‘Wildlife rediscovery of the century’ flagged in bombshell Tassie tiger find claim

A Tasmanian tiger hunter has made a bombshell claim he plans to unveil to the world on March 1, with proof the extinct animal still exists.

A tinny-sipping Tassie tiger hunter claims to have taken photos of the extinct animal.

Neil Waters, president of the Thylacine Awareness Group of Australia, posted a video that’s quickly gone viral, claiming to have a photo of a baby Tasmanian tiger and its family.

“Hold on to your hats folks!,” he said of the image of the joey thylacine reportedly roaming through the bushland of Tasmania he plans to release on March 1.

The video gained further traction on Twitter, with people like Animal Planet host Forrest Galante sharing it, saying it had the “potential to be the wildlife rediscovery of the century”.

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The thylacine hunter posted a video sipping a tinny somewhere in Tassie.

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In a three-minute video Mr Waters claims to have captured pictures of a mother, father and baby thylacine while sipping on a can of Boags Draught strolling around “some little town” in northeast Tasmania.

“When I checked me SD cards I found some photos that are pretty damn good,” he said.

“I can tell you there’s three animals … we believe the first image is the mum.

“We know the second image is the baby because it’s so tiny and the third image is the dad. “There’s a little bit of a clue with the mum and the dad as to what they are with certain features of them but they are ambiguous. But the baby is not ambiguous.”

Many people said they hoped the claim was legit and they would lose their s**t if so.

Mr Waters said several experts had seen the photos, including Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery wildlife expert Nick Mooney.

But any hope of March 1’s news has been quickly shot down, with Mr Mooney telling news.com.au the photos were most likely of Tasmanian pademelons.

The Honorary Curator of Vertebrate Zoology has reviewed and assessed the material provided by Mr Waters.

He said based on the physical characteristics shown in the photos, the animals were “very unlikely to be thylacines”.

“TMAG regularly receives requests for verification from members of the public who hope that the thylacine is still with us,” a spokeswoman said.

“However, sadly, there have been no confirmed sightings documented of the thylacine since 1936.”

A Tasmanian tiger at Hobart Zoo in 1936. Picture: Don Stephens and Associates

The picture of a ‘joey’ is likely to be a Tasmanian pademelon according to experts.

Originally published as ‘Wildlife rediscovery of the century’ flagged in bombshell Tassie tiger find claim