A bold claim about an alleged encounter with an animal believed to be extinct, brought forth by Neil Waters, president of the Thylacine Awareness Group of Australia, has apparently turned out to be short-lived, ABC News reports.
In a video posted on YouTube earlier this week, Waters alleged that he managed to procure footage of a trio of thylacines, also known as Tasmanian tigers – a carnivorous marsupial whose last known live specimen was captured in Tasmania in the first half of the 20th century.
"The baby has stripes, a stiff tail, the hock, the course hair, it's the right colour, it's a quadruped, it's stocky and it's got the right-shaped ears,” he said, further suggesting that this alleged sighting of a thylacine family serves as proof of said animals breeding.
However, while Waters revealed that he'd already provided the footage for confirmation to Nick Mooney, honorary curator of vertebrate zoology at the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery (TMAG), the latter has actually rejected the creatures identification as thylacines, the media outlet points out.
"Nick Mooney has concluded that based on the physical characteristics shown in the photos provided by Mr Waters, the animals are very unlikely to be thylacines and are most likely Tasmanian pademelons," TMAG said in a statement. "TMAG regularly receives requests for verification from members of the public who hope that the thylacine is still with us. However, sadly, there have been no confirmed sightings of the thylacine since 1936."
The media outlet also points out that in 2016, Waters and TAGOA already made a claim about an alleged Tasmanian tiger sighting, posting "a video to YouTube shot on a phone in the Adelaide Hills that they believed showed a thylacine".
