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Creatures, Myths & Legends

Thylacine hunter to spend two years in the bush

By T.K. Randall
December 14, 2019 · Comment icon 18 comments

Can a thylacine be caught alive ? Image Credit: Benjamin A. Sheppard
Neil Waters is preparing to spend two years living in the Australian bush in an effort to capture a live thylacine.
One of the best known recent examples of a species wiped out by human hunting practices, the thylacine was a distinctive carnivorous marsupial native to Australia, Tasmania and New Guinea.

Sporadic reports of alleged thylacines in the wild however have continued even to the present day.

One man who remains convinced that the species has managed to hold on against all odds is Neil Waters who has received thousands of reports from other people who claim to have seen the animals.

"There were rumours the thylacine was taken to the mainland but there is nothing to support those rumours," he said. "But the hundreds of people who have reported sightings cannot all be wrong."
Now in a bid to prove it once and for all, Waters intends to spend up to two years out in the bush using modern techniques and equipment to capture a live specimen.

He even claims to have seen live thylacines himself in Tasmania's North-East in 2010 and 2014.

"This is a long-term project and I am prepared to give it a couple of years - or until my finances run out," he said. "My dream is to prove the thylacine is alive and well and have a management plan put in place to ensure their continued survival."

"I have nothing to gain from faking anything. I don't want to prove a fallacy."

Given that up until now nobody has even been able to prove that thylacines are still out there - let alone capture one alive - it goes without saying that Waters is setting himself an almost impossible challenge. It remains to be seen whether or not he will actually succeed.

Source: The Mercury | Comments (18)




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Recent comments on this story
Comment icon #9 Posted by Ozfactor 4 years ago
I wish him the best of luck too. He must be passionate about thylacines to spend 2 years camping in the Tasmanian wilderness, it gets cold down there ! 
Comment icon #10 Posted by Cryptid_Control 4 years ago
Sorry, it’s not that it isn’t realistic, but besides trail cams I haven’t seen much serious exploration for them in the last 5-10 years. I’m still skeptical, but that doesn’t mean the hunt should stop. It’s widely known and accepted that they are extinct. People refuse to look because it’s silly, I referred to that as denial. 
Comment icon #11 Posted by openozy 4 years ago
Some skeptical people actually see entities or cryptids and still double guess themselves,I call that denial.
Comment icon #12 Posted by Manwon Lender 4 years ago
Well you have to give him props, he is literally is putting his reputation on the line. I hope as much as the next person that somehow there is a small breeding population left, however, I don't really believe there is. However with today's technology they could clone a small number and release them to start a new breeding population. I would bet there is still plenty of genetic material in Museums to get the required DNA. i am a big believer in cloning extinct species where man caused the extinction, these creatures were not meant to go the way we chose fir them. JIMO
Comment icon #13 Posted by Jon the frog 4 years ago
Well, do he have a go fund me page ? like this one : https://ca.gofundme.com/f/eku4u5wc Or he just seek attention and not money?  
Comment icon #14 Posted by Habitat 4 years ago
Hmmm...."filthy lucre" is a universal motive. But even a genuine photo, would be worth a mint.
Comment icon #15 Posted by openozy 4 years ago
I don't think anyone could say for certain these animals have gone completely.I've had a mongoose on my property in NSW,the last recorded sighting was in 1942 from a population released to control snakes and rabbits here in the 1880's.I don't care how educated you are or how much bush you have trecked,there is still a chance of the Tassie tiger still living in the remote bushland.Camping out there is the best idea for some evidence.
Comment icon #16 Posted by Habitat 4 years ago
I think it was the Night Parrot that was declared extinct, but has since re-surfaced. The Tiger is very unlikely, but not impossible. What is intriguing, is the number of people who claim to have made sightings, I can imagine many would be liars, or mistaken, but all of them ?
Comment icon #17 Posted by Hammerclaw 4 years ago
Hope springs eternal. Over here, it's the Ivory-billed Woodpecker that has it's diehards.
Comment icon #18 Posted by Jon the frog 4 years ago
Surely a slim chance, we will see if we can have some good footage ( I mean good) or a corpse from a car hit or something.


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