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Aussie Man Claims To Have 'Pretty Good' Evidence Of A Thylacine Family In NE Tasmania

Aussie Man Claims To Have 'Pretty Good' Evidence Of A Thylacine Family In NE Tasmania

Neil Waters believes he has photos of a thylacine family in north-east Tasmania.

Stewart Perrie

Stewart Perrie

A Tasmanian Tiger enthusiast claims to have found proof the animal still exists in the country.

Neil Waters, President of Thylacine Awareness Group of Australia (TAGOA), has uploaded a video to the group's YouTube page where he discusses his recent findings.

Speaking from a small town in north-east Tasmania, Neil said he found some photos from a camera trap that, in his eyes, are 'pretty damn good'.

"I know what they are and so do a few independent expert witnesses, expert canine judges, feline judges and a vet," he said to the camera.

Neil has passed the images onto biologist and wildlife expert Nick Mooney to be verified and he's fairly confident it will provide the first evidence of a thylacine (the scientific name for a Tasmanian Tiger) in the wild in nearly a century.

"I can tell you there's three images," Neil added. "We believe...that the first image is the mum, we know the second image is the baby because it's so tiny and the third image is the dad," Neil added.

The enthusiast admits that some of the markings on the animals are ambiguous, but the baby has 'stripes, a stiff tail, the hock, the colour' that lends to the theory it's a Tassie tiger.

He also said this is the strongest evidence that the animal exists in 35 years. After posting the video to YouTube, people on social media have been absolutely blown away by the idea.

Neil said he's waiting for Nick Mooney to get back to him about whether the photos prove what he has believed for decades.

If it does indeed come back positive then he hopes officials will reclassify the animal as critically endangered.

It was officially declared extinct in Tasmania in the 1930s and there have been thousands - literally thousands - of reports of people claiming to have seen one.

This also isn't Neil's first rodeo. He started the Thylacine Awareness Group of South Australia in 2014 after his second alleged sighting of the animal in Tasmania's north-east. Two years later he posted a video of an alleged Tasmanian Tiger in the state that caused quite a stir.

"The animal came out of a creek and ran through a person's front yard," he told ABC Radio. "There were four people in the house looking out the window at the right time - they all saw it.

"If you start scratching around and doing some research, we have had over 4,500 sightings on the mainland since 1936.

"We think there is a very real and true story about the continuing existence of thylacines on the mainland."

Featured Image Credit: Creative Commons

Topics: Animals, Australia