March 3, 2007
You may remember the saga from last year when we published the thylacine photographs here on Cryptomundo that had been the talk in the cryptozoology community.
We then were contacted by someone on Mr. Emmerichs’ behalf requesting that the photographs be taken down from Cryptomundo.
We complied, even though Mr. Emmerichs did not contact us personally, as we requested.
It now seems that he was trying to sell them for $25,000.
Tourist chasing Tassie Tiger’s tail
By Glenn Cordingley
March 02, 2007 02:09pm
Sunday Herald SunA GERMAN tourist searching for evidence that Tasmanian Tigers still exist is just chasing his tail, a wildlife scientist says.
German tourists Klaus Emmerichs and Birgit Jansen snapped two digital photos of what they claimed was the animal in Tasmania’s rugged forests while on holiday in 2005.
Mr Emmerichs has come back to join Col Bailey, who also claims to have seen a tiger in 1967, to try to capture the animal on video.
University of Tasmania professor of wildlife research Hamish McCallum cast doubt over their claims.
“We have got to make sure we do not get hoaxers out there painting stripes on dogs,” he said.
Prof McCallum said the enduring myth should be settled once and for all within the next five years.
“If there are any tigers out there, then the next five years is the best chance of ever finding out,” he said.
“Digital cameras with infra-red triggers are being placed in the bush both to look for diseased Tasmanian devils and to detect foxes.
“If a tiger breaks one of the beams, its picture will be taken. I would be completely astonished but delighted if this were to happen.”
The Tasmanian Tiger, or Thylacine, was a striped, wolf-like native mammal, which was hunted to extinction by European settlers.
The last one died in a zoo in 1936.
But stories of surviving animals persist and yearly unconfirmed sightings have turned the tiger, whose scientific name means pouched dog with a wolf’s head, into a holy grail for mystery hunters from across the globe.
Mr Emmerichs recalled the moment he said he saw the animal.
“I came from high and he can’t see me. He had his nose down and was snuffing,” he said on the ABC.
“I want to prove that it is not extinct, like the people think and the world thinks.”
Mr Emmerichs said he and Ms Jansen had no idea the tiger, which drank at a creek then loped away, was supposed to be extinct.
Experts initially believed the night photos showed portions of a Thylacine obscured by foliage, but later examinations led to accusations of a set-up, ending a bid to sell the pictures for $25,000.
“I’m convinced that they are still here,” Mr Bailey said.Glenn Cordingley
Co-founder of Cryptomundo in 2005.
I have appeared in or contributed to the following TV programs, documentaries and films:
OLN's Mysterious Encounters: "Caddo Critter", Southern Fried Bigfoot, Travel Channel's Weird Travels: "Bigfoot", History Channel's MonsterQuest: "Swamp Stalker", The Wild Man of the Navidad, Destination America's Monsters and Mysteries in America: Texas Terror - Lake Worth Monster, Animal Planet's Finding Bigfoot: Return to Boggy Creek and Beast of the Bayou.
Filed under Alien Big Cats, Bigfoot Report, Breaking News, Cryptozoology, Evidence, Expedition Reports, Extinct, Eyewitness Accounts, Mystery Cats, Thylacine