Monga Bay has reported that a nine second video has surfaced claiming to show a living specimen of the long extinct Tasmanian tiger.
The footage — which was allegedly captured by Murray McAllister in 2009 — shows what some feel is the presumed extinct predator known as the thylacine or, as it is popularly referred to, the Tasmanian tiger. While the full video is over eight minutes long, McAllister has only released a preview, as he is currently engaged in negotiating for television rights.
According to his website, McAllister has seen Tasmanian tigers both on the island of Tasmania and on mainland Australia even though it is believed the Tasmanian tiger was largely extinct in Australia before Europeans arrived.
The Tasmanian tiger has captured the imagination of cryptozoologists ever since the last known individual died in 1936 in the Hobart Zoo. There have been thousands of persistent sightings of the thylacine throughout Tasmania since the 1930s, including inconclusive photos taken by German tourists in 2005.
Once the world’s largest carnivorous marsupial and a top predator, the Tasmanian tiger, if extinct, was likely done in by human persecution, disease, and competition with the non-native dingo. Some have speculated that the video may not show a thylacine at all, but a non-indigenous red fox.
