Thylacines in West Australia

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Thylacines (Tasmanian tiger, Thylacinus cyanocephalus) are/were the size and shape of a large dog, up to 160cm in length, including a 50cm tail. They were a flesh eating marsupial, with a very large jaw. The females had a backward facing pouch. Mature Thylacines were brown in colour with vertical dark brown stripes across a back top section of the body. They had a tail similar to that of a kangaroo. Fossil evidence of the Thylacine has been found in every Australian State and New Guinea. It is generally accepted by scientists that the last Thylacines on the Australian mainland lived some 3000 years ago. Because no Thylacines have been shot or trapped on mainland Australia since the time of European settlement in 1788, it is assumed that they are extinct on the mainland. Thylacines were known to exist in Tasmania but numbers decreased due to clearing for farming and a Government bounty scheme for dead Thylacines ( from 1888-1908, over 2,200 were killed). The last recorded shooting of a Thylacine in Tasmania was in 1932 and the last Thylacine to die in captivity was in 1936. There have been many reports of animals bearing resemblance to Thylacines on the mainland, since 1788 and in Tasmania since 1936 but none of these sightings have scientific acceptance. Some photos have been taken but they have not been conclusive. For further details about Thylacines, see the links below:

Alleged Thylacine sightings since 1936 in Tasmania and eastern Australia
Thylacines are very secretive and shy animals and were not common in Tasmania, so it is possible that some have survived and their existence will be confirmed in the future. However, there has been a lot of searching for Thylacines in Tasmania since 1936, with no confirmed success to date. Possible Thylacine paw prints and droppings have been found but no live animals have been captured or bodies discovered. Similarly, no good photos have been taken.

There have been alleged Thylacine sightings in some of the mainland States but as in Tasmania, none of the sightings have been confirmed scientifically.

Alleged Thylacines sightings in West Australia
Fossil remains of Thylacines have been found in a cave at Mundrabilla on the Nullabor (in 1966) and in caves near Margaret River and North West Cape. Alleged Thylacine sightings have been reported to the news media, West Australian Museum, CALM (Department of Conservation and Land Management) and recently to the Mystery Animal Research Centre of Australia, which has a computer data base of over 200 sightings in West Australia since 1934. Possibly 500 people claim to have seen animals resembling the Thylacine, in West Australia. Thylacines lived in West Australia about 3000 years ago and may still live here but there is no scientific proof that they do so. Numerous alleged sightings have been made, plaster casts of possible paw prints made, droppings collected and some (inconclusive) photos and videos taken but no conclusive evidence has emerged to date. Proof such as a live Thylacine, recently deceased Thylacine or Thylacine skeleton is needed. A series of good quality photos, backed up by other evidence may be sufficient.
My paper on Thylacine sightings was published in July 2004.

Paper in Adobe format
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Possible Thylacine sightings by Heberles and relatives
I became interested in Thylacine sightings in March 1998, when my brother mentioned that he had sighted a possible Thylacine in about 1976 near Green Range Country Club on Hassell Highway 100km east of Albany. This was after one of my sisters told me that she and a friend sighted a possible Thylacine in the Fitzgerald national park on Pabelup Drive near Twertup on about 14 January 1995. The husband of a cousin sighted possible Thylacines on 4 occasions between 1965 and 1975 on Canberra West farm which is on Hassell Highway about 8km east of Green Range Country Club. His wife (my cousin) also saw a possible Thylacine near the Country Club during that period. My younger brother (deceased) sighted a possible Thylacine in 1974 on a farm at Nyabing in the company of a friend. This friend also saw one on another occasion, probably in 1974. I have made 5 possible Thylacine sightings, on 31 March 1995, 19 March 2003 , 15 Sep 2003, 31 Oct 2006, 17 Dec 2008. Thylacines are alleged to bite off the heads of kangaroos, notably road kill. I have sighted 13 headless kangaroo carcases 2006-2013, all in the vicinity of alleged thylacine sightings.

The Thylacine museum	http://www.naturalworlds.org/thylacine/
Mystery Animal Research Centre of Australia (MARCA)	http://www.webace.com.au/~pwest/marca/index.html