Conference misery::feline

852.0. "Tasmanian Tiger ..anyone?" by MEOC02::CASEY (Don, DTN 739 3414) Mon Jan 30 1995 07:57

    The newspapers here in Melbourne, Australia, are today carrying a story
    that a Tasmanian Tiger has been sighted in North West Tasmania.
    
    Now the Tasmanian Tiger became extinct with the death of the last known
    example in captivity back in 1936. There have been numerous reports of
    sightings of them since then, none of which have yet been confirmed.
    This new sighting in NW Tasmania is though being given more serious
    attention than most and a tracking crew has set out to study the area
    over the next couple of months. That is quite and undertaking so maybe
    something really is afoot.
    
    The Tasmanian Tiger has a body that is very much cat-like, with a long
    cat-like tail. It stands about the height of a mountain lion and has a
    dark brownish body with vertical stripes running up its sides. Its head
    is more like that of a dog than a cat. 
    
    Tasmanian Tigers roamed the overall Australian land mass before the
    island of Tasmania separted from the mainland. Hence there have also
    been a rash of sightings in the state of Victoria too over recent
    years.
    
    (I have to confess that my wife and I both observed what we still
    believe was a Tasmanian Tiger, at around midnight one night on the main
    highway in North Western Victoria. We reported the sighting to the
    police in the next town. The policeman on duty was not surprised at our
    sighting, adding that there'd been a number of reports received over
    the previous days, but that the others included reference to a cub and
    mother. We had only seen a lone 'tiger'.. we think.)
    
    Don

    Don,
    I believe I have seen a picture of one.  They have a sort of
    bushy tail, do they not?  I remember the stripes and a long pointy
    head.  Pretty neat that it is making a comeback!!
    Karen

    Karen,
    
    No.. not a bushy tail.. the tail reminds me of that which belongs to a
    lion.
    
    The stripe and long pointy head ARE features, yes. (I have some
    drawings of them here somewhere... )
    
    Don