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Tasmanian Tiger Sightings And Other Animals That Shouldn't Exist

Footage has emerged of what appears to be an extinct Tasmanian Tiger -- but we've been here before.
Meet Thylacine, a.k.a. Tasmanian Tiger.
hanoded
Meet Thylacine, a.k.a. Tasmanian Tiger.

Through the blur of a camera phone zoom, the unmistakable shape of a Tasmanian Tiger can be seen slinking through the Adelaide Hills.

The only problem is the Tassie Tiger, or Thylacine, has been extinct since the early 1930s and hasn't been seen in mainland Australia for 2000 years.

Here's the footage.

It was shared this week by the Thylacine Awareness Group of Australia and founder Neil Waters told The Huffington Post Australia it was a compelling video.

"It's a bit ambiguous but it wouldn't be thylacine video if it wasn't," Waters said.

"The fellow who took the footage was one of five people who saw the thylacine earlier in broad daylight. This time he just had long enough to sneak outside and film it for those three seconds.

He said the group had documented thousands of sightings.

T%asmanian Tigers were declared extinct in 1936.
Nature Source
T%asmanian Tigers were declared extinct in 1936.

"Science doesn't want to touch it so it comes down to crazy people spending their own time and money looking for them -- such as myself," he said.

"We need solid DNA evidence like hair or a scat or sadly a roadkill carcass until they'll even think about it."

He said it was filmed in February and released as the first of several sighting videos that wouldeventually be turned into a documentary.

"The fight to prove what we all know to be true isn't over yet folks but we will get there eventually," Waters said on Facebook.

"This video is proof that we are seriously onto something."

The search to show the Tassie Tiger still exists has been fraught with red herrings and hoaxes, like this 2005 Tassie teaser of a photo of a photo.

Mike Bowers eventually revealed he printed out a black and white image of a Tassie Tiger, coloured it in and then photographed it though his Erskinville garden.
Fairfax Media / Mike Bowers
Mike Bowers eventually revealed he printed out a black and white image of a Tassie Tiger, coloured it in and then photographed it though his Erskinville garden.

Then there's the Penrith panther that has been spotted on and off over the last two decades in western Sydney and the nearby Blue Mountains.

For starters, there's no such thing as a panther. There is no species of cat called a panther. Rather, it's the name we give to a black variant of a jaguar, leopard or other big cat.

Perhaps the clearest image of the 'panther' taken form a video clip.
A Current Affair / Channel 9
Perhaps the clearest image of the 'panther' taken form a video clip.

Regardless, sightings of a big, black, cat-like creature have puzzled locals and experts alike for decades.

There have been videos, unconfirmed sightings, paw prints and livestock deaths consistent with a large cat as well as urban legends about circus escapees.

Then there's the long shots that turn out to be correct as was the case for the 'extinct' night parrot that was rediscovered three years ago and is now protected with a secret reserve whose location is only known to a select few.

The night parrot is being protected in a secret reserve.
Justin McManus / Fairfax Media
The night parrot is being protected in a secret reserve.

So who knows, perhaps the Tasmanian Tiger lives and a massive black cat roams the Blue Mountains. Just make sure you don't run into a bunyip while you're searching for them...

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