By NOEL MURPHY
IS THE Tasmanian tiger extinct or living in the Otways?
That’s the question after a new round of purported sightings of the illustrious striped marsupial at Freshwater Creek, west of Geelong.
Farmer Harry Cook claims to have sighted a Tasmanian tiger several times, as recently as a fortnight ago, but an Ocean Grove couple’s roadside sighting last weekend has reignited the debate.
The couple told the Independent they saw a large animal on Anglesea Rd close to Blackgate Rd shortly before midday last Friday.
“I thought, ‘What the hell was that?’” said the husband, who wanted to remain anonymous for fear of ridicule.
“It looked like a different species unless it was deformed. Its tail was too long and skinny, almost greyhoundish, its head was pretty wolfish looking and it had a bit of hump near the tail.
“It didn’t dart off, it just trotted with a funny gait like a hyena and disappeared. It wasn’t a cat, it wasn’t a fox, it wasn’t a dog.
“It was a really mangy thing, an orange-yellowy colour and I didn’t actually see any stripes.”
The man thought he was “starting to crack up”.
He contacted Mr Cook after a Google search revealed his recent experience with livestock lost to a unknown marauding animal.
He also spoke to big-cat researcher Michael Moss who appealed to any other possible witnesses to contact him.
“It keeps on being seen along Thompsons Creek,” Mr Moss said.
“Harry’s first sighting was five years ago and just two weeks ago there was another strange animal about – he’s had three alleged sightings now.”
Mr Moss said the lack of stripes in the latest sighting was unsurprising. He believed the animal might have been old, flushed out of the bush by a lack of quarry following a recent rabbit cull.
“I’ve no doubt there’s an animal resembling a Tassie tiger in the area.
“These people had no idea what they saw at first – they hadn’t read any articles, they had no prior knowledge and yet they’re giving a remarkably similar description as others in area along Thompsons Creek.”
