Tasmanian Tiger Sighting in Western Australia late 1960s I was just doing a Google search to see if anyone else had seen a Tassie Tiger-like animal in the Mandurah WA area.



I saw such an animal around 1966-68 on Old Coast Rd, Miami. I was travelling in a car with my aunty, at night, when a large dog-like animal crossed the road in front of us. What struck me at the time, and I still recall vividly, was that the animal had distinctive stripes on its hindquarters and tail. It was very strange. I lived in the area with my parents and siblings, spent most of my free time playing in and exploring in the bush, and it was unlike any other animal, or dog, I had ever seen, or heard of.



I was aged between 10-13 at the time. When I got older, and saw pictures of Tasmanian Tigers, I was, on one hand, convinced that this was the animal I had seen, while on the other hand, logic told me it couldn’t possibly be; Tasmanian Tigers lived in Tasmania and they were extinct anyway.



I have rarely told anyone about the strange animal in case they thought I was ‘kook’. Out of curiosity as to whether anyone else had seen a similar animal in my area, I did a Google search tonight and found an article by Greg Heberle on WA sightings. To my excitement, four of the reported sightings are in the area near where I lived. I tried to contact Greg on his email address, to find out when and exactly where these sightings were, but the email bounced.



There are a a number of caves south of where I lived at Dawesville, and my pop took us down some of them. One of the caves had piles of bones, which as a child I found scary. I have often wondered if the strange animal lived in the caves, and if skeletons were down there. Looking at Greg’s map of reported sightings, these caves are in the vicinity. The Dawesville area has a lot of underground limestone caverns, and I imagine there are many accessible caves that I’m unaware of.



As you have an interest in sightings of Tasmanian Tiger like animals, I thought you may be interested in my experience, and possibly in passing on the info to someone who may like to investigate the caves to see if any skeletal or other evidence exists. KLP (collected from email to LMH 6 February 2010) Tiger Sighting near Norseman, Western Australia early 1970s Just a short note about what I am 100% sure was a tiger I saw on a trip across the Nullarbor in the early seventies.



My family had a habit of travelling over east almost every year from about 1971 or so to attend the main conferences that our traditional Finnish church held every year around Christmas. On this particular year, we travelled in a HK/HG wagon but my father was also asked to bring back from Melbourne a Commer van for family friends—one of those old ones with sliding doors.



My mother drove in front with my sisters and I sat in the passenger seat of the van. We NEVER travelled fast. Our first crossing from Melbourne to Perth took two weeks. My father was a very patient man. The Commer was also overheating which meant we probably travelled at around 70 km/h with the heater on to help and the sliding doors fully open so we wouldn’t cook.



On the way back, we had turned north at Norseman and some distance later (I think closer to Norseman than Coolgardie) as I was looking forward at and over the car in front, I saw an animal run across the road left to right less than a metre in front of the car in front.



The picture that is burned into my memory is of the back 2/3 to 3/4 of this animal directly in front of the right hand side headlight. The area which was illuminated had the stripes which I some years after learned were on the tiger. The animal seemed to have its weight forward on its forward legs and the level of the back was pretty much close to the level of the bonnet. I have always remembered that the back legs were angled back as if thought the animal had just leapt and landed on its front legs and my memory seems to be that they were darker probably as they were below the glare of the high beam headlights. The back was level. The head was out of the headlight so I have no clear memory of that.



My mother and father also saw the animal but as it was so close to the front of the car and travelling quickly, they didn’t pick up what my young eyes did. Even for me it was and still is remembered as a frame like a photo, crystal clear and still. Just an image that flashed and then it was gone.



In the early seventies, we were still very much new Australians having arrived 1/1/1970 and as we never had a television at home and were all learning just to speak and communicate it took me a long time to associate the animal with the Tassie Tiger. I still keep hoping that I’ll see one again every time I cross but I haven’t had any luck in the nearly 30 times I have done so.



Just thought I should finally tell someone. EH (Collected from email to LXR 25 January 2009) Thylacine Sighting in Victoria 1970s My sighting occurred over 30 years ago in western Victoria. I know it sounds impossible, but that is what we think it was.



The animal had the striped tail and a walk that was not like a dogs. It had a funny walk as it crossed the road in front of our car. We turned the car around to have another look and it re-crossed the road again.



The area that it was near was a skin shed where sheep skins were hung up to dry out. I imagine it was after scraps of meat or fat to eat. The skin shed was just north of Heywood which is a small farming community. There were quite a few forest areas around Heywood that would hide something like this and there are not a lot of people wandering around the bush. PH (Collected from email to LXR 31 March 2006) Thylacine Sighting near Wilsons Promontory, Victoria 1974 In late 1974, my family had been to Wilson's Promontory National Park for a long weekend. As we were leaving the Park area and heading back to Melbourne, about 10 km from the Park boundary in the area known as Yanakie, I was looking out the car window and saw the rear of an animal in thick brush. I think it was either disappearing into the scrub or had paused to note the car going past. I did only glimpse the animal but I knew what it was. I had not long before read about the Tiger for a school project, so I knew what one looked like. The most distinctive feature was the angular back leg and a glimpse of stripe. I said nothing at the time because I knew they were meant to be extinct, and thought my sighting would be explained as auto-suggestion because of the project etc. I also did not know that thylacines were noted in Victoria. I even doubted what I'd seen myself…. I didn't see how it could have been real.



About 5 years later, when staying with relatives in south Gippsland, one of whom worked in the Wilson's Prom Park, the subject came up in discussion and it was made clear that there had been a number of sightings in the area. I shared my story and people said it was probably real. That’s 42 years ago now.



I have heard from very credible witnesses (three at the same time) of a sighting in south-west Victoria also, not far from the SA border. They all described a strange loping gait, faint striping and unusual head. This was accompanied by a description of an adult koala kill in that vicinity where the heart had been eaten out, which I have heard is a thylacine way of eating. Foxes can't kill adult koalas; it would have to have been a large and strong dog. It was not a human kill.



I think thylacines have lasted longer than people realise. I hope these accounts are of interest to you. And I hope the real thing is still out there. If you are pursuing or collecting data on the thylacine, I wish you every success.

LM (Collected from email to LMH 28 March 2016) Tiger Sighting near Greenbushes, Western Australia July 1989 On a winter’s day in July, 1989, we were driving down a dirt road to the west of Greenbushes. There was a farm on one side of the road and a [pine] plantation on the other. The car was stopped when the tiger was seen jumping a wire fence, coming from the left, the plantation side. It ran across the road in front of the car and crashed into the fence on the other side of the road. It became caught in the fence, briefly. It seemed to stop for a few seconds, gathering its bearings. Then it made its way through the fence and then ran off into the farm. All up, the sighting was for about 15 seconds by our family of three who were in the car. I remember to this day the thick tail and stripes along its side. For some time, we did not know what it was until we visited Yallingup Caves and saw a photo of one in a display. S, J and K (Collected from email to LXR 14-15 April 2007) Thylacine Sighting near Murray River, South Australia June 2001 I am an ex-prison officer from South Australia. One night in June 2001 whilst carrying out a patrol at Cadell Training Centre, which is near Morgan on the Murray River in South Australia, I saw a thylacine.

It was just after 2 a.m., and I was doing a patrol of the prison farm. I was driving down a dirt track (leading to the river bank below the cliffs adjacent to Cadell Training Centre at Morgan) in the 4WD when it ran out in front of the vehicle. It was unmistakable. I knew exactly what it was, the kangaroo type legs, long tail, the striped markings, and best of all, … it opened its mouth to an incredible width. I was stunned … it was only about two metres away from me. I went to get out of the car and approach it, but it took off into the bush.

On returning to the office, I told the other officers who laughed at me. In the morning there was an article in the local rag stating that sightings had occurred up and down the river to Waikerie. No-one laughed then! RE (Collected from email to LXR 3 October 2006) Thylacine Sighting near Portland, Victoria June 2006 Just letting you know that I might have seen one. I was driving down the road from my house (just on the outskirts of Portland, Western Victoria) and saw it running across the road in front of me. I can tell you that it was not a large cat, fox or a domesticated dog. I am 44 years old and in that time I have seen nothing like it before. GS (Collected from email to LXR 6 June 2006) Possible Thylacine Sighting on Mornington Peninsula, Victoria 8 July 2006 We think we saw a thylacine this morning, and wanted to write to notify someone, and also check on the likelihood that this could happen. It was about 10 am on farmland near Greens Bush and National parklands in Main Ridge on the Mornington Peninsula. We were herding some cattle and we noticed what we first thought was a fox coming towards us, then it crossed into the next paddock. It did not seem to be too timid of the cattle. It did not run like a fox, but loped. It had a big head, it looked like there was no fur on its back and tail, instead it had dark colouring (black/charcoal) in a saw tooth shape, the front chest and head were solid and the back was a bit lower to the ground. It stopped to sniff the air and then went up to a dead animal and tore at the flesh. I went over to get a closer look, when it sensed me it looked up - the shape of its head was not like a fox or any other animal I had seen. It then loped off over the paddocks. F&MR (Collected from email to LXR 8 July 2006) After I had emailed you, I called Parks Victoria, and got a very helpful man, who was open to the possibility that I had sighted a thylacine. He suggested I locate foot prints, and to keep the remains of the dead calf that “the animal” had been feasting on, with the possibility that they test it. After discussing with him the features of a thylacine, I have decided that I most likely saw a mangy feral dog. (Funny that I should immediately consider an animal that is thought to be extinct before considering a feral dog!). I include that information about keeping records such as foot prints or faeces, in case any of your readers has a sighting.

Thylacine Tracks on the Nullarbor, South Australia September 2006 In late September 2006, I have seen tracks at the Murrawijinie Caves approximately 11 km inland from the Nullarbor roadhouse. I believe these tracks to be of a thylacine since they had the typical 5th toe, and a very broad pad. The tracks that I saw were in soft red dirt ... there were three of them. I know that there are a lot of dingoes around the area, and I saw a couple, but these tracks were definitely different. Ever since my 2001 sighting, I have been on the lookout for any further evidence. I was at the second pothole, and the tracks were on the Eastern side around four metres from the lip of the hole. I attempted a photo with my mobile phone but the tracks were barely recognisable. I would like to add that I grew up roaming the bush around Woomera and am keenly aware of our native fauna. RE (collected from email to LXR 4 October 2006) Thylacine (Buderim Beast) at Caloundra, Queensland July 1989 [Let me tell you] about a strange animal I saw for a second time recently. I live in Caloundra, Queensland and twice have seen an animal, that was around the size of a border collie and looked very much like the tassie tiger on the cascade beer ad. The two sightings were around 10 pm with a gap between them, I think around two years. The animal both times was on the road and as soon as I stopped it vanished into a vacant lot the first time and into the darkness the other. Both times, it was in an area near Moffat Beach and Currimundi in Caloundra, near the Moffat Beach waterway. I was struck by the long body and snout and it being dog-like, but like nothing I have seen before. I have found some info on the Buderim beast and think perhaps we have something similar to a thylacine scavenging nocturnally in this region. Anyway, thought I would pass the info on. If I see it again, I will let you know. A(BB) (Collected from email to LXR 19 November 2007) Animal Sighting near Hobart, Tasmania October 1986 I saw an animal in the bush in Tasmania in October 1986 while I was on a military exercise in the Buckland Military Training Area, north of Hobart. It must have been around mid-morning when another soldier and I were patrolling down a small incline in a fairly dense section of bush land towards a gully area during the exercise. We saw an animal bolt from the undergrowth about 3-4 metres to our left front as we were heading down the incline. I remember seeing the animal from behind as it dashed from its cover and ran to the left of where we were heading. It had clear black striped bands across its orange/brown back. Unfortunately, we did not get to see its head to identify it. It scared the hell out of us as it broke and ran. It was gone in a flash, and so were we. Its back appeared quite broad and we just assumed it was a feral pig and said nothing more about it. It has been bugging me for years, so I thought it’s time to say something about it. Although I feel the thylacine is extinct, it was enough to plant a seed of doubt in my mind as to the real identity of the animal we saw. I can’t say categorically that it was or wasn’t a pig as it moved very fast and we only caught a glimpse of it. It could have been a feral dog perhaps. Who knows? Just thought you might be interested in this sighting. KB (collected from emails to LXR 20-21 May 2008) Thylacine Sighting south of Mandurah, Western Australia 2005 I was driving south of Mandurah towards Bunbury along the Old Coast Road in 2005. My husband was asleep as we were passing Lake Clifton. A thylacine crossed the road in front of me. I said, “What was that!” My comment woke my husband, but by that time, the animal had disappeared. I have no doubt about what I saw. PR (Collected from conversation with LXR 30 November 2007) Tiger 2009 On recent trips home, I have been travelling via the Omeo to Corriyong mountain road to there and back working on a house. My close friend (52-year-old, like me, and his son 28) S&ML were following me coming back from up there recently. There is a dirt section approximately 65 km long on the north side of Benambra that finishes the other side of the range at the Nariel Valley. A few weeks ago S&M were following me a few km behind because of the dust.



Near the Benambra side almost at the end of the dirt road, an animal with stripes ran across in front of them a few hundred metres away (mid morning, perfect visibility). As they approached, the animal panicked and scrambled up a steep bank. It fell back and knocked the wind out of itself. They pulled up next to it thinking it was a dog. For approximately two minutes they watched from the car about five metres away while it struggled to get up and move off. ML identified it immediately. When they arrived at home later that day, SL’s wife logged onto the computer to confirm what they had seen. They have no doubt at all it was a Tassie Tiger. The only mistake they made was not recording it on the cell phone camera. AW (collected from email to LXR 23 February 2009) Thylacine Sighting 2009 Same neighbour saw a small one and then a larger one. Possibly the smaller one all grown up. She described this dog-like animal which trotted toward her parked car as she watched out of her window. It made its way in front of three parked cars and then it effortlessly sprang up and over a bush and a fence into the pool area. It then walked slowly to the other side of the pool area. Again it sprang effortlessly over the other wall. At that point, she saw it leap about 15 feet toward a large hedge and then she saw it again walking toward the back of the pool office. Some of the workers barbecue back there, so maybe the smells attracted it there. This was at 10 p.m. after everyone had already left for the day. I went on line and printed pictures of different cats, thinking she had seen a cat. She kept saying NO. This has a muzzle like a dog, not a cat. Where are the stripes? She insisted the stripes were very distinctive and the face was ugly and the tail was very long. I finally found a dog-like striped animal to show her and she said, “Yes! That’s it!” I showed her a picture of the Thylacine. That’s the first time either one of us has ever seen or heard of a Thylacine. I hope this is really it. We’re excited! Is there a trapper who can catch it to re-locate it and preserve it and keep it safe? We sure hope so. We never go out after dark any more. No more! Too scary! JS (collected from email to LXR 14 June 2009)