I really hope this is true. This witness, Tony Holgate, is far from the only witness to claim to have seen a Thylacine, aka a Tasmanian Tiger, aka a Tasmanian Wolf. For those who may not know, the “Tassy Tiger” is—or was—one of the most unusual and remarkable animals to live in recent times. A bizarre marsupial that looked (looks?) like a cross between a canine and a cat, the Thylacine was once endemic to Australia and New Guinea, although by modern times its range had been reduced to the island of Tasmania, hence the common name. (Also it has/had stripes, hence the “tiger” moniker.) The Tassy Tiger could open its jaws almost 180 degrees and, far from being the bloodthirsty beast it was accused of being, may have been rather good-natured and timid. The species officially became extinct in the early 1900s, due to human intervention. We hunted them to death, simple as that.
Except maybe, just maybe, we didn’t. Are there still relic populations tucked away in the most remote parts of Tasmania and possibly even Australia? We can only hope. To have something from the “old world,” something believed to have been lost due to our own failures as a species, back again would be a gift, both to us and to the world. Long live the tigers!
I would love if this were true. We’ve destroyed so much…it would be wonderful to learn that we had a “second chance” to protect this magnificent animal.