Sorry, Scientists Think The “Tassie Tiger” Spotted In Adelaide Was Just A Sick Fox
"Just because I have an opinion that it's not a thylacine, I would tell people don't let that hold you back. Go and try and get some better pictures."
A mysterious animal found in the Adelaide Hills is not believed to be a thylacine, crushing the hearts of big cat/dog truthers everywhere.
Earlier this month, an Adelaide woman was walking with her son and sister in Belair when they saw what appeared to be a living, breathing Tasmanian tiger.
“We saw this thing starting to move across the road, and to start with, it’s a bit strange, you sort of go through a bit of a thought process in your head, and it’s like, oh, that’s a bit of a weird looking kangaroo,” Jessie Milde told the ABC. “Then I thought it’s a really scraggy-looking dog. But then it got a bit closer to us and I thought, no, it’s not a dog either.”
According to Milde, “the closest thing [they] could compare it to” was a thylacine.
However, it’s worth noting that the thylacine has been extinct on the mainland for more than 2,000 years, so it’s highly unlikely there is still one — or more — roaming around. But while it may not be a thylacine, there have been countless other reports of big cats on mainland Australia in areas such as Lithgow in recent years.
Earlier this year, there was an alleged big cat sighting in Yarra Junction, Victoria, and another in Mitta Valley in 2021. While neither of these were substantiated, they are just two of hundreds of alleged sightings over the years.
Despite the fact that scientists are working hard on the de-extinction of the thylacine, they are of the belief that the animal is — in fact — extinct and this animal found in Belair was not a thylacine and was actually more likely to be a fox.
However, Tasmanian wildlife biologist and honorary curator of vertebrate zoology at the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery, Nick Mooney — who doesn’t believe this is a thylacine — is still actively encouraging people to go get some more convincing evidence for themselves.
“Just because I have an opinion that it’s not a thylacine, I would tell people don’t let that hold you back. Go and try and get some better pictures,” he told the ABC.
Sadly, there isn’t a tiger prince of Belair roaming around, but we may have a Jurassic Park-esque replica to look forward to in future.