular 5km run near my home in South Kilsyth for a bit of exercise. The dog is only 3 months old so I thought it would be a good activity for both her and myself. We had received some very light showers overnight that formed into small puddles along our running trail and the dog was able to grab a drink at a number of spots along the course. About 2/3rds of the way around I saw a small puddle near a pedestrain gravel pathway that had recently been dug up due to the replacement of the water pipes in the area. I decided to stop to let the dog have a drink and right next to the puddle lying on the ground was a small plastic dog like figurine covered with dirt. As I looked I thought to myself that looks a bit like a thylacine in its shape. I bent over and picked it up and washed some of the dirt off it. Much to my amazement it was a thylacine figurine the type that used to be in the Kellogs weet bix and cornflakes packets back in the late 60’s and 70’s. The nose region of the plastic animal had been damaged slightly possibly due to machinary scooping it up from its dirty grave but it was definately a thylacine model. It was quite bizaar really and I looked up towards the sky to see if someone was looking down at me. How could this happen I asked myself this plastic model hasn’t been around for nearly 40 years and I just happened to stumble upon one in allof the vastness of Australia I took the figurine home and placed it in my thylacine collection. Amazing!
Graham A. Had the following encounter on 24.Sept 2010 at night,whilst travelling South on the Moe – Willow Groove road near Tanjil South and Newborough. It was about 30 mins after sunset I approached a bend in the road and my lights were on low beam so it was only a brief fleeting view. It seemed to be a light tan colour, though not easy to say with any certainty. The most noticable thing was the big head and long skinny tail. It ran with a loping gait across the road about 40 metres in front of the vehicle. Cant tell you much more than that, but it stuck in my mind. I know it wasn’t a Fox. No houses nearby.
The terrain is undulating farmland with intermittent areas of native bush, and native bush on the roadsides. I did not see any stripes on the rump, but it was very brief and the lights were on low beam. I estimate it was the size of a Greyhound. I also noticed the photos of the dead roo with head or throat missing, which is apparently the MO of the Thylacine.
I live on a bush property in the Heyfield – Glenmaggie area. I found a dead roo in the bush about a month ago with its throat ripped out and innards gone. No other apparent damage to the lower body. I didn’t give it much thought at the time, just put it down to a dead roo that the foxes got to.
About 2 weeks ago, at my place, a friend and I heard a loud scream in the bush in the night. It was close by and sounded like a womans painful scream. I put this down to call of a Barking Owl at the time, which it may well have been, but this is also fits the decription of a Thylacine call does it not ?. After the sighting the other night, I started to put 2 and 2 together, and am increasingly of the opinion that Thylacines are about.
I have a theory that they may have always been in the high country north of here, and that with the proliferation of wild dogs in recent years, the Thylacines are perhaps being pushed out into the lower more open country, which could account for the increase in recent sightings.
Whatever the case, I know that when saw that animal the other night in my headlights, the first thing that came to mind was “Thylacine”.
Cheers. Graham
Friday 1st October 2010 Callum M. had the following experience whilst driving near Clyde in Gippsland Victoria. I was heading towards Koowee Rup along the Freeway and I took the wrong turn off, this being Cardinia Rd. It was about 4pm in the afternoon and I travelled along this road not really knowing where I was heading and then I came to a dirt road (Wren Rd) and started to travel along that. It went for a few kilometres and there were sections of farm land and then sections of tea tree and native bush. As I drove along another car came the other way and as it passed there was a cloud of dust which I drove through. As it cleared I could see up a head, approximately 100 metres ahead of me an animal which was bounding across the gravel road from the right to the left. It wasn’t running or trotting like a fox and it was golden brown in color, with the tail sticking straight out like a broom stick. I didn’t notice any stripes on its rump because it was travelling pretty quick. When it left the roadway it did a couple of unusual hurdle jumps before it disappeared into the bush. I stopped the car near where it had crossed but could see no sign or trace of the animal. I thought to myself how strange and unusual the animal moved and my immediate thought was thylacine.
Callum M.
Sighting Reports From Doug At The Tassie Tiger Bar In Mole Creek Tasmania
Hi Murray,Thanks for your note.
We had a report of a very reliable sighting at the end of July this year. It was made by a Minister and his wife who were travelling back to their home in Launceston from visiting their daughter and her husband near Sheffield.
In an area where there has been several sightings over the last 25 years , the thylacine ran across in front of them, so close it was, that they thought they were going to hit it. Luckily or unluckily, the minister avoided it, they rang me the next day after checking on the internet for pictures and sent me a pic of what they saw. Yes it was definitely a tassie tiger, probably not fully grown as they said it was about 18 inches high, and they both definitely saw the stripes.
That makes 3 sightings reported to us this year. Pretty exciting stuff, I think.
Friday 29th October 2010 George from Loch Sport had the following encounter. It was around 9.30pm at night and I was at the back of my property near Seagull Drive. I had my spotlights with me and I shone them around to see what I could see when I surprisingly spotted a thylacine near the launch to the boat ramp. What amazed me was the shape of it. It’s jaw was very powerful looking and very square shaped, It seemed to be fairly old looking and its fur was quite dark. I watched it for a minute or so and it didn’t appear to be to fazed by my spotlight being on it. It stood there and sniffed the walking track afew times before it sauntered off out of sight. It’s really got me going and I’m going to keep a camera handy from now on!
15th Nov 2010 Olivia S. sent me this report. Having watched the news today I wish to add that about 4 years ago while leaving Loch Sport in the afternoon, near Charles Street, we noticed an animal cross the road from near the School on our right and it went into the grass on the left hand side. It was not a dog or a fox, what drew our attention was it was brown but its tail had black stripes. The whole scene only lasted a few seconds but it was seen by my husband and myself in the front seat and my daughter and her 2 friends in the back seat. Since then we have carried our camera hoping to catch it again.On the same day, when we were mid-way through to the first turnoff, we could see what was like a flame on the road and thought there was a fire ahead of us or a flare. It was like a spiral of fire. As we kept driving towards it the “fire” vanished and we were amazed to see no trace of burn marks on the road, no embers nothing! We were not alone in the car, the 5 of us all saw the same thing.I hope that someone can shed some light on both of the above. We have mentioned this to many residents over the years and I am sure that many do not believe us. We have no reason to make this up, it is the truth.
Hi Murray, this a description of an animal we encountered last night, Sunday 14th November 2010.
We had been camping at Bear Gully camping site (near Walkerville south, the inverloch side of wilsons promotory in cape liptrap.) we had plenty of food left over from the day and we were leaving the next day so we left food out for the wildlife about an hour before sunset. About twenty minutes later a dog was standing just off the road watching us. We thought it was from one of the other campers in the area but once it moved it was clear it wasn’t. it had an unusually long body (but not extra long) and it had a face that looked like a fox but quite a bit broader. It was very unkept and very skinny. It watched us as it approached our food waste on one side of the camp site and I began to realise how peculiar it was. It has similar color to a fox but it looked like a cross breed of some kind. The neck was thicker the legs shorter and it seemed to use it’s back legs in a way that I’ve seen gazelles, pushing off them with a sense of strenght in them. It got closer, there were odd markings on its back, it seemed to be mange at first but on closer look it was greyish colored and patchy. It did not seem to be afraid of us and came closer to us to where the food was. It picked up some ham and darted away. It did not make any noises in this time and it seemed very quick and stealthy. It came back back and we got about 2 meters from it with a fence between us. It showed little concern for us and in the end after close examination of it I decided it must be a hybrid dog of some kind.
I forgot to mention the tail was very long and hairless and had a crook in it as if it had been broke. Also there was a few other things that went missing from the camp, chocolate, some bread and, some neat holes in the rubbish bags, and the musleli bag was clawed open but nothing taken, we also found where some animal had also dug under our spare tent, but these could be other animals.It seemed too dog like to be a Tiger, yet upon reflection I thought it may be a tiger as I have no experience of them I could not say it was not one. I checked through the net and hence decided to send this to you. My summation of the animal is that it was a fox, greyhound, pit bul terriorl mix but what I though later as unusual is that these three breeds of dog could create something that looked very much like descriptions of Tassie Tigers.
My partner and my Mother were also at the site, we all took a close look at the animal and found it very unusual, neither of us thought to get the video.
Cheers
Peter P
Phil R. was excited when he told me about his sighting that occurred on Thursday 25th November 2010 in Loch Sport. It was around 7.30pm in the evening and I was driving my car near the Minigolf area when I noticed a mob of Kangaroos (approximately 6) race across the road not far in front of me towards Lake Reeve. At the rear was this large dog like animal and it was chasing after the roos. Its tail was hanging down which I thought was unusual but it really had the kangaroos going at full pelt. I didn’t stop because they all soon disappeared into the bush out of sight.
I could have obtained up to 20 of these prints, but only chose to make enough plaster for two. After securing the casts I compared the prints to those displayed in Eric Guiler’s book p52. “Tasmanian Tiger – a lesson to be learnt” 1998. You make your own judgement as to what animal made the prints above!
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| Thylacine | Dog | Tasmanian Devil |
Tuesday 14th January 2003
Having checked the site at approximately 9.30am and found the traps to be still in the set position, I returned at 2.20pm and to my surprise the trap had been moved almost 2 meters and also had been flipped up side down. The pegs that held the trap in place were obviously not long enough for the sandy loam soil and had been scattered about as well! I have no doubt that I must have almost captured a thylacine and that he must have been a large one at that (They can almost grow 8-9 foot in length) a fox or a smaller animal would have found it much too difficult to do the same amount of damage!
I chose not to look for any hair samples because I firmly believe and know that it was a thylacine and I do not need any experts (sic) to confirm this. Instead I resurrected the trap as quickly as possible in case the animal may have wanted to return for a second attempt. Unfortunately after 5 more nights nothing returned and it was clear that he had cleared out! I obtained some larger pegs that had to be driven in with a mallet and also left an ice cream container of water as the drought was very extensive in the area. We will need to get his confidence back again with the feeding program before another attempt can be made at Easter.
Lance Baldwin (dec) Thursday 6th March 2003 at approximately 7.30 pm had the following encounter:-
“I was sitting in the caravan at the rear of the house, when I looked out of the side window. I saw a thylacine passing by no more than 2 meters away. It was approximately 4 ft in length from the tip of its nose to the end of the tail. I couldn’t get over its long snout and I could see all of the stripes on its body. The coat was creamy in color and the body was similar to that of a greyhound.
I picked up the camera at the rear of the van as the animal passed in between the shed and the side paddock. I raced outside as quick as I could but the animal took off! They move so quick. I could hear the neighbouring dogs barking in the distance in direction it had gone”.
This was a great sighting confirming the thylacines continued existance in the epicentre of our research domain and I can only hope that we can obtain a similar experience when we venture down there at Easter!
Jean Donnelly (dec) 15th March 2003 had the following experience:-
I opened my window curtains early this morning to let in some more light and there in the front yard was a Tasmanian Tiger. I could not believe it! He just stood there and so did I. I couldn’t help but notice his long tail. He was about 4 metres away and he turned around to look at me. He had really pointy ears and he eventually walked into our garage and then off into the bush. He was about the same size as the first one that I saw in 1991. Quite big and he had these stripes that were clearly visible. When I later went outside to inspect the ground, there were huge pad marks in the yard, they were about 3 inches in diameter and had pressed down into the sand indicating that it was a fairly heavy animal. To top it off, at the evening dance later on that night 2 other people mentioned that they had also seen a large animal walking across the middle of the road and into bushes near the same area!
Rowan F. Had the following encounter on Sunday 16th March 2003 on the Berwick Harkaway Rd.:-
I was driving home at night with another family member and had turned into the Harkaway Berwick Rd (Heading North). We had traveled approximately 100 meters when we both saw an unusual looking animal loping across the roadway to our right. It hid behind a tree and then turned around to look at us. It was approximately 4-5 ft in length and its body was shaped like a whippet dog with its tail hanging downward. I noticed that at the rear of the animal it was dark in color compared to the rest of the body and its eyes that dazzled in the light of the car headlights were bright yellow. We both said that the animal was a Tasmanian Tiger and pulled into the next driveway and turned around to go back to where we had seen it! Unfortunately though it had disappeared.
I had recalled a similar story that was detailed some 3-4 years prior in the same area of Robinsons Rd. But could find no archivial mention of this report. – Rowan F.
Expedition 15 Monday 14th April 2003
Whilst out driving in the early morning sunshine looking to see if there was any fresh animal road kills overnight by the edge of the main roadway, at 8 am I had another sighting. The animal crossed the road some 30 – 40 metres ahead of the vehicle. I was only going slow at the time (Approximately 40 kms/hr) and he crossed the road from left to right, he was only a small one less than a metre in length and the tail was hanging straight down. I’ve seen enough foxes to know that this was definitely a thylacine. He had big ears for his size and I pulled up the vehicle quickly at the point where he crossed. Grabbing the video camera and switching it on I raced into the bush where he had entered. Surprisingly I could still see him but he leapt in a bit further out of view. I continued the chase only to see him jump over some bracken fern and to disappear, his lengthy tail extended behind him! Another missed opportunity! The area had some excellent drought breaking rain during my time there and whilst walking areas of the nearby Golf Course I could see footprint evidence of more than one sized animal in the sandy loam soil. Here’s hoping for next time!
Lana B. had the following sighting on Thursday May 29 2003
I was sitting in my caravan at approximately 11.00am and caught a glimpse of an animal moving out of the corner of my eye out of the window. It was a small Tasmanian Tiger about 2 foot in length in the body plus the tail, so he was fairly young! He walked across the road at the back of the property and the most striking feature was that he had a broken tail from the last 6 or so inches because it drooped and was not in a straight line. “I reckon that it could have been run over by a car to cause the break!” His coat was light brown in color and it looked very scruffy, almost like a winter coat and I could see his stripes as plain as day. He was also very thin in the body!
The dog was going beserk, but the animal was just sauntering along into the paddock next door. I raced in side to get Dad but when we returned the animal was no longer in sight!
A second sighting within a week!
Whilst walking her 2 dogs at approximately 11.00 am on Thursday 5th June 2003 at the rear of her property (almost in the same area as the previous sighting) Lana B. had the following encounter:-
The dogs were both on their leads and as we were returning home from our walk, they picked up a scent. They started barking their heads off and were tugging me towards another property across the road. I stood at the front of the property and from out of the back of the neighbouring house came a Tasmanian Tiger. It was about the same size as the one that I saw last week and I immediately looked to see if it had a broken tail in case it may have been the same one. But this one didn’t have a broken tail and it was approximately 15 metres away from me, crossing the drive way. It too had a scruffy winter coat and it just trotted away. It wasn’t in any kind of hurry, just trotting along. I’ll have to make sure that I take my camera in future!
Mary T. and Mark T. sent me the following report 28th August 2003:-
Hello ,I saw something that I have never seen before. Both my daughter and I were delivering mail ( I am a mail contractor). The top of the mountain where some people choose to live is quite isolated with much of the surrounding country side not suitable for a person to walk.. (shear drops and goat tracks).
Any way we came around a blind corner, there was a small clearing and we startled this animal. I will describe this animal:- Legs shorter than the back legs so its backside was raised in the air. Its tail was about 2.5 feet long and roughly 3 inches thick at its backside and tapered down to around about 1 inch at the end. Its head was like a fox head only longer and boofier (for want for a better word). Its coloring was sort of a tan bone color leaning more towards a yellowish.. It had stripes on its hind and on its sides and they faded as they got midway or near its belly ( going towards its head)
We watched it run for about 50 metres or so, it was a very awkward runner but never the less it was still fast.. My husband insisted I reported this to the park ranger, which I did , but he did not seem all that interested. I have to be honest .. When we described this animal to my husband he said straight away “Tassie tiger” and got a picture off the internet and showed my daughter. We both agreed .We said that’s what we saw on the mountain..
Regards….
Mary
Randall H. and Sandra H. had the following sighting on 2nd of September 2003 near Beech Forest, Great Ocean Rd. Victoria at 2.30pm for approximately 15 seconds in duration:-
From a distance of approximately 10 metres. It walked fast across in front of our car, coming out of the forest into the forest on the other side of the road. It didn’t even look for traffic. My wife and I could not believe what we were seeing as we knew what it was immediately.
We were coming back from the 12 apostles along the great ocean road when you get to Lavers Hill you are supposed to turn right we missed the turn off because we were looking at the cafe at the T-section thinking we should have stopped there instead of the other cafe. As you go on a couple more towns you come to Beech Forest, just on the other side of this town is a right turn to Beauchamp Falls and Hopetown Falls, we kept going straight ahead not turning right. We got a few more kms up the road when we came to some red flags across the road. The council had blocked the road probably from bad weather and also at this point is where the bitumen finishes and the dirt road/gravel road starts.
I turned the car around and started heading back up the road back towards Beech Forest. The forest is gets quite heavy there on both sides of the road. I wasn’t going that fast probably 60kms/hour as we weren’t in any hurry. This is when the animal came out from our right and wandered across the road it didn’t even look to see if any traffic was coming like a dog would.
It may have been 10 – 20 metres in front I would say about 6-8 car lengths. It looked about just over knee high with black stripes and that distinctive long neck. We only saw it from side on. I drink Cascade light so both my wife and I know what a tiger resembles. We were virtually in a state of shock because as soon as we saw it we knew what it was and we knew they were supposed to be extinct. My inlaws from overseas were asleep in the back of the car. It was about 2.30pm and cloudy and had been raining off and on but wasn’t raining at the time.
I am a photographer by profession and had the camera all ready to go in the back and I am now kicking myself for not at least trying to get a photo as we now realise the importance of a such photo. I guess we were so stunned on seeing it and the forest was so dense either side we didn’t think of getting a photo. What an idiot!
We asked a few locals over the next day and some said there have been some sightings over the years, others just looked at me as if I was some stupid city slicker on drugs. Please keep in touch as I am now very interested, we are based in Canberra.
I am back to work tomorrow and wonder how many people will believe me.
Kind regards Randall H.
Natalie T. Age: 25 had the following experience nearing the end of September 2003 in the Sydney suburb of Ramsgate:- I had driven along the backstreet near the Coles Supermarket parallel to the Grand Parade at approximately 12.15am. It was a clear night but frosty and cold, I had just done my shopping at Coles Supermarket on Grand Parade and came up through the main backstreet to President Ave. when it ran across the road in front of my car into the long grass where the old trams used to run. It was dog/dingo like with very clear stripes at the mid to rear of it’s body on its back down to the top of its legs. It was a bit skinnier than a dog in the chest region and a much stiffer longer thinner tail a bit like a kangaroo’s but thinner.
The markings are the main reason why I believe it was a thylacine. I thought it was crazy in Sydney suburbs hence why I did not report it straight away but I cannot find any other Australian dog-like creature with these markings. I would be happy to see other images of other possible creatures to compare with but I know of no others. distance: 10 meters duration: 30 seconds.
I turned around to see if I could spot it again but it had disappeared so quickly. The area has a lot of Natural bush and revegetation was undertaken nearing the Sydney 2000 Olympics. There was also areas of high grass in the parks near the sighting. Natalie T.
Gordon B.
I read with some interest of Natalie’s account of seeing a Tasmanian tiger whilst surfing the net for something quite different.
It so happens that the area in question has a lot of unexplored areas for a natural bush area close to Sydney. It has fresh water streams ;large areas of protected bush that stretches from Sans Souci to Brighton le Sands, especially through Ramsgate behind the primary school. Often, when walking I have seen strange looking animals in this area and on one occasion I thought I saw what Natalie has described ; but put it aside as No that cannot be; however even as a boy living in this area while walking and exploring native bushland as I did I always thought sightings of this kind as unfed stray dogs, now I am not so certain.
For on the night in question a stripped animal with features of what has been described appeared walking .almost stalking from one side of the large park in front of me moving towards the area known as bona park near where I imagine Natalie described. I will be taking my digital camera with me from now on . Gordon B.
Antonio H. Had the following encounter with a thylacine in October 2003. “I was sitting in side in my lounge room and I could hear a commotion coming from my bird cage located outside at the rear of the house. In my cage which was about the size of a portable double wardrobe I had 2 turtle doves, 2 chickens and 2 quail. I walked outside my back door and approximately 5 metres away from me standing in the block next door was a huge dog like animal about the size of a large alsatian! I thought that first it was a large fox. It had these big pointy ears and a big pointy snout and it had a real greyhound look about it in terms of the ribs and stomach. It also had this long tail drooping down behind. Its coat was golden brown it really was a magnificent animal but I could not see any stripes on it. It merely looked at me for about 5-10 seconds and then took off through the paddock.
A couple of weeks later, I returned home from being out to find a big hole made in the chicken wire of the cage and all of the birds had been cleaned out! It looked like the animal had actually got in to the cage for there was nothing left of any of them. I had to ask myself the question “What animal would be so powerful to rip a hole in the wire? A fox would not do this!
Antonio H. at his bird cage where he once had 2 Turtle Doves, 2 Quail and 2 Chickens! What made the hole in the wire?
Cheryl had the following experience on Monday 3rd of November 2003 I think that I saw a tassie tiger today at 5pm on the Wonthaggi-cape Paterson road. I have seen several in the past couple of years but have not told anyone. Maybe I have see the same thing each time and not different creatures. Today’s sighting was very clear! Cheryl later contacted me during January 2004 stating Other sightings have been reported at the same time as I saw my thylacine towards the beach side of Wonthaggi near Powlett river. Young have been seen at Eagle’s Nest and Twin Reefs near Inverloch since November.
10th November 2003
Braith & Guy Aged 42 had the following experience over a one week period along a section of road and bush near the Great dividing Range outside of Brisbane South Queensland:-
The area had been in drought for some time and we were driving along the road way through a forest at 5pm in the afternoon. When out from the scrub jumped this dog like animal and it ran across the road in front of the car. Straight away we said “That’s a tiger”! Even from 20 metres away we could see the distinctive stripe marks and it’s motionless thick tail hanging down at the rear. It ran slowly as if it was sick and it was far too big and slow in its movements to be considered a fox. Braith jumped out of the car and took chase after the animal and he followed it for some time along a dried out creek. He was as close as 2 metres from the animal at some stages and it made no attempt to savage him. Braith could have almost grabbed it too the ground but decided not to in case it might bite him. He eventually followed it up to a hollowed out log that was tunnelled into the creek bank which he assumed that it was the animals lair or den.
Eventually the animal moved further up into the hills and got away. Early the next day we went out to the spot of the tree trunk lair and placed a video camera near the hole. It was far too dark to see inside but we continued to film. The amazing thing was that the cameras microphone was picking up the yapping sounds of the cubs in the hollow even though they could not be seen. We returned later that afternoon hoping to get some video footage of the female returning to the site but achieved nothing. After 2 days we realised that both the mother and her cubs had gone so gave up on trying to film. We collected some hair samples that we sent off for testing but they could not support our sightings nor prove that it was a thylacine and we took almost 13 plaster casts of footprints that we had found and I must say Murray, “They match your plaster prints on your web site exactly”!
The animal had a dark coat (grey) in color and it was interesting to note that much of the wildlife in and around where the lair was located was non present but some 50-100 metres away there was an abundance of birds and other animals possibly indicating that they were wary of the predator. A similar feature is that there are no Dingoes in the area yet on other nearby hills these animals are present. One farmer indicated that a new born calf had been pulled down and killed regularly each year and yet there were no dingoes for miles. We believe that because of the drought the animal was heading down to the nearby waterfalls to collect water. We’ve since then had 2 and a half inches of rain and the animal may have moved back up into the hills. Guy.
Hello Murray, I listened to you radio interview on the ABC radio the other week in Gippsland.
I live on the 90 mile beach and I saw my second Tasmanian Tiger crossing the road from the Loch Sport side to the Golden Beach side near Lake Reeve. It was at night in 2003. I informed my husband only. I know what I was looking at as I had read about the tiger some years ago and know its distinctive shape especially its tale and marks. I saw it only for 1-2 minutes as it crossed the road about 10.30-11.00pm at night. It was the size of an average dog but longer in the body and very quick.
My first sighting was out of Axedale East of Bendigo in the middle 1980’s also at night. It was also very distinctive in shape, colour and size. I feel very pleased that I have seen the Tasmanian Tiger. Wonderful amazing animal to see.
Regards Kate T.
Expedition 18 Another Sighting! (Sighting Number 14) Tuesday January 6th 2004
I woke early at 5.00am just as daybreak was commencing. I took my time getting ready and started up the vehicle to exit the carpark where I had slept the night at approximately 5.30 am. The sun was up and it was becoming clearer. I had pulled out of the carpark to see some 60 metres in front of me standing on the entrance road a medium sized thylacine. I could see his tail hanging down and the stripes along his rump! He was side on and just stood there looking at my vehicle. I quickly reached for the video camera on the seat next to me as the animal darted into some vegetation of small shrubs next to the road.
I drove the vehicle up to the area that he had raced into. By this time I had the video camera on and I jumped out and looked around for a short period of time hoping that he might come into view. There was a steep embankment behind the shrubs and disappointingly I thought that he may have climbed it and escaped me. I jumped back into the vehicle to see him standing a further 60 metres ahead of me at the top of the entrance road. I moved the vehicle forward and the animal raced down the back of a property onto the beach area. I pulled up the vehicle and raced down onto the beach also, only to see him take off into the distance at a rapid rate.
At approx 7.30pm on 18th JANUARY 2004 – Karl S. (Aged 42) and his son Anthony had the following encounter in Loch Sport Victoria. We had travelled 5.5 kms into the National Park at the end of Loch Sport. We reached a point in the road where the track divides into two. At about 0.5ks past the Y intersection taking the south track towards Point Wilson, we saw an orangey/brown dog like animal a bit bigger than a fox with stripes on its tail cross the roadway in front of us. It would have been almost 50 metres ahead of us at first and we continued to slowly approach it. We would have seen it for approximately 10 – 15 seconds and it appeared to be in no real hurry. It just looked at us and then just went off into the bush.
Doug M. Had the following experience on Monday 19th January 2004. Saw a very unusual animal this morning. It was so unusual that I thought I’d look it up on the web.The location was between Bacchus Marsh and Toolern Vale, a farming area on the edge of some forest. Location: Comaida Road between two stud farms at boundary of Moorabool and Melton shires Time: 07:50 Visibility: Bright and Sunny Distance: 10-50 meters Duration: 5 seconds Height: 12 to 15 inches Length: Body 24 inches, Tail 24 inches, small head, snout rounded. Colour: Dark Brown all over Hair: Short hair/fur, rather like that on a kelpie Description: Animal ran across road in front of me, at first sight I thought it was a fox or a dog, but quickly realised it wasn’t either. Ran with an unusual slow gait, higher at back than at front, front legs were shorter. Tail was very thick and stuck straight out behind the animal. Fairly thin animal Gave me the impression of being a young animal, not fully mature. Although it ran on all fours it looked as though it could have stood up on it’s hind legs but wasn’t anything like a wallaby or kangaroo. Regards,
Doug M.
Sunday 11/4/04 Carol H. Aged 56 had the following encounter at 8.30 pm in Halls Gap- This is just out of Pomonal on the Halls Gap side and we saw him from a distance of 2mts. (drove right beside him), For a duration of 2 minutes.
My mother & I were camping on my daughter (Tammy’s) bush block. We were returning from Halls Gap to the campsite and were travelling very slowly because we were trying to find the Court in the dark. High beams were on. As we approached the turn off He appeared in the headlights. His eyes were locked onto the light & they shone. He was sitting upright on the gravel beside the road. He was eating road kill.
The thing that appeared strange and unusual were the ears. They were rounded going up a point and they sat high on a very large rounded head front on. Another car was approaching from behind. The approaching lights from behind us lit up the road, and as we slowly passed by him he raised himself up and we saw him side on. I got the shock of my life, this animal stood knee high & had strong shoulders. I quite clearly saw stripes on his back and these stripes continued up his tail. The tail was very long and ended in a point.
I slid past and continued to watch him in the rear vision mirror. The car behind was almost upon me by then, and I remember overshooting our turnoff because I was so overawed by what my eyes were seeing. He calmly moved off the road and I lost sight of him when the rear approaching car passed by us. I remember saying at the time “What on earth was that?” We discussed it and we agreed that it wasn’t a dog, it wasn’t a large feral cat, nor was it a fox.
The next day I told my daughter Tammy about it. (She lives in Halls Gap). She works for the NRE & has studied animal biology at Uni. We at this stage had no idea what kind of animal we had seen, but we knew it was unusual. My daughter thought the description fitted that of a Tasmanian Tiger. She got onto the internet and found a picture of one. The picture matched exactly to the animal that we had seen.
My other daughter was there at the time. Belinda said she & her partner, (He is a local lad) had seen the same animal a month prior in broad daylight on the Tunnel Rd. behind Lake Fyans. The next day she took us to the spot where she had seen the animal. It was only about two kilometers from our sighting.
Just thinking about it, the habitat is just perfect. My daughter’s block is natural forest which goes right back into the mountains. Opposite is cleared pasture land, then more scrub land at the back of Lake Fyans for cover. There are wallabies on my daughter’s block. Sheep, rabbits & water on the farmland opposite. I’m pretty exited about seeing this unusual animal. I would not like to see him hunted down or hurt. I’m sure other locals would have seen him too, if we have.
Anyway, we have seen one alive & well, if people will let it be.
Yours sincerely, Carol H.
Rear heal pads found on the sand dunes July 2004. Found after following many footprint trails along and around some steep sand dunes.
Lana B. had the following encounters during June 2004.
The first sighting I had of the tiger was in late June – can’t remember the date. I was driving home from the RSL at 7.45 p.m. after helping out with meals. I had a friend with me who I was giving a lift home. Just up from the second roundabout I saw an animal running up the right hand side of the road. I said to Joy, that looks very much like a Tassie tiger. It ran into the bushes and I followed best I could with my headlights on it. Naturally it disappeared in the dark. Joy was very excited and said that she had not seen one of those for a long time. It was a medium sized animal. About whippet size. I could not see any stripes but the shape was unmistakeable.
I took Joy home (Joy lives next door to the late Fred Sylvester) and whilst driving away from her place another animal ran across the road in front of me. Same story as the one 5 minutes prior. Similar size, I couldn’t see any stripes but once again the shape was unmistakeable. Unbelievable but true. I must admit that I did doubt what I had seen as I hadn’t had a sighting for over 12 months. There are a lot of foxes around at the moment but they have a completely different shape.
The next sighting once again I was driving home from the RSL after helping with meals. An animal was running up the right hand side of the road and the shape was very familiar. I followed it into the bushes and it disappeared into Terry P’s yard. The animal was larger than the two previous sightings but once again I didn’t see any stripes.
I wasn’t going to tell you about the next encounter as I know just how frustrating it is for you down there and not being able to get into the action. It makes me feel guilty knowing what I’m seeing and knowing you can’t share it!
This sighting was late in the afternoon – about 5.15pm. Driving down the road I saw an animal that was trying to get out of a fenced up area. It was very disorientated. It didn’t seem to know where it was going. I turned the car around to get another look and to make sure that what I was seeing was really happening and it ran across the road in front of me then into a near by property and then it took off. This was a medium sized animal – tail hanging down. Very mangy looking. Stripes not really clear, but a tiger nonetheless. It really did look so confused. I don’t know whether it was frightened and panicked or whether it was half blind or what. I guess we’ll never know.
I was really fascinated with a road kill that I saw last week. I told you about it but will put it down anyway. Late in the afternoon I saw a fresh road kill (kangaroo) on the side of the road.. It was lying just off the side of the road. The next morning I went down to get the paper and noticed that the head was missing and most of the stomach and rib cage had been eaten out. That night after helping out at the RSL with meals again I passed it on my way home and saw two foxes having a feed. They ran off as I got near to them. The next morning once again doing the paper routine I noticed that all that was left of the kangaroo was part of the hind legs, the tail, and some skin hanging from it. Next time I went passed the whole lot was gone. Not bad for just a couple of days eh? Regards
Lana.
The best recorded sighting yet! Comes from Cheryl W. (mid 50’s) who during February/March 2004 had the following encounters whilst walking her Boxer dog through parkland in the small township of New Gisborne near Mt Macedon in Victoria. I was walking my large male boxer in low lying tussock scrub and marsh land near my home, when I came across an animal that I had never seen before. The area is common land known as the old Gisborne Race Track, with semi rural land, to the North there is a baron unused piece of land of possible 500 to 1000 acres. It was around midday and I observed an animal from approximately 100 metres away. It was just walking around and I was taken back by its stripes and its colour. It was very ‘tabby’ Cat like colour in its coat grey /golden with a long snout. I stood there for a while wondering what animal it was and then it saw me and crossed into another paddock and then into the bush. A couple of days later whilst walking in the same area the boxer dog who was off its lead had the animal ‘bailed up’ in some scrub bushes that I later surmised was its lair as the animal had its rear backing into a rocky outcrop of pipe work and some blackberries.
The dog and the animal actually began a full on skirmish and I became hysterical. The animal had these big fangs and was trying to bite my dog around the throat but could only get nips on him. I had to intervene to separate the two animals. This fight went on for a good couple of minutes and they were both snarling and hissing at each other like two aggressive dogs might do when walking down the street. Eventually I reached in with the walk lead and placed it around the neck of my dog and pulled him out. The animal was further in and I couldn’t get any closer to get a better view of him. So I walked off. I took the dog to the vet for repairs as he had a number of cuts on his coat and was bleeding. I had the Department of Natural Resources and Environment come out to the spot the next day but you would not believe it, the area where the fight took had been covered in with landfill from one of the trucks operating in the area. We had a look around but couldn’t find anything much. I only hope that the animal wasn’t buried alive in the den! At a family luncheon some weeks later a mutual friend from Portland also attended and in general conversation the story of the confrontation was again put forward. This chap immediately described a personal experience with a similar animal in the Portland area known a Cape Bridgewater where he described many sighting of was believed to be Thylacine during the 1960’s and 70’s. I have continued to walk my dog in the area of the sighting but have had no further sightings or confrontations or seen any evidence since.
I also note that you have a sighting to the South of Gisborne on the Toolan Vale Comaida Road. Although the distance between the two location is about 20km the Bush land is connecting Cheryl W.
Sightings 2005
Tim M. had the following encounter. I have spoken to you before about seeing the tiger down at Loch Sport. I have had 4 sightings my self down there in various places. Last weekend 6/8/05 Myself and 3 other people where there on the Saturday, it was about 11 am and we went to 90 mile beach. There is a road on the causeway before you get to the end that turns right and we went down there where the gas pipe line crosses the road. We went for walk on 90 mile beach and we were coming back on that road which is in between 90 mile beach and lake reeve which I think is the perfect spot for the tiger, and to our amazement all 4 of us saw a tiger walk 50 meters in front of the car across the road. All in the car with me couldn’t believe what they had seen.
It was a large animal and it looked like a male because of its size. It had a long tail, Stripes and was low to the ground in terms of its height. I had a look on the ground and took some photographs of the large pads. I have seen these before up on the sand dunes and it’s an ideal spot for them. When you are going down there next give me a call and would love to go looking for it also as I think I have a few good ideas on where you could get a photo shot of it?
Tim M.
With The Thylacine being Nocturnal, there is no doubt that situations like those below are happening at night whilst we are asleep!
Visit Snakes web site at:- www.snakecartoons.com
Thursday 27th October Bernadette C. from Anglesea in Victoria had the following experience. I was coming home after picking my daughter up from dance class in Geelong, Victoria, to Anglesea when I saw what looked liked a Tasmanian Tiger walk from the side of the road into the bush.
It was approx. 8.30 pm. I said to my daughter “God, I think I just saw a Tasmanian Tiger”. She said “They’re extinct” I said ” Well I know that but I just saw one.. It had stripes down the lower part of it’s back. It wasn’t a dog or a cat it really looked like a Tasmanian Tiger.” She told me to go back, I slowed down to turn but I said it went into the bushes we’ll never see it now.
I have just come home and gone onto the internet to find out if there have been other sightings in Victoria and if there was somewhere to report the sighting to. I plan to go to the Anglesea police station tomorrow to report it. It now seems vague but I am positive it was not a cat or a dog and it had stripes, and that was what made me gasp. Bernadette C.
Our targeted research area of Gippsland continues to get stories from Loch Sport. The latest occurring on Sunday 13th November at 11.04pm. I was travelling home after dropping a relative off to catch a train. I had my lights on real high beam which are far brighter than normal driving high beam. As I rounded a bend some 5 kms before town I could see two animals playing and wrestling on the left hand side of the road. I slowed down and lowered my lights. The animals were young and about the size of a 6 – 7 month Labrador. As I approached they got up and I could see stripes on the lower half of their backs towards the tail. One had its tail up and the other had its tail hanging down. I thought “They’re tigers! But then I thought we don’t have tigers in Australia!” As I came closer the first one ran across the road in front of my car closely followed by the second one that I almost hit. It wasn’t until I saw a picture of the thylacine posted in the local shop the next day that I realised that they were the animals that I had seen. I’m a firm believer that they are there and I’m going to keep my eyes posted for more sightings. Tracey
Terry G. From Traralgon had the following sighting in the heart of our research area in September 2005 at Location: Loch Sport. We were driving along National Park Rd at approximately 10.30, there were 4 of us in the car. As we approached Goodlet St and from a distance of approximately 35-40 mts an animal ran across the road in front of us.
All of us thought it was a Tassie Tiger, it had a long skinny tail, not bushy like a foxes. It appeared to have faint stripes on it’s back and was dirty sandy/brown in colour. It was about the size of a Labrador Dog…I’ve seen plenty of foxes and it was not a fox. We drove around the corner for another sighting and only got a glimpse of it running up through the trees, didn’t give us much. First sighting more positive. Terry G.
On the 30/12/05 Emma C. Aged 31 had the following encounter in Loch Sport, VIC It was 9.45 – 10pm and quite dark. Two nights previously I thought that I may have seen one! But I thought that it was silly that I may have seen a Tasmanian Tiger so I thought that maybe it could have been a cat. I was sitting on the front veranda and I saw it come out of the bush, across the road. I immediately got up and snuck to where I thought it might be and from a distance of approximately 3 – 4 metres I was certain that what I was looking at was a Tasmanian Tiger!
The Thylacine had crossed the road and was peering into a vacant block, then it turned around and looked at me. When it realised that I was there, (not too fussed) it turned and ran back into the bush. I’m 90 percent sure it was a Thylacine….a small one though 3.5 – 4ft long and 45- 60cm high. Quite graceful really exactly the same shape as the posters that I saw after the sighting, long very thin tail head like a thylacine and greyhound whippet like body. I saw no colour though as it was darkish. distance: 3-4 and duration: 40 seconds approximately.
Tales of Tassie Tigers from the Gippsland Region 2006
On the 7th of January Emma G. Had the sighting of what she thought was a thylacine at Giffard near McGauran (near Woodside in Gippsland Victoria) beach at the creek on her farm.
From a distance of almost 250 metres and at 6.45am. For 1 minute we observed an animal that was skinny, brown orange colour very short coat, very pointy tail that stuck out, funny back legs, head small and round with small ears, long nose pointed back and bum.
20th of February at Cowra near Bathurst and Orange New South Adrian K. along with one of his mates had the following experience. It was around midday and we were driving along a road through a vineyard grape growing farm, my mate was next to me and we had 2 Alsatian dogs in the rear of our ute. It was also bright and sunny and my mate called out “What’s that animal that just crossed the road?”
I pulled up the car and we backed up about 5 rows and the animal was sitting facing us at a distance of approximately 25 – 30 metres. My Mate said “Just keep sitting here until the animal gets up and stands side on in a profile”. The animal had a short coat that was brownish in colour, longish snout and big ears. We watched it for almost 30 seconds and eventually he got up. His body was very much greyhound or whippet in shape but the tail was the most mesmerising thing about the whole sighting. It was like a broomstick that was almost as long as his body and held upright on a slight angle above his body height. His rear was darker in colour but we couldn’t see any stripes and he trotted off away from us. I’ve seen a number of foxes and this was nothing in comparison, he looked very native. The most amazing thing was that the 2 dogs just sat there and probably didn’t even realise that the animal was there. No barking! No nothing ! – Adrian K
Janet Age: 45 early March 2006 had the following experience whilst travelling along in her car near The Windymile, Diamond Creek Rd Diamond Creek Victoria. It was around noon on a bright sunny day and we were travelling along a bushy road that is very windy, as we went around a bend we saw an animal cross over the road. It was approximately 20-30 mtrs in front of our vehicle and we would have seen it for about 5 seconds in total. After crossing the road it just disappeared into the scrub on the other side of the road. I was with my sister in the car and we both said “Hey! That looks like one of those Tassie Tigers, but it couldn’t be!” But the more that I think about it I really wondered if perhaps it was!
It had a long skinny tail, stripes on the back mainly upper body, longer legs than a fox, pointy snout, and it seemed pretty healthy. Janet.
Could the report of seeing a thylacine in this region be linked to the newspaper and media reports of kangaroo kills on the Yarrambat Golf Course during 2006? The Golf Course is merely 15 kms away from this site and I have commenced some research with the Grounds Personnel at Yarrambat to monitor the situation over the remainder of 2006 and into 2007.
Vicki aged 32 and Stephen VL aged 38 on the 31st of march 2006 had the following encounter 500m before the Heyfield turnoff heading towards Sale Victoria. It was approx 9.45pm at night and we were driving along in our car and from a distance of approximately: 50m ahead of our vehicle we saw an animal crossing the road. It was definitely not a fox or a roo but a cross between the two. pale in colour. You know, all the times you have come for takeaway at the Lochsport Motel and told me about the Tassie Tiger I never thought that one would be viewed by us….cant believe it …. Good luck with your search.
Early May 2006 my neighbour told me of a sighting of something unusual she had seen out her back door. I didn’t really believe her that much until I had witnessed what I saw last night (June 6th). I wouldn’t say that it was a thylacine but after looking at pictures of them after the incident I could have sworn it was. As I was driving to town to pick up my son I saw something in front of me crossing the road (approx 50 metres). I usually see foxes cross the road but this was no fox, or dog. As I approached where it had crossed I saw it in a shallow drain (300mm), it was looking in my direction as I passed.When it crossed the road it seem to be like when a dog is yelled at, like it was cowering, also it was unusual in it movement as was not running, but not walking. It also seemed to be a greyish looking colour, I could not recall seeing any markings as I had a car about 150 metres in front and didn’t have my high beam on. This all took place on the Portland Nelson Rd, about 7 Kms out of Portland, Victoria. I’ll keep my eye for and hopefully have a camera next time. Greg S.
Shane V. whilst driving along the Cape Patterson /Inverloch Rd on December 17th at approximately midday had the following experience. I was driving along approximately 1 kilometre past the Cape Patterson Tennis Court turn off and heading towards Inverloch. I saw an animal race across the road approximately 50 metres in front of my vehicle. It was moving from the beach vegetation towards the farmland vegetation on the left. Its coat was orange in colour and it was the size of a German Shepherd. (Much larger than a Fox) I couldn’t see any stripes on its coat as it was moving pretty quickly, I didn’t think about stopping to have a look but I really should have (This is the region where other historical reports have taken place so it is a possibility that what Shane saw was a thylacine).
Bronze statue – courtesy Melbourne Museum
9th May 2001
Lance B. and his son from Queensland on a visit to some relatives in Gippsland, saw a thylacine on the edge of the main road at 2.00pm and in clear daylight eating a rabbit roadkill. The animal remained in view long enough for Lance to drive past and to turn his vehicle around. He claimed to have kept the animal in view for between 6-7 minutes as he crept up slowly in his car. Asked how close did he actually get. Lance replied “About the width of the road. We could see the stripes on its back the tail and all! It was about the size of a medium dog.”
Asked what happened as he got near the animal. Lance replied “It picked up the carcass and trotted into the bush. We got out of the car and followed it in. We reckon that it went into a den or lair that we discovered.” Asked whether the den or lair was fresh, he said “It had fresh footprints around it and I’m positive that it had been frequently used.” Asked, how big was the lair? Lance replied , “About twice the size of a wombat burrow!”
This brought enormous excitement for both Myself and Aaron who visited the site on Saturday July 30th. We left home at 11am arrived at the site at 3pm only to find that the lair or den that Lance had mentioned was merely a couple of old wombat burrows. They even had cobwebs, leaves and sticks down them that indicated that they had not been used for some time. We left the area at 7pm arriving home at 11pm following 8 hours of driving and 550 kilometres of travel. What a waste! I will never do that again without the cameras or gear!
Image of two preserved thylacines courtesy of Melbourne Museum
30th July 2001
Jan F who has a holiday camp in the area made contact with us and mentioned that she had recently erected some new huts at the rear of her camping grounds. One night a couple of the campers were sleeping in an unfinished hut and had an open fire going outside. The front door was left open to allow the heat from the fire to enter the hut. Around 10pm an animal stood at the door way growled at them a number of times before departing. In the flickering of the light they could see a stiff tail dragging behind and as it sauntered off it walked in a peculiar manner.
Image of two preserved thylacines courtesy of Melbourne Museum
19th July 2001
Lana B. On her early morning rounds to pick up mail for her work at the Post Office at 8.35am drove around the back of a swamp and saw a thylacine (a fairly old one) cross the road approximately 20 metres in front of her vehicle as she drove along. It raced into some thick scrub. Returning home she quickly told her father who went to the area to investigate but the animal could not be found.
29th August 2001
Lindsay D.
Hi Murray, Just wondering if you are interested in a possible thylacine sighting in Gippsland last Friday. I found your site while searching for info on thylacines, as I became a bit interested after what I could say was a definite likeness. I have spent a lot of time travelling in the mountainous regions of Victoria and have never seen an animal like this one. If you would like more info, I’d be happy to respond, did not feel like filling out your form with all my info. The sighting occurred on the Mt. St. Gwinear Rd. above the Thompson dam (700m above sea level) on the edge of the Mt. BawBaw plateau (east). We had been skiing for the day and were about one third the way down the road when we sighted it (my wife also saw it clearly). We were below the snow line although snow had fallen lower down than sighting spot during the week. I’d say we had about 7 to 10 seconds of viewing. It was about 2.40pm and a sunny day but the bush and tall trees casted a shadows but I would still consider it a clear uninterrupted view. (My wife and I are both in our 40’s) I thought at first it was a feral cat because I focussed on the stripes which were only at the back of the animal (but it was much bigger than a cat), I also noticed the tail was longish, thick at the body and tapered, then I looked at the head and it had long jaws and was darkish in colour. We were in the car about one third the way down the mountain when we came around a corner and there it was standing on the road facing across-ways like profile so we had a real good look at it from about 25-30 metres. It moved off up an embankment as we approached – which was about the time I recognised it. I stopped the car and looked up to see it again from the rear this time only really seeing the tail – it kept going into the bush, so I did not get another good look at it. I’ve attached a drawing of a thylacine that I found on a site somewhere, the colours of the one we saw are very close to this image although it was darker (deeper grey/green) in colour with dark stripes and not like the ones on some Tasmania web sites that are tan/brownish colour. So that’s about it. As I mentioned, I’ve spent a lot of time in the mountains of Vic. bush walking, xc-skiing and a lot of time surfing and bush walking coastal regions, I seen a lot of native animals but nothing like this. If you’ve got any specific questions, then ask away! I agree they ARE out there, I had never seen one before (only pictures) but I never doubted they still exist, their camouflage is so good I’m not surprised no-one has been able to photograph one. Even when I saw this one from about 5m away (as it retreated into the bush, it was virtually unrecognisable from the rear. I read some of the accounts on your site, some sound quite convincing but others like the woman with the film still in the camera has got to be doubtful. And the one with the video camera with a flat battery, they were out looking for it, you’d think they would have taken a spare battery!! It’s hard to believe there are so many accounts of sightings and very little supporting photos.
2nd October 2001
Robert H. Location: Between Orbost and Club Terrace turn off South side of highway on edge of clearing on highway. Time: around 5pm overcast: Distance: 40 metres duration: 5 seconds description: size of greyhound, kangaroo like tail, dark grey body with light saddle, dark stripes through saddle, Hyena like face and ears. I made the sighting when driving towards Orbost and have no doubt that what I saw was a tassie tiger.
5th October 2001
Garry and Sally H.
Dear Murray, Excellent site! I tried to submit our sighting of an unusual animal about 3 to 4 Kilometres from Loch Sport on the left side of the road. My wife and I both saw this dog like animal at about 7.45 pm. It was quite dark but we followed it along the edge of the scrub for about 200 metres .It did not seem terribly timid, but eventually disappeared into the bush as I kept turning my headlights toward it to try to get a photo, before the flash could come on it had gone. We have both seen too many foxes to mistake it for one, nor was it a large cat. It was a greyish colour, but we could not see any distinctive markings on it. Hope this is of use to you. ( aged 50+, and sober) There was also an article in the Loch Sport Link a month or so ago about a chap who was coming into Lockie and said he saw a large water buffalo? There are some strange creatures hiding in that dense bush. It is certainly a hard task to track anything in that sort of country. We have seen several deer almost at the Golf club which is wonderful. Good luck with your search. will let you know if we see any other critters. Garry.
October 2001
Alan B. Location: Dargo Road, Briagolong Time: (approx) 7pm night: Distance: 10mtrs duration: 8 seconds description: Myself and my 11 y/o son were driving into Maffra to attend a meeting. As we were driving an animal slowly came out of the paddock on our right. It was clearly in the headlights of the car but turned its head away from the car lights. My son turned to me and said “what the hell was that” It didn’t appear as orange looking as the one in your photo but the big hind quarters and narrowing stripes were clear to see. The spot where we experienced the sighting was grazing land on either side of the road. The animal crossed from our right to left. About 300 mtrs to the right of the spot where the animal crossed is the Freestone Creek. And about 300mtrs to the rear of my car is still sort of grazing but also quite bushy. The Freestone Creek runs parallel with this road and comes down from the Dargo area. The town of Briagolong is about 3klms further on than the sighting. Briagolong is always spoken of as “in the foothills of the Great Divide” Its another story but I have also sighted a puma style black cat on our property here about 9 years ago. But that is probably not your area of interest. (honest)
18th November 2001
Craig & Karen B. Location: Grand Ridge Rd approx 20kms from Boolara Township Melway 528 D8 Time: 16:45 clear: late afternoon distance: 50meters duration: 20seconds description: Definitely not a cat or dog. Same size as fox but definitely had stripes on hind quarters and tail. Animal Tan in colour with dark brown stripes.
2002 Sightings
10th Jan 2002
Dr. Don W.
Having seen and read material recently about the ‘tiger’, for what it is worth, I had until recently a farm East of Adelaide near Monarto before the Murray flats on the way to Murray Bridge. About a year ago I was checking troughs and there was a carcass lying near one of them. I recall the distinctive stripe markings on the back and I did think of the possibility that it could be a tiger but then concluded the unlikeliness of this and the fact that there were probably other animals that may have the stripes. I remember thinking that it did not look feline and was more canine but was about as big as a big cat, certainly not as big as a large dog. I have sold the property since but I guess the skeleton may still be there after a year. Pity this publicity was now and not then because I could have dumped it in the Pajero and taken it down to Monarto Zoo for identification. I just remember the stripes across the back and concluding that it wasn’t wallaby but looked canine – it was really lurched over as well (very bent in the back). We had quite a dry summer last year and some of the neighbours put out fox baits – in fact, come to think of it, I think I concluded it was a fox but was surprised by the markings. Anyway, I can stop talking about it now that someone else knows about it.
Expedition 11 – Friday January 11 – Thursday January 17 2002
We arrived late on the Friday evening into our search area and settled down for a sleep at 11.30pm. Upon waking I asked my second youngest son, Callum how well he had slept in the vehicle. I was surprised when he stated, ” I had slept well! But I woke early before the sun had risen and saw 3 dog like animals approximately 40 metres away from our vehicle”.
Not fully sure whether to believe Callum or not, I then chose to ask him some further questions to validate his claim. “Do you think that they were Tasmanian Tigers?” I asked. “Yes” he replied. “How big were they?” “About this high” he said, holding his hand at waist height. This surprised me. “So you don’t think that they were foxes?” “No they were allot bigger” he replied. “How long were you watching them?” Amazingly he said, “for about 5 minutes”. I couldn’t believe that he could have such a sighting and not wake me but he said that he never thought about doing that at the time. “What happened when you were watching them?” “They were running around chasing each other on the grass” Callum replied. “Could you see their tails?” “Yeah I could see their tails, they were very long!” “Did they have stripes on them?” “I couldn’t tell it was still dark and all that I could see was these dog like shadows running around” he said. “Well what happened in the end?” I asked. “Well I went to open the window to get a better look and as soon as the window went ‘click’ they were gone!”
Half believing what he saw we dressed and for about an hour walked around some of the areas where we had previously seen them in search of any fresh evidence of their existence. There was no real evidence and I suggested that we not set our video camera’s up in the area that we were currently looking, but instead take them further up the road to a spot that both Aaron and myself had identified as to where they (the thylacines) might be.
Our First Sighting In 2 Years (Saturday 12th January 2002)
We drove some 2 – 3 kms up the road and then pulled in to an area of relatively open bracken fern, banksia tree and tee tree. I told Callum about a track that I reckon would be ideal to set our cameras along, and we made our way across the grassed area towards it. We started walking along the track in search of ideal spots to place our equipment.
We had not gone more than 50 metres along the trail when to my complete amazement we observed 3 Tasmanian Tigers sitting on the track exactly 30 paces ahead (we measured this afterwards). These incredibly must have been the same ones that Callum had observed earlier in the morning, and were now sunning themselves on the track. It was pointless getting the camera out for as soon as they observed our presence the larger male rose up onto his front legs in a sitting position and the other two 3/4 grown animals, no doubt a female and her almost adult young raced either side of the track (one left and one right) into the thicker scrub. The larger male surprisingly sat and stared at us for 5 – 10 seconds. Both Callum and myself remained stationary unsure whether to move forward or back. As I had not seen a Thylacine for quite a while chose to observe as much of his features as possible.
He had a very wolf like head and I can now appreciate why the Early Settlers called them Marsupial Wolves, It was very thick set and gave me the appearance of almost an Alsatian Dog. At the end of the sighting he rose to his feet and leapt into the scrub alongside as the other 2 had. The most striking thing that occurred next was that approximately 5 seconds after he departed we heard this penetrating “Ruff” as if a warning call for us to keep away. The sound was difficult to describe but when we played the video tape of the “Tasmanian Tiger – The definitive documentary 1996” it was identical to the tape recordings made by Trudy Richards in the program.
This sighting was fantastic in itself and we elected to place the cameras in position right where we had seen them. Unfortunately for us after 6 nights of hard work we did not achieve video footage of any significant wildlife let alone a Tasmanian Tiger. We did however see clear evidence of their footprints along some sandy loam Fire Escape tracks unfortunately well away from where our camera’s were placed. They obviously felt threatened by our intrusion into their area and had chosen to ‘clear out’ so that we wouldn’t see them again.
In summary I’m looking forward to my next expedition around Easter where by I will hopefully learn a few more rules of the game that they play.
The track where the three thylacines were sunning themselves.
They were right in the centre of the photograph just behind the vegetation that covers the path!
February 2002
Reg Baldwin (dec) and Lana B. 10.30 a.m.
Driving along a major roadway in Gippsland with some overseas tourists saw a thylacine move off the roadway and into scrubland as they approached a crest on a raised section of road.
Wednesday March 6th 2002
Lana B.
Whilst on her way home from work at approx 11.30 p.m. saw a young thylacine cross the roadway some 20 – 30 metres in front of her vehicle as she drove along. Pulling the car up and doing a U Turn she drove back towards the spot where the animal had crossed. She knew that it had gone into a nearby housing block and drove into the first. It wasn’t there so she reversed the car and drove up to the next. Caught in her car headlights was the young thylacine with its back to her some 10 – 15 metres away.
“I could see the tail, its stripes and everything. My heart was pounding with excitement, just as it was when I saw my first one years ago!” she said. “And the tail it was very long, words cannot describe how long”. “I would have had it in my sights for over 10 seconds and even if I had a camera I don’t think that the would have been able to show much. In the end it sauntered off into some bushes out of view”.
Lana has been fortunate to have had at least 8 sightings of the animal over the years and I have no reason to doubt the creditability of this recent sighting. The fact that the sighting has occurred at this period of time is very encouraging for my Easter expedition.
Callum and Lana (Easter 2002) near the spot
where we saw the thylacines (Expedition 11) in January 2002.
February 2002- Wilsons Prom. Victoria
Dear Murray,
It appears the sightings just keep coming in South Gippie and from a wide ranging swathe of countryside. It amazes me that no one has succeeded in getting firm evidence so far as this has been going on for donkey’s years. Maybe you’ll be the one to do it, I hope so.
Col Bailey on a report that he has received
The Prom sighting;
Michael R. and his wife Elizabeth together with their daughter Leonie of Melbourne were travelling out of Wilson’s Promontory National Park after visiting Tidal River. They had not long driven past the Whisky Bay turnoff, and before reaching the more open spaces of the airstrip section, when Michael and Leonie observed an animal cross the road ahead of them from left to right. It was medium dog sized bearing dark stripes on a grey to pale yellow coat.
Elizabeth was looking elsewhere at the time and did not see the animal. The sighting only lasted some 4-5 seconds but made a lasting impression on them both father and daughter concluded it could have been nothing other than a Tasmanian tiger. Their sighting took place in broad daylight on a clear day.
23rd February-2002- Judbury Tasmania
Graeme P. aged 51 along with his wife Petra, whilst traveling in his vehicle 5 kilometres along a track to Lake Skinner near Judbury Tasmania. At 11.30 am and at a distance of approximately 100 metres and for a duration of 20 seconds Graeme detailed the following account:-
The animal was the size of a large dog , I couldn’t make out the stripes, but the way it walked was unlike a dog and very much like the footage I had seen of the Tasmanian Tiger. It also had a very distinctive head exactly like the tiger. The animal didn’t run away but strolled into the undergrowth.
Sorry we didn’t stop to see if any footprints were present as we were hurrying to Lake skinner to fly-fish.
I felt totally speechless I frantically pointed at the windscreen , trying to draw my wife’s attention to the animal, but unfortunately she thought there was something wrong with me, looking at me and shouting “WHAT ?, WHAT’S WRONG? “
She missed seeing the tiger by a millisecond if there is such a thing., much to her absolute disappointment!
Hope this help’s, if I can help further please don’t hesitate to email me.
Graeme and Petra P.
Expedition 12 Easter 2002
We had had nothing but frustration for the entire week of our research the video cameras failed to pick up anything despite all of the baits that we were using as a lure. We decided to move these for the final nights filming to an area 3 kms away. We woke on our final morning at 7am. It was bright and sunny with clear skies. we went out to the site and were totally disappointed and frustrated by the fact that nothing had come near the camera. We packed up and loaded the gear into the vehicle and drove back towards town to farewell some of our friends. Driving down the road at a slow speed I could not believe my eyes, 40 metres ahead of the vehicle I could see a small tassie tiger coming out of the scrub on the left of the roadway. “Quick! Look! Look! I screamed to Callum and Aaron sitting despondently beside me, “A Tassie Tiger!” we saw it bolt straight across the road in front of us and then continue across to the vegetation on the right. He was only small but boy he was moving quick. I pulled up the vehicle. Aaron jumped out with the video camera in hand and raced off into the bush after him. When he returned he said “I got within 15 meters of him and I could see his tail and stripes but as soon as he saw me he took off again. I had no hope!”
It is unbelievable that here we were during the last hour of our expedition and the animal had crossed the road only 300 meters up from our previous research camera site. How frustrating!
21st April 2002 – Shady Creek Victoria
Matthew M. aged 71 at 1pm on April 21st and at a distance of approximately 70 metres had for a brief 5 second glimpse of a thylacine. He submitted the following report of his sighting:-
Very difficult to give you an accurate description, I was with my daughter Catherine 40 YO when we saw it, I thought it was a wild dog but Catherine said not as it had stripes, she said it had pointed ears.
We came to the top of a rise where some dog wood scrub had been cleared and it came out into the open, saw us and immediately bounded away. I own the property and get down very infrequently, it is remote but there is a house nearby but well shielded from the spot where we saw the animal. It was 1.5 metres in length, the animal had black and grey strips on the body, with loping strides.
Matt. M.
April 2002 – Ferny Hills Queensland
Vanessa C. aged 49 whilst driving in her vehicle at approximately 9pm at night along a road approaching a T intersection. For a period of 1-2 minutes Vanessa claims to have seen a thylacine. She submitted the following report:-
There was an area of bushland which is slowly being built out and developed as a housing estate, by the houses there is a rubbish dump, dingoes are seen quite often, and hybrids.
I was coming to the top of a street to a T junction, when you stop there is bush opposite. My headlights hit this tan coloured animal. I think that it looked smaller than a dingo, but the two things that made me stare at it was, the tail, which was straight and followed straight out from it spine and the stripes on its body from its shoulders back to the beginning of the tail thickness.
It was walking briskly not running. It’s head looked unlike a dogs head, and it had a slender looking body. I watched it till I had to turn left and it was going in the same direction as me, but on the edge off the bush line, and not to close to the road edge I eventually turned off and headed home.
18th May Coldstream – Victoria
Brian D. aged 30 at lunch time and at a distance of approximately 25 meteres. Had a sighting of what he claims was a thylacine for a almost 25 seconds. He submitted the following brief report:-
It had a long tail and dark stripes on its back. It was very skinny and long snout. It was yellow dog like and I’m sure that it wasn’t a fox!
Marc S. had the following encounter on Sunday 9th June 2002 Queens Birthday weekend along the Point Addis Rd ( Point Addis ) off the Great Ocean Road between Bells
Beach and Anglesea.
It was Early morning; about 8:00am; very chilly, clear (not raining or foggy)
The area consisted of very dense coastal bush; the area is thick with kangaroos,
wallabys, rabbits, etc.; close to farmland.
At closest range I was able to get within about 4 metres of the animal; good side-on view at about 6 metres.
Time Duration: about 60 seconds but it’s hard to judge when you’re in shock !
While driving south down the Point Addis road towards the point, through bushland, a large grey kangaroo startled me as it leapt from the roadside bush onto the road. The road is winding and steep at this point so I wasn’t travelling very fast, and I pulled over. The roo did a quick turn and bound off down the road a way, then back into the bush on the same side of the road that it had appeared from.
Seconds later a very small black wallaby came bounding out of the bush about 4 – 5 metres south of where the big roo had appeared and right opposite my car. The wallaby didn’t stop, it hopped across the road and dived into the bush in front of my car. Then another animal came crashing through the bush. It came out onto the road shoulder and noticed me, skidding to a halt. It stood there panting for a few seconds, then turned south for about 2 metres then stopped and turned back to look at me. I was totally frozen at this stage ! It kept loping down the
road shoulder for a metre or two then went back into the bush. I was too petrified to go and look because this animal had huge teeth and was about 150cm long just in the body ! The tail was about another 90 – 100cms.
I feel completely sure that it was a Thylacine because of the really big jaw ( it was panting heavily ) and the odd looking down-sloping hind quarters. The back and rump were darker than the front of the body but I could still see the stripes, and the tail stuck straight out, following the line of the spine. It didn’t trot like a dog, but “loped” like a cat. I think I spoiled its morning
hunt and it wasn’t too happy.
I totally forgot about going surfing, did a U turn and went back to Torquay… I was pretty shaken. I didn’t think to look for footprints, and I didn’t have a camera. I can still remember it very clearly as being exactly like the pictures I’ve seen, but much bigger. What shocked me most was that I thought they were restricted to Tasmania. Someone suggested to me that it might have been a dog ( an Alsatian ? ) but it definately wasn’t ! I’ve been bushwalking in this area all my life ( the Pt Addis walking track is quite famous ) but I’ve never, ever seen anything so startling.
Thanks…
Marc S.
13th August Gippsland
Lana B. whilst driving along a major road near Longford at 1.00pm during the day had the following experience.
“I was approximately 500 metres from a turn off intersection when I saw a large tan animal on the right hand side of the road. It was some 30-40 metres ahead of the vehicle and it ran on to the road in front of me. I had to brake hard to avoid hitting the animal and it was right up close to the front bonnet. He was a magnificent creature with a shiny coat, I could see his stripes and the tail was hanging downward. As the car pulled up to a halt he turned and continue to run through to the bushes on the left hand side of the road. My heart was racing and I thought to myself what in the hell would I do if I had hit or killed the animal all the way home! He really looked like a healthy specimen a large male!”
1st of October 2002 Lana B. and Irene B.
Traveling 50 meters behind another vehicle along a straight stretch of road approximately 12 kms from our expedition 13 research site Lana detailed the following account.
“I had seen the kangaroo ‘roadkill’ on the way out it was a ‘fresh one’ and it was more towards the centre of the road. Someone had obviously stopped at some stage and moved it to the edge! As we followed the vehicle in front we could see the animal at the carcass. The people in the front vehicle should have had a great sighting of him because he stayed there as they passed! As we approached he took off sideways towards the vegetation on the left. He wasn’t very big (about a medium sized animal) but we could see all of his stripes and the tail was hanging down. Once again his coat was a dark tan color similar to the one that crossed in front of my car in August”.
Lana waved us down in our vehicle at 1.30pm and we raced out to the site. The Kangaroo carcass was headless! We sat in the vehicle some 40 metres away hoping that he may come back and that we might obtain some video footage but after 1 hour and a half realised that he had obtained his meal and that he would not return. We picked up the carcass an took it to our research site hoping that it might attract another hungry thylacine into the area but this proved to be unsuccessful.