Did you see a Tassie Tiger in Leongatha?

BACK in history, South Gippsland would definitely have provided a habitat for the Thylacinus cynocephalus or Tasmanian Tiger.

So, it’s fitting then that the South Gippsland Shire’s creative outdoor staff should add the steel-cut statue of a thylacine to their handiwork on the centre roundabout garden in the middle of Leongatha.

The shire’s comms team is still gathering information on the outdoor staff’s inspiration, but they won’t have to look far.

The last official sighting of a Thylacine was on September 7, 1936 in the Hobart Zoo but many reputable people have since logged credible observations of what they are certain was a Tasmanian Tiger, a number of them in South Gippsland.

The coastal bush from Walkerville to Waratah Bay and on to Wilsons Prom is a popular location, and while there haven’t been any sightings lately, there’s a 2015 report included on ‘Murray McAllister's Search for the Tasmanian Tiger’ website as follows:

“I was at Bear Gully Campground (Cape Liptrap) today having a look around. And I pulled into one of the sites and out of nowhere what I thought was a dog ran out of the bushes across the road into some more bushes.

“The first thing I thought was it's a greyhound. But proceeding into the campsite there was no one there. Then it hit me, it could have been a Tiger. I want to say I saw faint stripes on its back, but it happened earlier today. And I’ve been looking at heaps of tiger pics so that maybe messing with my memory. It was pretty big. Maybe it was about 40-50cm tall.

“What really struck me was how big it’s jaw was and that’s also what I was looking at while it ran across the road. So not a lot of time to look at its back. But it was mostly a darker brown. Its tail was straight and narrow but not incredibly long. It was very muscular with a big jaw on it.”

There have been more recent sightings in the Sale, Longford, Loch Sport area.

See ‘Murray McAllister's Search for the Tasmanian Tiger’ website at http://www.tassietiger.org/index.php/sightings