Thylacine: World’s Rarest Animal?

This January 2006, the most recent sighting of a Thylacine occurred. The Standard recorded probably what was the first cryptid sighting of 2006, that took place on January 2: “A Tasmanian tiger or thylacine ran across a road north of Colac about 12.50am…according to Warrion man Steven Bennett….The 24-year-old said the animal’s stripes, tail and hind legs convinced him it was not a dog, feral cat or fox.”

In a new article examining “The Thylacine Debate – Is the Tasmanian Tiger Really Extinct?” by Chani Blue, in Australia’s Epoch Times for March 16, 2006, the reporter asks: “Just supposing it still exists out there; it would truly be the rarest Animal in the world.”

Despite hundreds of reported sightings of this elusive marsupial wild dog, the Tasmanian Tiger, Thylacinus cynocephalus remains declared officially extinct, therefore has no protection for it’s fragile and natural environment or in and of itself, until it’s existence can be verified.

‘Benjamin’ the last surviving Tasmanian tiger lived it’s final days in the Hobart Zoo, in Tasmania and died 60 years ago. Many local Tasmanians beg to differ on this fact though, because many sporadic and unconfirmed sightings have been reported around the forests near their old habitat in the Northern regions to this day. A study of sightings by Steven Smith between the years of 1934-1980 analysed the authenticity of as many as 320 reported sightings by local residents. He concluded that as many as half of the sightings were good and could have possibly been the real thing.

The Government along with biologists and photographers have made many expeditions into the wild areas of North Tasmania to collect evidence that the Tiger still may be in existence. But these many investigations in the 1930’s through to the 1980’s were fruitless. However, the reported sightings continue to this day. However, Government departments may no longer be taking such reports seriously.

Meanwhile, Col Bailey, who operates a Tasmanian Tiger Research and Data Centre at Maydena and has spent his life searching for Thylacines, has noted that the two people who reported seeing a “fox” near Arthurs Lake and then photographed the print had probably witnessed the presence of a Thylacine.

Bailey and youthful Australian cryptozoologist Debbie Hynes remain hot on the track of the Thylacine, with more new explorations planned for 2006, according to emails they’ve sent my way. The Debbie Hynes expedition is getting underway this week, with her area of exploration into the wilds of Gippsland, the Wonthaggi-Leongatha-Foster Triangle, a real hot-spot. She states this is “weird because there’s so much open farming land round there.”

Loren Coleman About Loren Coleman
Loren Coleman is one of the world’s leading cryptozoologists, some say “the” leading living cryptozoologist. Certainly, he is acknowledged as the current living American researcher and writer who has most popularized cryptozoology in the late 20th and early 21st centuries. Starting his fieldwork and investigations in 1960, after traveling and trekking extensively in pursuit of cryptozoological mysteries, Coleman began writing to share his experiences in 1969. An honorary member of Ivan T. Sanderson’s Society for the Investigation of the Unexplained in the 1970s, Coleman has been bestowed with similar honorary memberships of the North Idaho College Cryptozoology Club in 1983, and in subsequent years, that of the British Columbia Scientific Cryptozoology Club, CryptoSafari International, and other international organizations. He was also a Life Member and Benefactor of the International Society of Cryptozoology (now-defunct). Loren Coleman’s daily blog, as a member of the Cryptomundo Team, served as an ongoing avenue of communication for the ever-growing body of cryptozoo news from 2005 through 2013. He returned as an infrequent contributor beginning Halloween week of 2015. Coleman is the founder in 2003, and current director of the International Cryptozoology Museum in Portland, Maine.

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