Western Australian Thylacine (Tasmanian Tiger) Sighting Reports
Reports from other Australian states and different countries can be accessed here. Short bios of some of WA's prominent past and present thylacine researchers are available: Greg Heberle, Sid Slee (deceased) and Sharon West (deceased).
The Database of Reports
NB: Please note that I have taken the liberty of quoting liberally from all sources. This is only to make it easier for the reader to access these reports, which would otherwise be spread over many websites and other mediums (e.g. newspaper articles, books, CD's etc.). In all cases I have clearly cited the source.
WA.1890.xx.xx
Thylacine researcher Tarnee Rutherford has a database of thylacine sightings in WA, the earliest of which dates to 1890 (Kirk, 2017). I have no further information on the alleged report.
Source: Kirk, Emma. (2017). Busselton a hot spot for Nannup tiger sightings. Busselton Mail, 13 January.
WA.<1894.xx.xx
Thylacine remains from "Tunnel Creek Carnivore Lair" were associated with other material that was dated to no older than 80 years.
Source: Archer, Michael "Mike". (1974). New information about the Quaternary distribution of the Thylacine (Marsupialia: Thylacinidae) in Australia. Journal of the Royal Society of Western Australia 57(2): 43-50.
WA.1936.xx.xx
Sid Slee's father:
"In 1936 in an effort to catch whetever was responsible for stealing our chickens, my father set traps in front of our chicken house, and one morning, by hurricane lamp, was surprised to see he had caught a strange, long legged cat like creature. It made a type of hissing noise at him before pulling its foot off and disappeared into the dark." (p. 2)
Source: Slee, Sid. (1987). The Haunt of the Marsupial Wolf. Bunbury, WA: South West Printing and Publishing Company.
This is likely the sole thylacine report from 1936 reported by (Heberle, 2004).
Source: Heberle, Greg. (2004). Reports of alleged thylacine sightings in Western Australia. Conservation Science of Western Australia 5(1): 1-5.
WA.1940.xx.xx
Sid Slee:
"On one occasion in 1940, while I was going to investigate where a shooter, late one evening said he thought he had shot a fox, found to my surprise a dead creature on the edge of one of the thickets on our property. I knew although I had never seen an animal at this time, like this before and although it lacked the black transverse stripes, this part dog part cat and part kangaroo was a marsupial wolf. It was longer and thinner than a fox with light yellow biscuit coloured hair one inch long covering its body and a stiff almost hairless tail which was darker in colour." (p. 2)
Source: Slee, Sid. (1987). The Haunt of the Marsupial Wolf. Bunbury, WA: South West Printing and Publishing Company.
This is likely the sole thylacine report from 1940 reported by (Heberle, 2004).
Source: Heberle, Greg. (2004). Reports of alleged thylacine sightings in Western Australia. Conservation Science of Western Australia 5(1): 1-5.
WA.1943.xx.xx
Sid Slee:
"To my surprise in 1943 I caught an all black thylacine in one of my snares. It was large, sleek and shiny with a few flecks of white hair on its body. I could only assume that these had grown on old scars. Again there was no mistaking the creature, unfortunately there was nothing I could do with the remains, so I just left them in the bush nearby. I believe it was a mae although apart from making jokes about it no one was interested anyway." (p. 5)
Source: Slee, Sid. (1987). The Haunt of the Marsupial Wolf. Bunbury, WA: South West Printing and Publishing Company.
This is probably the 1943 report in (Heberle, 2004).
Source: Heberle, Greg. (2004). Reports of alleged thylacine sightings in Western Australia. Conservation Science of Western Australia 5(1): 1-5.
WA.1945.xx.xx
Brian Slee, brother of the deceased thylacine researcher Sid Slee, and presumably one or more of his siblings, found a dead thylacine (with stripes) in one of their snare traps:
"“When we were kids, in 1945, we caught one in a kangaroo snare on our farm just outside Busselton,” he said. “We went around to one of our snares one day and found one dead. It was just some strange animal from the bush to us, so we just left it there.”"
Source: Willix, Pierra. (2017). ‘Tassie tiger’ sighting revives Aussie mystery. Busselton Dunsborough Times, 5 January (Thursday).
This report does not appear to be mentioned let alone discussed in Sid Slee's book 'The Haunt of the Marsupial Wolf' (Slee, 1987). This report is probably that listed by (Heberle, 2004) as the only one in 1945.
Sources:
Slee, Sid. (1987). The Haunt of the Marsupial Wolf. Bunbury, WA: South West Printing and Publishing Company.
Heberle, Greg. (2004). Reports of alleged thylacine sightings in Western Australia. Conservation Science of Western Australia 5(1): 1-5.
WA.194X.xx.xx #1-5+
Sid Slee:
"It was during this period that I saw the thylacine or marsupial wolf many, many times around the two thickets that were left in our paddock when doing the rounds of my snares, usually in the early morning. Often I would see one momentarily turn and disappear when walking along the animal pads in the bush on our property." (p. 5)
Source: Slee, Sid. (1987). The Haunt of the Marsupial Wolf. Bunbury, WA: South West Printing and Publishing Company.
WA.1951.xx.xx #1-2
Source: Heberle, Greg. (2004). Reports of alleged thylacine sightings in Western Australia. Conservation Science of Western Australia 5(1): 1-5.
Presumably includes the report quoted below:
"In 1951 a man from Dwellingup came to the Western Australian Museum in Perth, where he showed photographs and casts of tracks of what he insisted was a thylacine―which he said he had seen with his own eyes."
Source: Clark, Jerome. (2013). Thylacines, pp. 198-208. Unexplained!: Strange Sightings, Incredible Occurrences, and Puzzling Physical Phenomena, third edition. Canton, Michigan: Visible Ink Press.
WA.1956.xx.xx
Source: Heberle, Greg. (2004). Reports of alleged thylacine sightings in Western Australia. Conservation Science of Western Australia 5(1): 1-5.
WA.1957.9.6
"Ron's friend was walking through his paddock in the morning checking on his flock of sheep. He had his dog by his side, and the dog froze and wouldn't walk any further. Ron's friend couldn't get the dog to walk with him, so he walked on by himself. After about 3 steps three little thylacine pups ["tan/sandy coloured fur all over body and ears, short fluffed fur"] stuck their head out from the long blade grass. They just looked at him. They were sitting. He assumed the mother was nearby and backed away, taking the dog home with him."
Source: http://www.thylacineawarenessgroup.com/sighting/nannup-wa-1957/
WA.1959.xx.xx
Source: Heberle, Greg. (2004). Reports of alleged thylacine sightings in Western Australia. Conservation Science of Western Australia 5(1): 1-5.
WA.1961.xx.xx
Source: Heberle, Greg. (2004). Reports of alleged thylacine sightings in Western Australia. Conservation Science of Western Australia 5(1): 1-5.
WA.1962.xx.xx
Source: Heberle, Greg. (2004). Reports of alleged thylacine sightings in Western Australia. Conservation Science of Western Australia 5(1): 1-5.
WA.1963.xx.xx
Source: Heberle, Greg. (2004). Reports of alleged thylacine sightings in Western Australia. Conservation Science of Western Australia 5(1): 1-5.
WA.1964.xx.xx #1-3
Source: Heberle, Greg. (2004). Reports of alleged thylacine sightings in Western Australia. Conservation Science of Western Australia 5(1): 1-5.
WA.1965.xx.xx
Sid Slee:
"I again spotted a thylacine one evening in 1965 when going to our rain water tank. It was standing watching me with its nose the ground. I ran into the house to get my family but on returning it had vanished."
Source: Slee, Sid. (1987). The Haunt of the Marsupial Wolf. Bunbury, WA: South West Printing and Publishing Company.
It is possible that the single 1965 report listed in (Heberle, 2004) refers to this sighting. But it might also refer to the 1965 sighting directly below.
Source: Heberle, Greg. (2004). Reports of alleged thylacine sightings in Western Australia. Conservation Science of Western Australia 5(1): 1-5.
?WA.1965-1975.xx.xx #1-5?
WA thylacine researcher Greg Heberle details numerous possible thylacine sightings made by he, his family and other 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."
Source: https://sites.rootsweb.com/~gregheberle/THYLACINE.htm
It is unknown to the present author whether these five alleged sightings are included in (Heberle, 2004). Hence the uncertainty ("?").
WA.1966.xx.xx #1
Tom Longbottom:
"I claim to be the first to see it in this district. I was in my cow yard one night, I had the lights all on, when I heard something in the calf yard. When I went to look there it was.
I stood and looked at it for 2-3 minutes before it ambled out of the yard. I was no more than 15-20 feet away from him.
It was about the size of a roo dog with big head, long body, heavy shoulders, long tail with brush on last 12-14 inches or so. Some dark bands went around the body as well, eyes were not like dogs eyes.
I have been in the bush all my life and never seen anything like this before. It came back quite often for milk I left in a dish. I made a trap but never got him.
I still saw it was the Nannup Tiger as we all call him now.
I have a few sheep on my place and now and again we find a lamb with its head eaten off. Just the head. Then we find roos with their heads gone as well.
I have a photo of a big roo with his head off, it was still bleeding and warm when I found it. The tracks were not dog tracks. We hear funny sounds at night like a choking or a soft barking which I'd say was him.
Our dog will not go after him in the dark any more. He did one and had a big fight in the roadway but he won't go out any more. I don't blame him. Well that's the Nannup Tiger." (p. 37)
Source: Slee, Sid. (1987). The Haunt of the Marsupial Wolf. Bunbury, WA: South West Printing and Publishing Company.
WA.1966.xx.xx #2-3
Source: Heberle, Greg. (2004). Reports of alleged thylacine sightings in Western Australia. Conservation Science of Western Australia 5(1): 1-5.
WA.c1966/68.xx.xx
Two witnesses, a young boy "KLP" (aged c.10-13) and his aunt. This is his account of the event:
"I was just doing a Google search to see if anyone else had seen a Tassie Tiger-like animal in the Mandurah WA area.
I saw such an animal around 1966-68 on Old Coast Rd, Miami. I was travelling in a car with my aunty, at night, when a large dog-like animal crossed the road in front of us. What struck me at the time, and I still recall vividly, was that the animal had distinctive stripes on its hindquarters and tail. It was very strange. I lived in the area with my parents and siblings, spent most of my free time playing in and exploring in the bush, and it was unlike any other animal, or dog, I had ever seen, or heard of.
I was aged between 10-13 at the time. When I got older, and saw pictures of Tasmanian Tigers, I was, on one hand, convinced that this was the animal I had seen, while on the other hand, logic told me it couldn’t possibly be; Tasmanian Tigers lived in Tasmania and they were extinct anyway.
I have rarely told anyone about the strange animal in case they thought I was ‘kook’. Out of curiosity as to whether anyone else had seen a similar animal in my area, I did a Google search tonight and found an article by Greg Heberle on WA sightings. To my excitement, four of the reported sightings are in the area near where I lived. I tried to contact Greg on his email address, to find out when and exactly where these sightings were, but the email bounced.
There are a a number of caves south of where I lived at Dawesville, and my pop took us down some of them. One of the caves had piles of bones, which as a child I found scary. I have often wondered if the strange animal lived in the caves, and if skeletons were down there. Looking at Greg’s map of reported sightings, these caves are in the vicinity. The Dawesville area has a lot of underground limestone caverns, and I imagine there are many accessible caves that I’m unaware of.
As you have an interest in sightings of Tasmanian Tiger like animals, I thought you may be interested in my experience, and possibly in passing on the info to someone who may like to investigate the caves to see if any skeletal or other evidence exists."
Source: http://members.ii.net/~lawley/thylacine/anecdotes/index.html
WA.1967.xx.xx #1-2
Source: Heberle, Greg. (2004). Reports of alleged thylacine sightings in Western Australia. Conservation Science of Western Australia 5(1): 1-5.
WA.c1968.xx.xx
"On a shooting trip i came over a ridge at about 7 am and saw a loping dog like creature.
I never shot at dogs but this thing frightend me.
At 100 metres i took a shot and missed.
The animal stopped turned its head towards me and then lopped off towards to mountain top. It definietely was a thylacine not a fox."
Source: http://www.thylacineawarenessgroup.com/sighting/sighting-near-worsley-western-australia/
WA.1968.xx.xx #1-5 or 6
Heberle reports 6 sightings in 1968. The report above (WA.c1968.xx.xx) may or may not be represented in the six listed by (Heberle, 2004).
Source: Heberle, Greg. (2004). Reports of alleged thylacine sightings in Western Australia. Conservation Science of Western Australia 5(1): 1-5.
WA.1969.xx.xx #1-4
Source: Heberle, Greg. (2004). Reports of alleged thylacine sightings in Western Australia. Conservation Science of Western Australia 5(1): 1-5.
WA.196X?.xx.xx
"Recently, by extreme coincedence an old man across the road, told me a story, in which he has told no one else before. Back in his 20's (which was around 1960's) he was a volunteer fireman in WA. On there way to a large bushfire ...clearly a thylacine walked in the middle of the road, stopped the truck in its tracks, stared at them, then walked back into the bush. Him and his mates were silent and then he said " was that?" and his mate said "yep". Then they all swore to never mention that day agian to anyone, because they felt that they were putting the Thylacines future at risk, and also they felt that they would be ridiculed. I believe the old man's story because i could just feel the passion in his voice, and i trust it was the truth, anyway i had shivers down my spin the whole time. Believe what you want, but im sure there out there, not only in TAZ but on the mainland."
Source: http://www.tasmanian-tiger.com/guestbook.html
WA.1970.xx.xx #1-12
Source: Heberle, Greg. (2004). Reports of alleged thylacine sightings in Western Australia. Conservation Science of Western Australia 5(1): 1-5.
WA.1970/1975.12?.xx
At least three witnesses, a young boy "EH" and his parents. This the young boy's account:
"Just a short note about what I am 100% sure was a tiger I saw on a trip across the Nullarbor in the early seventies.
My family had a habit of travelling over east almost every year from about 1971 or so to attend the main conferences that our traditional Finnish church held every year around Christmas. On this particular year, we travelled in a HK/HG wagon but my father was also asked to bring back from Melbourne a Commer van for family friends—one of those old ones with sliding doors.
My mother drove in front with my sisters and I sat in the passenger seat of the van. We NEVER travelled fast. Our first crossing from Melbourne to Perth took two weeks. My father was a very patient man. The Commer was also overheating which meant we probably travelled at around 70 km/h with the heater on to help and the sliding doors fully open so we wouldn’t cook.
On the way back, we had turned north at Norseman and some distance later (I think closer to Norseman than Coolgardie) as I was looking forward at and over the car in front, I saw an animal run across the road left to right less than a metre in front of the car in front.
The picture that is burned into my memory is of the back 2/3 to 3/4 of this animal directly in front of the right hand side headlight. The area which was illuminated had the stripes which I some years after learned were on the tiger. The animal seemed to have its weight forward on its forward legs and the level of the back was pretty much close to the level of the bonnet. I have always remembered that the back legs were angled back as if thought the animal had just leapt and landed on its front legs and my memory seems to be that they were darker probably as they were below the glare of the high beam headlights. The back was level. The head was out of the headlight so I have no clear memory of that.
My mother and father also saw the animal but as it was so close to the front of the car and travelling quickly, they didn’t pick up what my young eyes did. Even for me it was and still is remembered as a frame like a photo, crystal clear and still. Just an image that flashed and then it was gone.
In the early seventies, we were still very much new Australians having arrived 1/1/1970 and as we never had a television at home and were all learning just to speak and communicate it took me a long time to associate the animal with the Tassie Tiger. I still keep hoping that I’ll see one again every time I cross but I haven’t had any luck in the nearly 30 times I have done so.
Just thought I should finally tell someone."
Source: http://members.ii.net/~lawley/thylacine/anecdotes/index.html
WA.1971.xx.xx
Source: Heberle, Greg. (2004). Reports of alleged thylacine sightings in Western Australia. Conservation Science of Western Australia 5(1): 1-5.
WA.1972.11.4
"One incident in November 1972 involved Freda and Joe Carmody, who saw a large creature leap across the road in front of their car; they were convinced it was a Thylacine."
Source: Eberhart, George M. (2002). Mysterious Creatures: A Guide to Cryptozoology. Santa Barbara, California: Abc-Clio Incorporated. [pp. 547-550]
"At 6pm at the end of a warm day we were travelling at a fair speed being anxious to reach Busselton in time for a meal, having left Kojonup at 4.30pm after a Zone Council Meeting.
Half a mile from the State Forest, some nine miles from Bridgetown, an animal – first thought to be a fox – commenced to cross the road. The wind was blowing in our direction and we were within a short distance of it when it became aware of our presence and with a graceful bound remarkably like that of a kangaroo, turned in its tracks. The sun was behind it so we had no impression of stripes but otherwise had a good view passing within 30 feet of it, as, looking in our direction, it loped up a bank and disappeared into a growing crop.
It was a large animal, between 5ft to 6ft from nose to tail tip... It was totally distinctive with its heavy jaw, unusual tail and hind legs slightly humped appearance and big feet. It was definitely not a dog or a dingo or fox. Having seen the specimen in the W.A. Museum and several reproductions of photographs we had no doubt that it was a thylacine...
We were at first puzzled at not being aware of stripes, but after seening [sic] the specimens displayed in a natural setting in the dioramas in the Hobart Museum, realised that its stripes would be hard to see in the dappled light late afternoon sunlight in which we have viewed it. At no time did the animal we had seen give an impression of being in haste to get away, and seemed to look at us with a blank expression – probably due to the fact that it is a nocturnal animal and we felt that only the heat of the day had brought it out of the State Forest to drink at a farm dam for which it was heading at the time, and it probably could not see us too well." (p.35-36)
Source: Slee, Sid. (1987). The Haunt of the Marsupial Wolf. Bunbury, WA: South West Printing and Publishing Company.
WA.1972.xx.xx #1-5 or 6
Source: Heberle, Greg. (2004). Reports of alleged thylacine sightings in Western Australia. Conservation Science of Western Australia 5(1): 1-5.
WA.1973.xx.xx #1-2
Source: Heberle, Greg. (2004). Reports of alleged thylacine sightings in Western Australia. Conservation Science of Western Australia 5(1): 1-5.
WA.c1973.xx.xx #1-2+
"Five years ago a strange creature was frequently seen by people in our district. I then drew a sketch of the creature I caught in 1943 and showed it to two people at Ruabon on separate occasions, they were both sure beyond doubt that this strange creature was what they had seen." (p. 21)
Source: Slee, Sid. (1987). The Haunt of the Marsupial Wolf. Bunbury, WA: South West Printing and Publishing Company.
WA.1974.xx.xx #1
WA thylacine researcher Greg Heberle details numerous possible thylacine sightings made by he, his family and other 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."
Source: https://sites.rootsweb.com/~gregheberle/THYLACINE.htm
WA.c1974.xx.xx #2
WA thylacine researcher Greg Heberle details numerous possible thylacine sightings made by he, his family and other 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."
Source: https://sites.rootsweb.com/~gregheberle/THYLACINE.htm
WA.1974.xx.xx #3-4
Source: Heberle, Greg. (2004). Reports of alleged thylacine sightings in Western Australia. Conservation Science of Western Australia 5(1): 1-5.
WA.1975.xx.xx #1-2
Source: Heberle, Greg. (2004). Reports of alleged thylacine sightings in Western Australia. Conservation Science of Western Australia 5(1): 1-5.
WA.c1975.xx.xx
"What Was That Mystery Creature?
by Rose Hart
This strange close encounter' happened to me years ago, while travelling along a bush-track on our farm, on my bicycle. Our large cattle dog always ran ahead, loving the long run. On this day he stopped dead, as if frozen to the ground. Growling and snarling, and making a terrible noise, he refused to move, and let me pass. He blocked my way, moving sideways, and backwards. In the confusion I vaguely saw movement, but do not know what caused it. The poor dog went berserk, but he never left the track, or moved ahead. I became frightened and turned around, not until I was away, did the dog follow. It never came with me again on that same bush track. He would attack anything if provoked. He fought our bull one day, and turned it back into its pen.
Another day a native man walked down our drive. The dog was tied on a thick chain, until the man picked up a heavy stick. The chain snapped, and he went for the mans throat. It was lucky for him that we were there. I will never know what was in that thick bush, but some kittens in a log close by, disappeared. It may have been coincidence.
Unfortunately I will never know what the mystery animal was in the bush, as the incident occurred 20 years ago near Bruce Rock. We can only guess that maybe it was either a big cat or possibly a thylacine."
Source: https://web.archive.org/web/20020220025923/http://www.webace.com.au/~pwest/marca/index.html
WA.1975/1976.xx.xx #1
An anonymous report made to REPAD:
"On a farm at Nyabing, my Father had brought Koonacks (freshwater crayfish) we had caught to seed a couple of dams on the farm.
So we are driving to the second dam to seed (koonacks), when the farm owner exclaimed and pointed at this animal, swinging the vehicle in its direction and accelerating hard. The animal took off, around the dam, and we followed it. It went FAST and ran with an unusual gait and had a large tail. As we rounded the dam we were sure we would be able to continue the pursuit. It was gone, we looked around and could find no trace of it. It's colour was essentially grey sloping down to a large tail, light. Unfortunately the distance made it impossible to see any more detail.
Both the farm owner and my Father could not identify what it was. Except to say it was like no dog they had seen before.
As for me I have not seen anything like it since."
WA.1975/1976.xx.xx #2
Carol Della:
"About 1975/76 we were driving to New Norcia...an animal was standing in the middle of the road...looked like a Tasmanian Tiger. Stood there for 2 or 3 minutes looking at us then went back into the bush. We were totally mesmerised and still talk about it today."
WA.1976.xx.xx #1-4
Source: Heberle, Greg. (2004). Reports of alleged thylacine sightings in Western Australia. Conservation Science of Western Australia 5(1): 1-5.
WA.c1976.xx.xx
WA thylacine researcher Greg Heberle details numerous possible thylacine sightings made by he, his family and other 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."
Source: https://sites.rootsweb.com/~gregheberle/THYLACINE.htm
WA.1977.xx.xx #1-3
Sources: Heberle, Greg. (1977). Reports of alleged thylacine sightings in Western Australia. Sunday Telegraph [Sydney], 27 March, p. 46. [unsighted]
Heberle, Greg. (2004). Reports of alleged thylacine sightings in Western Australia. Conservation Science of Western Australia 5(1): 1-5.
WA.1978.xx.xx #1-4
Source: Heberle, Greg. (2004). Reports of alleged thylacine sightings in Western Australia. Conservation Science of Western Australia 5(1): 1-5.
WA.1979.xx.xx #1-4
Source: Heberle, Greg. (2004). Reports of alleged thylacine sightings in Western Australia. Conservation Science of Western Australia 5(1): 1-5.
WA.197X.xx.xx #1
Sid Slee:
"One morning when going around my snares there was a noise in the bush just ahead and a large marsupial wolf come out on to the paddock not twenty feet in front of me. This was the best sighting I have ever had. It looked at me momentarily then turned and took off like a kangaroo with its feet about a foot above the ground as if to gain speed. In doing so it was so close that it kicked gravel stones over my feet. After about a chain it started loping down the paddock edge and as it did so it looked back at me, as its head turned to the right its tail moved to the left to keep perfect balance. It was a most amazing sight as this animal kicks both back pads out together as a rabbit does.
I watched it for about fifteen chains to the end of the paddock. At a distance my thoughts were how much it resembled a mountain lion, although in those days there had never been any talk of cougars at Cordering or escaped circus animals. Its body was light yellow, around its eyes and lips were a thin strip of dark chocolate. From its ears down its back to its tail was a strip of chocolate coloured hair with six or seven various length stripes (chocolate colour) over its back leg (I only saw one side). Its tail was dark and appeared to be hairless, its overall length would have been close to seven feet. It was tall and thin but muscular and I could only assume by its size that it was a male. Being confronted by such an animal momentarily the last thing I thought of was its sex." (p. 5-6)
Source: Slee, Sid. (1987). The Haunt of the Marsupial Wolf. Bunbury, WA: South West Printing and Publishing Company.
WA.197X.xx.xx #2
David Alford commented the following:
"I have videotaped interviews of two extremely strong sightings way beyond the official 1936 extinction date. One in the mid 1970s in Western Australia and another in the 1980s in Eastern Tasmania. I have other taped interviews, some later and some earlier, but these two sightings were so strong, I’m pretty much convinced the Thylacine held on until at least the 1980s."
Source: https://www.crikey.com.au/2013/11/15/the-truth-will-be-revealed-i-have-seen-the-tassie-tiger/
WA.197X/198X.xx.xx
Kevin Cameron:
"It was at this time that we met Kevin Cameron, a very eminent bushman and tracker with his two heeler bull terrier cross dogs, Sam and Lobo.
Kevin's dogs had baled up a thylacine some time earlier. It stood on its back legs like some prehistoric creature and made a coughing noise before breaking away as it saw Kevin approach.
He described it as having several stripes, a big head and a long straight tail." (p. 8)
Source: Slee, Sid. (1987). The Haunt of the Marsupial Wolf. Bunbury, WA: South West Printing and Publishing Company.
WA.1980.xx.xx
Sid Slee:
"In 1980 we used to see one of these creatures on the tree line a hundred yards above our house every evening at dusk. We would go into the house where my wife was preparing tea. The prevailing winds would be blowing towards the animal, within a short time the dogs would start barking and we knew by the way they were carrying on the thylacine was just outside the garden fence, on opening the front door the dogs would dart between our legs and start barking from within the house. They were terrified and do not usually come inside.
...
We shot a kangaroo to use as bait to catch this creature, but owing to the lateness of the evening we left it in the car trailer right outside my bedroom window. Next morning we found the kangaroo on the ground on the house side of the trailer with it shead and neck eaten off. The rest of the kangaroo was still intact. Alognside was a small piece of jaw with the large front teeth still in it, all the skin, ears and eyes were eaten and the kangaroo was left so clean a surgeon couldn't have done a better job.
We the found foot prints in the soft soil on the road adjoining our property. There were the large footprints we measured four feet eight inches from the first to the fourth print, with was a large animal. There was a smaller set of prits I believe to be a female as directly behind these was three or four sets of very small prints obviously young ones. The whole family was there and the prints were excellent, so I rang the local newspaper to come and photograph them but they wouldn't." (p. 7-8)
Source: Slee, Sid. (1987). The Haunt of the Marsupial Wolf. Bunbury, WA: South West Printing and Publishing Company.
This is likely the sole thylacine report from 1980 reported by (Heberle, 2004).
Source: Heberle, Greg. (2004). Reports of alleged thylacine sightings in Western Australia. Conservation Science of Western Australia 5(1): 1-5.
WA.1981.xx.xx #1-6
Source: Heberle, Greg. (2004). Reports of alleged thylacine sightings in Western Australia. Conservation Science of Western Australia 5(1): 1-5.
WA.1982.8.xx
Sid Slee:
"We believe the thylacine was responsible for killing two twelve month old steers in August 1982. We found them in a corner of a drain and a six wire fence, each animal was half way through the fence one was under the bottom wire and one was on the bottom wire between the same two fence posts. Would have been battling to get them in such a position with the aid of a tractor as the bottom wire was less than six inches off the ground. The strange thing was there were fifty young poddies in the same paddock, but these two older ones were the only ones that would panic and run." (p. 7)
Source: Slee, Sid. (1987). The Haunt of the Marsupial Wolf. Bunbury, WA: South West Printing and Publishing Company.
WA.1982.xx.xx #1-2/3
Source: Heberle, Greg. (2004). Reports of alleged thylacine sightings in Western Australia. Conservation Science of Western Australia 5(1): 1-5.
May or may not be included in the three reports listed by (Heberle, 2004), may or may not refer to the Slee family's report above (WA.1982.8.xx):
"In 1982 a Western Australian farm couple, who claimed to have lost livestock to thylacines, told a Perth newspaper that a "prickly feeling" at the backs of their neck was invariably their first warning sign of the animals' presence."
Source: Clark, Jerome. (2013). Thylacines, pp. 198-208. Unexplained!: Strange Sightings, Incredible Occurrences, and Puzzling Physical Phenomena, third edition. Canton, Michigan: Visible Ink Press.
WA.1982/1983.xx.xx
Sid Slee:
"In the summer of '82-'83 we used to find two sets of thylacine footprints in the sand in the lane behind our dairy almost every morning coming to the water trough. The footprints were very plain the largest set had a stride of sixteen inches this set us back on our heels, and for a while my family would not venture out after dark. One morning, early, my daughter's horse was backed up in the corner of the yard, snorting very loudly and very disturbed. It was just light enough to see her from the house. The horse was not harmed but later we found the footprints as usual." (p. 8)
Source: Slee, Sid. (1987). The Haunt of the Marsupial Wolf. Bunbury, WA: South West Printing and Publishing Company.
WA.1983.3.xx (c.4.15PM)
Mrs. Eilen J. Combes:
"Dear Dr. Burbidge
I believe I sighted a thylacine during the autumn of 1983. It was March, but I can't recall the date. It was one sunny afternoon at about 4.15 pm. I was returning to Donnybrook on my school bus, after driving home students from the Goodwood Road area.
As I drove around a bend, I saw the back part of an animal moving quickly into a small group of bushes on the right side of the road. The animal was moving towards me, but to my right, so I saw its right side only. I noticed distinct vertical dark brown stripes on a background of a lighter reddish brown, but the reddish hue may have been partly due to the afternoon sunshine.
I did not see the animal's head or tail, as it had vanished from sight within two or three seconds. The animal was about 20" high and seemed to spring up and down about 6" with every stride. (Sorry I can't think in cms).
I stopped the bus but did not see the animal moving through the bushes in the direction it had disappeared. I was too scared to get out of my vehicle but noticed that recent fires had left little undergrowth except along the creek bed. The animal must have changed direction and vanished along the dry watercourse.
This behaviour was very different from that of the several foxes I have seen, they usually keep running off in the one direction when startled, relying on speed rather than hiding.
The sighting occurred at a dip in the road almost exactly a mile west of the Goodwood Road/Jarrahwood Road turn-off, near a waterhole on a farm. The south side of the road is all bush, to the north farmland following the Capel River.
I would not like the exact location made known to the general public, because it is very close to where an albino kangaroo has been seen frequently. The kangaroo may also be endangered if trigger-happy hunters invade the area.
As my husband spent some time (many years back) cutting timber in the area, without seeing any sign of strange animals, he seems to think my imagination was playing tricks on me. So I'm very relieved that other people have reported similar sightings, and would be obliged if you would inform Mr Kevin Cameron of my experience, as I know how he would have felt over the past few years.
Note - Master bushman Kevin Cameron, endured jibes and insults while on the trail of the tiger in WA's South West in the early 1980s.
You may be interested to hear that a young woman I know had an encounter with a completely different-looking animal on a farm only a few miles from town along Goodwood Road.
She was walking towards the dam when she noticed a black kangaroo (as she thought) standing up on its hindquarters on the dam wall. She thought it was unusual to see such a dark-coloured kangaroo and thought it must have become blackened from moving through fire-blackened scrub or perhaps got singed fur in a bushfire.
As she watched the animal, it suddenly made a screaming noise at her. She became startled, and gave the animal her full attention, sensing that something was not right. To her amazement, the animal started moving off and she was able to see its tail for the first time - it was not shaped like a kangaroo's tail, but was long and snake-like in shape.
She ran back to the house for her husband, but when they returned it had gone. The owners of the farm laughed at her description of the animal and put it down to her city upbringing and lack of farm experience. But her husband said he sometimes heard the same scream during the night and sometimes found very large tracks (in the orchard) which he thought were too large for a big dog.
Hoping this letter is of interest to you.
Yours faithfully
(Mrs) Eilen J Combes"
Source: letter from Mrs. E.J. Combes of Donnybrook in 1994 to the Department of Fisheries and Wildlife. Department of Conservation and Land Management (File No. 019522F3801 - Unusual animal sightings suspected Thylacines Tasmanian Tiger - Volume one. Creation date 2-5-79) - Available from the WA State Records Office.
WA.1983.4.1
Kevin Cameron:
"Arrived at the farm [i.e. Hillside, the Slee family's farm] and within an hour of searching, found a track of a five toed creature... Track was too poor for casting." (p. 15)
Source: Slee, Sid. (1987). The Haunt of the Marsupial Wolf. Bunbury, WA: South West Printing and Publishing Company.
WA.1983.4.3
Kevin Cameron:
"K. C. senior and K. C. junior patrolled area of sand traps with good results and found several perfect tracks of a five toed creature very large in size. Made casts of tracks one front foot and one back foot with pad down. Back foot with four toes only. Several other casts were made but tracks were blurred.
Very unusual animal smell was detected at that time. Dogs were on edge and started working the scent and they were stopped by K. C. senior as he thought it was too early to make any move at this stage as it may frighten the animal out of the area.
Patrolled further out from sand trap area and discovered tracks in pine plantation, detected unknown faeces and collected samples from the edge of a thicket in the middle of the plantation." (p. 15)
Source: Slee, Sid. (1987). The Haunt of the Marsupial Wolf. Bunbury, WA: South West Printing and Publishing Company.
WA.1983.4.4
Kevin Cameron:
"Kevin Senior and Kevin Junior patrolled area and detected several tracks, no sighting of animal. Evening patrol picked up one perfect track and several distorted tracks of a five toed creature, smaller in size than the first one detected." (p. 16)
Source: Slee, Sid. (1987). The Haunt of the Marsupial Wolf. Bunbury, WA: South West Printing and Publishing Company.
WA.1983.4.6
Kevin Cameron:
"Patrolled area and picked up tracks of a five toed creature, but were too distorted to cast." (p. 16)
Source: Slee, Sid. (1987). The Haunt of the Marsupial Wolf. Bunbury, WA: South West Printing and Publishing Company.
WA.1983.4.8
Kevin Cameron:
"afternoon patrol of sand trap area, detected sign of a five toed creature, in the evening patrolled in a new area and picked up signs of another animal of the same type, tracked him with dogs for a mile on sandy road, found signs of the animal laying down on road, he then veered off into the bush. Where the road crossed a dry creek bed it was detected scratching and eating moss growing on the road. Too dark to track any further with dogs. Same unusual animal smell detected." (p. 16)
Source: Slee, Sid. (1987). The Haunt of the Marsupial Wolf. Bunbury, WA: South West Printing and Publishing Company.
WA.1983.4.9
Kevin Cameron:
"Returned to the new area of the previous day. Kevin senior got the dogs to work on the scent immediately. Kevin junior and I. S., and the dogs were tracking the animal for an hour, and Sam located a freshly killed kangaroo twenty five feet from the road. The kangaroo was decapitated; its head was completely crushed and eaten, except for one ear which appeared to have been bitten off by a sharp toothed animal, also one forearm was crushed and eaten. The dead roo was still warm and the blood was still weeping from the upper part of the body. There were no ants or blow flies on the kill when discovered. Taken photos of the kill area. All that was left of the head was one ear and a few chips of bone which are believed to be a piece of rib, or chip of skull and chip of vertebra. Three hairs believed to be that of the animal and also faeces believed to be that of the animal also, were collected for lab. testing and also main body of roo.
Kevin junior and I. S. continued tracking with the dogs and gave chase which continued for three hours, dogs had animal bailed up for a short period, no sighting by Kevin junior or I. S. Animal was using elusive tactics by leading us away and doubling back to the same area continually.
I believed it had young in the area. The area was a dry creek bed with moist patches and was very heavy undergrowth, dogs were exhausted and called off the search." (p. 16-17)
Source: Slee, Sid. (1987). The Haunt of the Marsupial Wolf. Bunbury, WA: South West Printing and Publishing Company.
WA.1983.xx.xx #2-9
Source: Heberle, Greg. (2004). Reports of alleged thylacine sightings in Western Australia. Conservation Science of Western Australia 5(1): 1-5.
WA.1984.1.26
Rowena:
"Date: Friday, 26 January 1984, 2 or 3 hours after dawn.
Self driving Holden Wagon with husband and three children asleep in passenger seats, pulling laden trailer. Travelling west, having filled up with fuel at Madura, and keeping a special watch, with camera at the ready, hoping for shot of eagle feeding on kangaroo roadkill. Saw roos, saw a fat reddish dingo, then this emaciated greyhound-like creature, crossing the road; it went into the brush on the right hand side as I slowed and stopped, but it was a pretty hopeless angle for a shot. It recrossed the road to the rear of us, and went into the bush on the RHS. This was about 140 km west of Madura, Cocklebiddy being the nearest stationed. It had greyish and brown stripes and was lean rather than chunky. I didn't get one of the possible eagle shots, either - took too long to stop."
Source: http://www.tasmanian-tiger.com/guestbook2.html
WA.1984.1.13
"At first creek we located two good prints, both sides of the road. Continued on to second crossing anbd left vehicle one hundred yard from there.
Kevin and Lobo then continued and picked up strong scent and gave chase to thylacine which leapt up a log about 30 feet in front of Kevin. The thylacine amde a snappign noise and snarled at the dog (Lobo) ducking back on log to avoid dogs jaw. K. C. senior radioed back to vehicle to release Sam. While K. C. was doing this the thylacine leapt off the log and make a break for it. Lobo gave chase snapping at it for about 50 yards. K. C. saw head and shoulders through bush several times. We rang GWN news team whoe xamined site and footprints and took photos. Plaster casts were then taken and they turned out very well. Five toes on front feet and four toes on back feet. As we believe this animal to be carrying young it was pursue no further. It was believed that there were two animals in this area as the dogs went in two different directions following scent." (p. 16-17)
"Description of animal seen on log at 30 feet
Tail was long, rigid and kangaroo-like; black in colour and on tip of tail it had bristles on either side of flat tip.
Back legs were kangaroo-like exept [sic] for feet which were dog-like.
From base of tail to head there were several long black stripes, tapering away to smaller ones toward head.
Front shoulders and legs were dog-like.
Neck was very long and its head was large with rounded ears and it had a large mouth.
Pouch like kangaroo which hung very low and appeared to have young – definitely not testicles of male.
Casts were taken of footprints.
Front feet were measured and were 3¼ inches across, 3 inches long and had five toes. Pad 1½" long, 1¾" wide, toes approximately ½" from pad.
Back foot has four toes 2¾" long; 2½" wide. Back pad 1¼" long, 1¾" wide with toes an average of ½" from pad.
Animal had light brown body, slightly bigger, but not heavier than Lobo. (Lobo is 4 stone)." (p. 20)
Source: Slee, Sid. (1987). The Haunt of the Marsupial Wolf. Bunbury, WA: South West Printing and Publishing Company.
WA.1984.1.21
"Set out at 6.00am for "pig area" and found fresh diggings and footprints which we believe belong to a female thylacine." (p. 17)
Source: Slee, Sid. (1987). The Haunt of the Marsupial Wolf. Bunbury, WA: South West Printing and Publishing Company.
WA.1984.1.22
"Main party remained with vehicle while K. C. senior searched area with dogs (Sam, Lobo and Minni).
Dogs picked up scent and started to give chase but were called back. Picked up tracks of female thylacine – very fresh and identical to the one found the previous week, indication animal living in the area.
Later we searched and found three small roos with only the hind quarters left, showing top half clearly having been eaten." (p. 17)
Source: Slee, Sid. (1987). The Haunt of the Marsupial Wolf. Bunbury, WA: South West Printing and Publishing Company.
WA.1984.1.29
"Enroute we picked up eyes on the edge of the road (culvert). Stopped car about 45 metres past where the eyes were seen. Left motor running and turned strong torchlight on the animal. Animal sat upright – seemed curious. Told Angus to walk back and see what it was. Eyes were too wide apart to be a fox or cat. Called Angus back realising that it must have been the animal. Immediately led Sam towards the animal. Kevin approached to within 30 metres, where at the animal turned, in full view, and jumped down into creek bed. Sam gave chase but was stopped because it was too dark. Animal was growling and seemed to be in no hurry to get away. It looked like the same animal sighted in previous report. Kevin believes it to be the thylacine!!!
There was a dead roo at the culvert and the head had been eaten. Chip of (skull?) bone and a hair (thylacine?) were found on ground near the headless carcass.
Took photos when it was light.
Once light, we gave chase and followed thylacine tracks and scent to previous area where it was sighted ten days before at close range.
We believe it has a lair in the area, as we have found a lot of dead roos in the same basic area." (p. 19-20)
Source: Slee, Sid. (1987). The Haunt of the Marsupial Wolf. Bunbury, WA: South West Printing and Publishing Company.
WA.1984.11.xx
The famous Kevin Cameron photographs, documenting his claimed encounter with a thylacine. Possibly on par with Hans Naarding's 1982 sighting as the most famous post-1936 report. According to one forum poster on Buck and Joan Emberg's tasmanian-tiger.com website, the photos "were taken on, or nearby, Hillside Farm, Nannup Rd, Yoongarillup, Western Australia" (source). A small literature has grown up around these five photos. It includes at least the following publications:
Clark, Jerome. (2013). Thylacines, pp. 198-208. Unexplained!: Strange Sightings, Incredible Occurrences, and Puzzling Physical Phenomena, third edition. Canton, Michigan: Visible Ink Press. [p. 203 contains an extended quote from (Douglas, 1990), the only such quote I can find, and the fullest. This same quote, albeit with the first sentence ommitted, is reproduced elsewhere, including in (Williams, 2014:135-136)]
Douglas, Athol M. (1986a). Tigers in Western Australia? New Scientist, 24 April, pp. 44-47.
Douglas, Athol M. (1986b). Thylacine lives? (letter to the editor). New Scientist, 24 July, 111(1518): 63. [this particular reference seems to have been largely forgotten]
Douglas, Athol M. (1990). The Thylacine: A Case for Current Existence on Mainland Australia. Cryptozoology/Cryptozoologie 9: 13-25. [unseen by the present author]
Rickard, Bob. (1987). The return of the tiger? Fortean Times 49: 5-7. [unseen by the present author; said to criticize the Kevin Cameron photos published in (Douglas, 1986)]
Strahan, Ronald. (1986). Photographic memory (letter to the editor). New Scientist, 26 June, p. 82. [cited by (Douglas, 1986b), but otherwise unmentioned as far as I'm aware]
The Sydney Morning Herald, 29 July, 1986, "Colour Photos of Tasmanian Tiger Doubted" [contains an interview with Athol Douglas; fide (Williams, 2014:136)]
Webster, Matt. (1986). Tasmanian tigers. New Scientist, 15 May, 1508: 76.
Williams, Michael "Mike". (2014). The Truth About the Nullarbor Thylacine, pp. 129-140. In: Lang, Rebecca (ed.). The Tasmanian Tiger: Extinct or Extant? Hazelbrook, NSW: Strange Nation Publishing. 186 pp. [pp. 135-136]
In addition to these references, Chris Rehberg (Where Light Meets Dark) has done an analysis of the three photos widely available through (Douglas, 1986a). He finds the photographs, and hence Cameron's broader account, to be plausible.
WA.1984.xx.xx #1-12 or 13
Source: Heberle, Greg. (2004). Reports of alleged thylacine sightings in Western Australia. Conservation Science of Western Australia 5(1): 1-5.
WA.1985.c6/7.xx
Coralie Slee (no relation to Sid Slee and family):
"In approximately June or July 1985, I was driving north from Manjimup to Bunbury, when I sighted a most unusual animal 1 kilometre south of Mullalyup. Because the animal was so unusual I took a speed reading so I could know exactly where I was when I sighted the animal.
I've travelled extensively throughout WA and have never seen an animal such as the one I saw that day.
The animal looked dog-like in shape, but seemed to have tall slim legs, very high in the rear haunch and three broadish stripes that ran round its girth, starting from the middle of its back, and separating into three as they went round its girth. The animal had a very sharp pointed face, and the overall appearance was that it's fur was very patchy looking, and not sleek like most of the dog like creatures but almost mangy looking.
The most amazing part of the animal was that it had a very rigid looking tail that stuck straight out behind him as he headed across the road. I slowed right down and watched it, because it was so unusual, until it ran into thick bush." (p. 38)
Source: Slee, Sid. (1987). The Haunt of the Marsupial Wolf. Bunbury, WA: South West Printing and Publishing Company.
WA.1985.10.xx
Pauline from Busselton:
"Whilst returning from the metropolitan area to Busselton and on the above date [i.e. 2.15pm, October 1985] along the Old Coast Road, I encounteres the strangest of animals.
At the point approximately 1km north of FInn road and some 30km north of Bunbury, with cleared rural ground on my right and natural bush lands on my left, in ideal visibility, clear to cloudy conditions.
The animal broke from low scrub on the right hand side of the highway and crossed the road at a steady canter, disappearing into the bush on my left. Estimated distance in front of car 35 metres.
My view on the animal was unimpeded, no other hevicle or distraction in sight.
It was fawn brown in colour, a darker colour along the backbone area and appearing blotchy.
I estimate the animal to be about the height of an average dog but extremely lean.
An extremely skinny tail and appeared most unusual with regard to pelt, almost as if no fur at all. I don't think it had very pointed features, long snout. I can't remember shape of ears.
I'm sure it wasn't any regular dog or fox and have never seen anything like it before or since." (p. 39)
Source: Slee, Sid. (1987). The Haunt of the Marsupial Wolf. Bunbury, WA: South West Printing and Publishing Company.
WA.1985.xx.xx #1
This seems to be the same "Bill" as WA.1986.xx.xx #1.
"A new association member "Bill" who lives along the Jurien/Coomallo road says that he saw two thylacines on his property in 1985."
Source: https://web.archive.org/web/20020220025923/http://www.webace.com.au/~pwest/marca/index.html
WA.1985.xx.xx #2-5
Source: Heberle, Greg. (2004). Reports of alleged thylacine sightings in Western Australia. Conservation Science of Western Australia 5(1): 1-5.
WA.1986.1.27
Photos of a kangaroo repotedly killed by a thylacine (Slee, 1987:3, 4).
Source: Slee, Sid. (1987). The Haunt of the Marsupial Wolf. Bunbury, WA: South West Printing and Publishing Company.
WA.1986.3.xx
A. L. "Slim" Pitts:
"One morning at approximately 11am, my wife and I decided to take a utility load of garden rubbish to the town rubbish dump. After off-loading our load on the further side of the dump in the place provided for the disposal of prunings and loppings from trees, we continued on the access road into the sand pits which are adjacent to the rubbish dump. This road leads out on to Rendesvous Road and so back to Queen Elizabeth Avenue and so back to town.
As we turned from the back sand track on to the gravel access road I said to my wife: "Look at that skinny old cat." She replied "I don't think it's a cat, I think it's a dog."
As we got closer to the animal which was about ten yeards away nuzzelling around in some long grass, I said: "You know it's one of those things we saw that day at Ludlow [see WA.198X.xx.xx #9]! She agreed and I got out of the ute and walked closer whereupon the animal turned away and loped off across the paddock in the direction of the Pony Club Grounds.
The creature was about the size of a kelpie dog, coloured brown and black in irregular patches, not exactly stripes, but certainly of the two colurs [sic]. I would have called it brindle.
It was at no time particularly worried at our presence and even when I approached quite close to it, it went away at quite a leisurely pace. Not at all in a hurry.
It was quite thin and was obviously searching for food but although I checked the place where it had been, I couldn't find any sign of what it had been doing, I surmnise it had discovered a lizard or something and did not want to leave until it had finished eating it.
As to the description of the animal, I have already described it's colour and size and its action when in movement I described as a lope. If it had been in a bigger hurry I would say that it would bound along with thrusts from its back legs which appeared to be slightly longer and more powerful than its front legs. Its head was carried straight out from its body as was its tail which was at no time carried above its back...
The sighting would have been in the last week in March." (p. 40)
Source: Slee, Sid. (1987). The Haunt of the Marsupial Wolf. Bunbury, WA: South West Printing and Publishing Company.
WA.1986.xx.xx #1
This seems to be the same "Bill" as WA.1985.xx.xx #1.
"In 1986 Bill had visitors staying with him from Perth. One morning they were driving along Jurien road and near the Black Arrow turn off they saw three Thylacines. Two were adult animals and the third one was a baby."
Source: https://web.archive.org/web/20020220025923/http://www.webace.com.au/~pwest/marca/index.html
WA.1986.xx.xx #2-8
Source: Heberle, Greg. (2004). Reports of alleged thylacine sightings in Western Australia. Conservation Science of Western Australia 5(1): 1-5.
WA.1987.xx.xx #1-3
Source: Heberle, Greg. (2004). Reports of alleged thylacine sightings in Western Australia. Conservation Science of Western Australia 5(1): 1-5.
WA.1988.xx.xx #1-9
Source: Heberle, Greg. (2004). Reports of alleged thylacine sightings in Western Australia. Conservation Science of Western Australia 5(1): 1-5.
WA.1989.7.xx
Three witnesses, unknown sexes and ages.
"On a winter’s day in July, 1989, we were driving down a dirt road to the west of Greenbushes. There was a farm on one side of the road and a [pine] plantation on the other. The car was stopped when the tiger was seen jumping a wire fence, coming from the left, the plantation side. It ran across the road in front of the car and crashed into the fence on the other side of the road. It became caught in the fence, briefly. It seemed to stop for a few seconds, gathering its bearings. Then it made its way through the fence and then ran off into the farm. All up, the sighting was for about 15 seconds by our family of three who were in the car. I remember to this day the thick tail and stripes along its side. For some time, we did not know what it was until we visited Yallingup Caves and saw a photo of one in a display."
Source: http://members.ii.net/~lawley/thylacine/anecdotes/index.html
WA.1989.xx.xx #1
A sighting on file of the defunct MAAWA (Mystery Animal Association of Western Australia), subsequently known as MARCA (Mystery Animals Research Centre of Australia), both founded by the late Sharon West:
"North Dandalup 1989
At North Dandalup a ranger was sitting on a rocky out crop watching the sun set over a valley, when he heard an animal making a strange sort of barking noise in sets of three yaps, then a pause then three yaps and so on way, off in the distance. The ranger just sat there listening to this animal when out of the bush a kangaroo appeared. It stopped for a minute or two and then continued on down through the valley. Shortly after, the animal that was making the yapping bark came out of the bush, it was still making the noise. It had its nose to the ground and it was sweeping its head from side to side as it was tracking a scent.
The ranger was only twenty metres away from the animal and he copied the same barking noise, but the animal totally ignored him and continued on down through the valley, following exactly the same trail as the kangaroo. The animal was described as being the size of a wolf, it had a broad head and its tail stuck straight out behind it like a stick in line with its spine. The animal was a tan colour but because of the light the ranger couldn't say whether it had stripes or not. The animal was not a dog, or a fox, nor was it a cat. It was too big. The description of the animal and the way it was hunting is very much like a Thylacine."
Source: https://web.archive.org/web/20020220025923/http://www.webace.com.au/~pwest/marca/index.html
WA.1989.xx.xx #2-5 or 6
Source: Heberle, Greg. (2004). Reports of alleged thylacine sightings in Western Australia. Conservation Science of Western Australia 5(1): 1-5.
WA.198X.xx.xx #1-6
"We occassionally find kangaroos with their heads eaten off, although I am sure they do not live on this diet exclusively. Kevin on one of his trips found where a thylacine was living in a thicket which was crossed by a well used kangaroo pad. His dogs disturbed a thylacine there eating a freshly killed kangaroo in daylight.
He brought the headless kangaroo back and kept it in the freezer for several weeks, trying to get someone to analyse the saliva and hair samples found at this spot, but again no one was interested. The kangaroo was later skinned and found to have teeth and claw marks all down its spine, Kevin fed it to his dogs.
On returning weeks later Kevin's dogs baled up a female thylacine on a log in the same area. It had a large pouch obviously carrying young, and black transverse stripes. It had a long neck as it kept lunging out at the dog before escaping unharmed. Because of its conditoin [sic] Kevin would not let the dogs pursue it any further.
The kangaroos remains found in this area had been killed weeks apart. Four of the GWN news team came out and investigated first hand the area and saw the fresh footprints of a five toed creature in a creek bed.
In Kevin's next visit early one morning saw what he and his friend, believed to be the same female sitting on a kangaroo eating its head off on a roadside. The kangaroo had been killed by a passing motorist the night before.
Reporter from the West Australian, Alex Harris and a cameraman, came and stayed, and we took them out to an area and found fresh footprints for them.
Another time Kevin and my son Ian found where a thylacine had been doggedly following a herd of feral pigs, obviously after the young ones." (p. 12-13)
Source: Slee, Sid. (1987). The Haunt of the Marsupial Wolf. Bunbury, WA: South West Printing and Publishing Company.
WA.198X.xx.xx #7-8
"Strange to say I was telling some friends the next evening and one couple said "we have seen one of those animals – it crossed the road one evening when we were coming home." (They come from your general area.) Then two other ladies admitted to seeing something which sounded exactly the same when out riding horses one day." (p. 34)
Source: Slee, Sid. (1987). The Haunt of the Marsupial Wolf. Bunbury, WA: South West Printing and Publishing Company.
WA.198X.xx.xx #9
A. L. "Slim" Pitts:
"Please find enclosed description and sighting particulars of the animal we saw recently [i.e. WA.1986.3.xx]. As far as I'm concerned it was one of the same we saw several years ago near Ludlow." (p. 40)
Source: Slee, Sid. (1987). The Haunt of the Marsupial Wolf. Bunbury, WA: South West Printing and Publishing Company.
WA.1990.xx.xx #1-3
Source: Heberle, Greg. (2004). Reports of alleged thylacine sightings in Western Australia. Conservation Science of Western Australia 5(1): 1-5.
WA.1991.1.xx
"January 1991
thylacine was seen by a farmer's wife and her children on the Jurien road near the Cockleshell Gully turn-off."
Source: https://web.archive.org/web/20020220025923/http://www.webace.com.au/~pwest/marca/index.html
WA.1991.2.xx
"February 1991
A School bus driver with a bus full of school children saw a thylacine near Black Arrow road. The animal was running along a fence line and along side the bus. The driver slowed the bus down so that all the children could see the animal."
Source: https://web.archive.org/web/20020220025923/http://www.webace.com.au/~pwest/marca/index.html
WA.1991.xx.xx #1-2
Source: Heberle, Greg. (2004). Reports of alleged thylacine sightings in Western Australia. Conservation Science of Western Australia 5(1): 1-5.
WA.1992.xx.xx #1
A sighting on file of the defunct MAAWA (Mystery Animal Association of Western Australia), subsequently known as MARCA (Mystery Animals Research Centre of Australia), both founded by the late Sharon West:
"Unusual Night Visitor At Pemberton 1992
A Pemberton farmer and his wife had gone to bed when they heard what they thought was someone knocking on their back door. The farmer got up and as he was about to open the door, he could smell a very strange musky stale odour seeping in from outside. He immediately thought that it was a drunken person and so he switched on the outside light and opened the door, but there was no one there, except the dog that was cowering near the wood box.
So the farmer decided to switch on the flood lights that lit up the whole yard, he went outside to have a look around, but he couldn't see anything that would have frightened his dog so much. He could still smell the strange odour. The next morning they found some very odd paw prints up their drive way. Whatever made the tracks had to be a big animal and the prints also showed a distinct round heel mark at the back of the pad. The farmer has often smelt the same odour up along his boundary fence, which is adjacent to state forest. He has even smelt it above the chemicals that he has used to spray blackberries with. The odour was not of urine. It was a body odour."
"I have sent copies of the photos that were taken at Pemberton of the mystery paw prints, along with written reports, and taped reports of Thylacine sightings to, two researchers in Tasmania."
Source: https://web.archive.org/web/20020220025923/http://www.webace.com.au/~pwest/marca/index.html
WA.1992.xx.xx #2-7
Source: Heberle, Greg. (2004). Reports of alleged thylacine sightings in Western Australia. Conservation Science of Western Australia 5(1): 1-5.
WA.1993.5.xx
A sighting on file of the defunct MAAWA (Mystery Animal Association of Western Australia), subsequently known as MARCA (Mystery Animals Research Centre of Australia), both founded by the late Sharon West:
"The Melros Thylacine 1993
One thing that took their notice was the way that it moved. As it ran off, it kicked both its hind legs out together similar to a rabbit. Both its front legs were moving in the normal way. This is another characteristic of a Thylacine. I have been told that a dog or a cat will move the same way at certain times, but these people declare that the animal they saw was not a dog, fox, or cat."
Source: https://web.archive.org/web/20020220025923/http://www.webace.com.au/~pwest/marca/index.html
WA.1993.7.2 (9:39am)
The thylacine encounter by Mike Tancock and Holly Krokosz, strangers who were driving in separate vehicles, on the Lakes-York Road. Mr. Tancock reported it to CALM (the then Department of Conservation and Land Management) later than day via telephone, to John Blyth. Along with subsequent correspondence, this encounter is on file with the DBCA online library, available to read here. Here is his personal account:
"On the morning of Friday July 2nd, 1993 at 9.39am I was driving on the Lakes-York Road.
At the area known as Wundabiniring I caught up with another vehicle and was contemplating passing it when suddenly the vehicle braked to avoide hitting a very strange looking large dog like animal.
I braked very quickly and on decelerating I passed the animal as it cleared the road surface 8 feet from the driver's door of my car.
Coming to a halt I reversed to where it crossed the road, it was then standing 30 feet from me on Wundabiniring Road, its body parallel to the road alignment with its head facing me. It looked at me for some time, approximately 40 seconds, until I opened the door whereupon it bounded into the scrub and out of sight.
My first thought was to catch up with the other vehicle which I did some miles towards York. However, rather than frighten the driver on the side of the road I passed the car and flagged it down in the York townsite.
The driver, Miss Holly Krokosz was of the same opinion as me in that what we encountered was a Thylacine. Her thoughts were who would take us seriously. I said I would report our sighting to C.A.L.M. in Perth.
This animal's height is about 900mm. It is deep chested and proportionate size hindquarters. The base of the tail is thick like a calf's but tapers thinly to the extremity approximately 600mm. The head is gruesome, very wide jaw with rather small ears. Body length rump to nose was approximately 1200mm.
The animal's colour is dark brown (ie. mission brown) with beige to brindle bands on its rib cage and much less distinct bands of brindle on its hindquaters.
Its gait is more like a calf bounding out of a pen than a dog running across a road.
Being a bright, fine morning I am absolutely sure of the above description."
Source: https://library.dbca.wa.gov.au/FullTextFiles/630496.pdf
Part of a File Note included in the link directly above, by Andrew A. Burbidge (CALM), reads as follows:
"The report was on Channel 7 news on Saturday [July 3rd] and on Channel 9 on Sunday [July 4th]. Channel 7 took Athol Douglas out to the place and he is reported to have identified tracks there as definitely Thylacine. Channel 7 have film of the tracks."
-------
The sighting was also on file at the defunct MAAWA (Mystery Animal Association of Western Australia), subsequently known as MARCA (Mystery Animals Research Centre of Australia), both founded by the late Sharon West, who subsequently investigated it herself:
I [i.e. Sharon West] went with Arthur Scott-Norman from Bakers Hill to checked the area of the sighting out. We found some prints but they were not clear enough to cast. However we did find a scat, which looked a bit strange and it had a pebble in it. About a mile from where the animal was seen, there was a headless Kangaroo on the side of the road. I suspect that what ever animal took the head off the Kangaroo also swallowed a pebble and made the scat. I have sent a sample of the scat off to be analysed."
Source: https://web.archive.org/web/20020220025923/http://www.webace.com.au/~pwest/marca/index.html
WA.1993.xx.xx #1
A sighting on file of the defunct MAAWA (Mystery Animal Association of Western Australia), subsequently known as MARCA (Mystery Animals Research Centre of Australia), both founded by the late Sharon West:
"The Melros Thylacine 1993
One thing that took their notice was the way that it moved. As it ran off, it kicked both its hind legs out together similar to a rabbit. Both its front legs were moving in the normal way. This is another characteristic of a Thylacine. I have been told that a dog or a cat will move the same way at certain times, but these people declare that the animal they saw was not a dog, fox, or cat."
Source: https://web.archive.org/web/20020220025923/http://www.webace.com.au/~pwest/marca/index.html
WA.1993.xx.xx #3-6
Source: Heberle, Greg. (2004). Reports of alleged thylacine sightings in Western Australia. Conservation Science of Western Australia 5(1): 1-5.
WA.1994.11.xx
"Thylacine Sighting Near Nambung National Park
In approximately the middle of November a Farmer's daughter was driving along the Munbinea road near the Nambung National Park when she saw an animal standing on the floodway in front of her. The animal was described as being the size of a big dog.
The length of the body, not including the tail was approximately 2ft, 6ins long. The animal was grey in colour with dark stripes across its back and tail and the tail stuck out straight.
The animal also had a big head and pointy snout. The lady who saw the animal said that it definitely was not a dog or fox."
Source: https://web.archive.org/web/20020220025923/http://www.webace.com.au/~pwest/marca/index.html
WA.1994.xx.xx #1-5
Source: Heberle, Greg. (2004). Reports of alleged thylacine sightings in Western Australia. Conservation Science of Western Australia 5(1): 1-5.
WA.1995.1.c14
WA thylacine researcher Greg Heberle details numerous possible thylacine sightings made by he, his family and other 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."
Source: https://sites.rootsweb.com/~gregheberle/THYLACINE.htm
WA.1995.3.31
WA thylacine researcher Greg Heberle details numerous possible thylacine sightings made by he, his family and other 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."
Source: https://sites.rootsweb.com/~gregheberle/THYLACINE.htm
WA.1995.12.xx #1
"Near Pickering Brook, WA
In December 1995 a lady was driving along a road when an animal started to cross the road in front of her. She had to hit the brakes hard to avoid hitting the animal.
The animal stood on the road in front of her. The lady got out of her car and walked towards the animal. When she was approximately two feet away from it, the animal leapt up onto a 5-6 ft cliff on the side of the road and sat there watching. At this stage the lady became frightened and got back into her car. When she looked towards the animal she discovered that it had gone.
The animal was described as being dog like in appearance, and it stood approximately 2ft high at the shoulder. The total length of the body was approximately one and a half metre, including the tail. The animal had a broad snout and small ears. Its body was a mottled brown colour, and it had what appeared to be broken stripes on its back near the shoulders. It had a thick kangaroo like tail and the animal appeared to be in a very poor condition. The animal did not appear to be frightened or aggressive. The lady said that she felt sorry for the animal, mainly because of its condition. She said that the animal reminded her of a thylacine."
Source: https://web.archive.org/web/20020220025923/http://www.webace.com.au/~pwest/marca/index.html
WA.1995.12.xx #2
"Near Pickering Brook, WA
...
A few days prior to the above sighting [i.e. WA.1995.12.xx #1] another local resident saw a strange animal on an adjoining road and the lady described it as very similar to the animal in the above report."
Source: https://web.archive.org/web/20020220025923/http://www.webace.com.au/~pwest/marca/index.html
WA.1995.xx.xx #1
"I saw one when travelling through state forest between Rosa Brook and Margaret River. It was 1995, my two friends saw exactly what I saw, crossing the Mohen highway which is a gravel pot holed track through thick forest. what we saw at first looked like a skinny long dog with vertical black stripes down its back and tail. the gait was strange and the tail was stiff. it was the colour of a buckskin horse. sort of beige. it just bounded across the road approximately twenty metres in front of our car. There are no dogs which have stripes like this one we saw.And there are no other native animals with this description. the caves around here have yielded thylacine remains dated at around twenty thousand years old. I know I wasn't having some freaky vision because my two friends saw the same thing."
Source: http://www.tasmanian-tiger.com/guestbook.html
WA.1995.xx.xx #2-12 or 13
Source: Heberle, Greg. (2004). Reports of alleged thylacine sightings in Western Australia. Conservation Science of Western Australia 5(1): 1-5.
The below report (WA.c1995.xx.xx) may or may not be included amongst those included in (Heberle, 2004).
WA.c1995.xx.xx
"I was driving along that dirt road with an Australian couple after getting supplies in Carnarvon. On the ocean side of the road, on a little rise we saw, what we thought at first, was this strange looking "dog" with stripes on its back. It was standing still looking at us as we stopped to look. It stood there for a couple of minutes as we watched and concluded that it was not a dog but a Tasmanian Tiger."
Source: http://www.thylacineawarenessgroup.com/sighting/sighting-near-carnarvon-western-australia/
WA.1996.2.5
"Near Mahogany Creek, WA
An animal that resembled a thylacine was seen on the 5 of February near Mahogany Creek. A lady was out driving when the animal walked across the road in front of her car. The animal came out of bush and went into the bush on the other side of the road. The animal was described as looking like a small greyhound with short fur and muted stripes.
The basic colour of the animal was brown, and the animal looked skinny. The most striking feature was the long skinny tail."
Source: https://web.archive.org/web/20020220025923/http://www.webace.com.au/~pwest/marca/index.html
WA.1996.1.31
"Near Glen Forrest, WA
On the 31 of January another animal that resembled a thylacine was seen near Glen Forrest. The animal was described as being the height of a Blue Heeler dog with a fox like face. The animal was brown in colour with dark stripes on its back near the base of the tail and the stripes extended down the tail. The tail was thin and straight."
Source: https://web.archive.org/web/20020220025923/http://www.webace.com.au/~pwest/marca/index.html
WA.1996.8.2
The famous encounter between a monk (Tony James) and an alleged thylacine at New Norcia's Benedictine monastery, Australia's only monastic town.
Thylacine researcher Sharon West (deceased) wrote about the sighting on the MARCA website:
"A Strange Animal Seen Near New Norcia
A strange animal actually entered a building on a property near New Norcia, which is located approximately 132 kms North-East of Perth. The encounter happened at 5 am on the morning of the 2nd of August. As the animal entered through one door a man entered through another door at exactly the same time. The man and the animal both froze and observed each other eye to eye for several seconds. The animal was silent during the encounter, although the man did have a glimpse of some teeth.
The animal looked lean and almost malnourished in appearance. It also looked quite fierce. After a few seconds the animal turned side on and the man noticed the long thin and pointed tail, which was covered by fine, short hair. The predominant colour of the animal was grey, with some brown and white flecking or spots. The overall colour impression was described as motley. The animal finally turned around towards the door that it had entered and went down on its back haunches (like a kangaroo or 'big cat).
It then sprang with fluidity and grace away. The animal had a broad dog like head with an extremely long and pointy snout. Its eyes were bright and intelligent looking. Its total length from nose to tip of tail was approximately 3 ft, and stood 2 ft at the head. It had small precise paws, The man was approximately 8-10 ft away from the animal and he saw it for 10-15 seconds. The man is 100% sure that the animal was not a feral cat, dog or mangy fox. The animal resembled a thylacine, except that there did not appear to be any tiger like stripes across the rump. The man has been leaving scraps and chicken bones out for the magpies and he suspects that the animal has been coming in for a free feed.
Other local residents have heard terrifying screams and shrieks in the area. A very strange patch of urine was found on some concrete paving near the building in late July. The patch measured 4ft long and 8 inches wide, and it had formed into crystals on the surface. Unfortunately someone accidentally swept the crystals away, before they could be collected. However the urine did leave a bleached stain on the concrete. The urine appeared to have been directed straight down onto the concrete and not sprayed against a wall or tree. There was no strong odour where the urine was. A large scat was also found which measured 5 inches in length. It was loose in consistency and it was very black in colour."
Source: https://web.archive.org/web/20020220025923/http://www.webace.com.au/~pwest/marca/index.html
A segment on the popular program Animal X later covered the story, including footage of an actual interview with the witness Tony James (starts at 13:10):
WA.1996.xx.xx #1
The late Sharon West had her own thylacine sighting one day in 1996, after years of investigating other people's alleged reports.
"Jindong, WA 1996
I was driving along a road near Jindong. I had set my video camera up ready to use in the event that an animal may cross the road. Over the years there has been a number of thylacine like animals seen in the area. The time was approximately 5.30pm and the weather was fine and sunny.
I was driving slowly as it was a dirt road when suddenly an animal came out of some thickets on the side of the road, from a distance of approximately thirty metres in front of me. I stopped the car but left the engine running. I thought the animal was a fox until it came completely onto the road.
The animal did not look at me and I thought that it was injured because the hindquarters were low to the ground, compared to the front quarters, but as the animal slowly moved across the road it seemed to lift its hind quarters and walked properly. I realised then that it was not a fox. At this stage I picked up the video camera and aimed it at the animal. Unfortunately, the camera lens was zoomed in and I could not see the animal. I quickly zoomed the lens out and then slowly zoomed in, but by this time I lost sight of the animal.
I looked back to the spot where the animal had come from and I saw another animal in the shadow of an overhanging bush. I kept the camera on the second animal, but it didn’t come out far enough for me to film it clearly.
The second animal appeared to be a baby, and it stood approximately 8 inches high at the shoulder. It appeared to have a dog like head and pointy snout. Its colour was a deep tan and I couldn’t distinguish if it had stripes or not. The tail and the hindquarters were what really took my notice. The tail looked like a stick stuck on the body, and it was thicker at the base where it joined the body. The tail was pointing towards the ground.
I think that when the adult animal appeared on the road with the hind quarters low down it was letting the baby out of the pouch. A thylacine’s pouch opens from the rear and for the baby to get out of the pouch safely. Maybe the mother Thylacine lowers her rear end to the ground so that the baby can almost slide out of her pouch without falling.
All that the video film showed was some movement in the shadows on the side of the road where the baby was. As a research member commented it is like buying a lotto ticket and finding that you have all six winning numbers then discover that you have lost the ticket.
I know that I really stuffed up with the camera, and I was so angry with myself. Even though the adult animal did not appear to have stripes I still believe that what I saw was a thylacine or a close relative to one."
Source: https://web.archive.org/web/20200925111826/https://www.arfra.org/articles.htm
WA.1996.xx.xx #2-5
Source: Heberle, Greg. (2004). Reports of alleged thylacine sightings in Western Australia. Conservation Science of Western Australia 5(1): 1-5.
WA.1997.7.xx #1
"Thylacine In The South-West Of WA
During July there were two sightings of what appeared to be thylacines in an area approximately 280 kms South from Perth. The first sighting was made by a CALM worker. The animal was described as being 1 and 1/2 mtrs long from nose to tip of tail, and 40 cms high at the shoulder. It was a sandy-brindle colour, but it didn't appear to have stripes. The animal's tail was long, and thin. The tail was held in a horizontal position to the ground. The animal was standing on the side of the road. When the animal saw the car it spun around using its hind feet, different to a dog and went back into the bush. It loped over a log and disappeared into the bush. The animal was seen for approximately 3-4 seconds at a distance of 40 metres."
Source: https://web.archive.org/web/20020220025923/http://www.webace.com.au/~pwest/marca/index.html
WA.1996.7.xx #2
"Thylacine In The South-West Of WA
During July there were two sightings of what appeared to be thylacines in an area approximately 280 kms South from Perth.
...
The second sighting was made only a few miles from the first sighting. The animal was seen by two people. The animal was described as approximately 3-4 feet long from nose to tip of tail and 2 feet high at the shoulder. The animal was a light tan colour with dark stripes across the rump and back. The witnesses saw the animal for approximately 10 seconds from a distance of 22-25 feet. Both these sightings have been investigated, and no paw prints were found. The areas are being monitored."
Source: https://web.archive.org/web/20020220025923/http://www.webace.com.au/~pwest/marca/index.html
WA.1997.xx.xx #1-7
Source: Heberle, Greg. (2004). Reports of alleged thylacine sightings in Western Australia. Conservation Science of Western Australia 5(1): 1-5.
WA.1998.xx.xx #1
Tristan E. Kelly:
"In 1996 I was a passenger in a car we were about 200kms north of Perth Western Australia time was roughly 8:30pm. we came over a slight hill and in the distance we could see what we first thought was a dog on the road as we got closer it was quite clear that this was not a dog. By the time the car was close enough to fully see the animal it had moved to the shoulder of the road but was illuminated by the head lights the animal had several dark stripes across its lower back and it was a Thylacine. If one can survive out in the scrub in this area and not be seen regularly then I am certain they are not extinct"
Source: https://www.gofundme.com/eku4u5wc
WA.1998.xx.xx #2
Frankland River.
Source: https://www.thylacineresearchunit.org/sightingreports.htm
WA.1998.xx.xx (between 0 and 3)
There are already 3 reports from 1998 in this database, and hence the 3 given in (Heberle, 2004) may or may not be duplicates.
Source: Heberle, Greg. (2004). Reports of alleged thylacine sightings in Western Australia. Conservation Science of Western Australia 5(1): 1-5.
WA.c1998.xx.xx
Philip made a comment on the Thylacine Awareness Group of Australia website:
"20 years ago Karratha tip WA was my sighting."
Source: http://www.thylacineawarenessgroup.com/blog-post/thylacine-sightings-in-western-australia/
WA.2000.xx.xx
Near Mundrabilla roadhouse.
Source: https://www.thylacineresearchunit.org/sightingreports.htm
WA.2001.9.30
Two witnesses saw a thylacine along Brand Highway at Gingin.
Source: https://www.thylacineresearchunit.org/sightingreports.htm
WA.2003.3.19
WA thylacine researcher Greg Heberle details numerous possible thylacine sightings made by he, his family and other 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."
Source: https://sites.rootsweb.com/~gregheberle/THYLACINE.htm
WA.2003.9.15
WA thylacine researcher Greg Heberle details numerous possible thylacine sightings made by he, his family and other 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."
Source: https://sites.rootsweb.com/~gregheberle/THYLACINE.htm
WA.2005.xx.xx
A single witness, a married woman. Her husband was asleep in the car.
"I was driving south of Mandurah towards Bunbury along the Old Coast Road in 2005. My husband was asleep as we were passing Lake Clifton. A thylacine crossed the road in front of me. I said, “What was that!” My comment woke my husband, but by that time, the animal had disappeared. I have no doubt about what I saw."
Source: http://members.ii.net/~lawley/thylacine/anecdotes/index.html
WA.2006.10.31
WA thylacine researcher Greg Heberle details numerous possible thylacine sightings made by he, his family and other 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."
Source: https://sites.rootsweb.com/~gregheberle/THYLACINE.htm
WA.2008.12.17
WA thylacine researcher Greg Heberle details numerous possible thylacine sightings made by he, his family and other 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."
Source: https://sites.rootsweb.com/~gregheberle/THYLACINE.htm
WA.pre-2010.xx.xx
Nannup resident Jim Green claims to have seen the thylacine around 5 times since the 1970's. Exact details are not known to the present author, however they may be found in a 2009 edition of the countryman, in which Mr. Green mentions his sightings.
Source: Willix, Pierra. (2017). ‘Tassie tiger’ sighting revives Aussie mystery. Busselton Dunsborough Times, 5 January (Thursday).
WA.2010/2011.xx.xx
Bradley McDermott made a comment on the Thylacine Awareness Group of Australia website:
"I saw what may have been a thylacine, in 2010/11 in the Great Southern, Western Australia. It ran (loped) right past my car at 7pm at night, ran across a road, with me in pursuit on foot and disappeared across a paddock as it went along a creek line. It was a very prehistoric looking animal, its head, snout, ears and tail all looked like the images of a thylacine. It was to dark to notice stripes and I was too awestruck by what I was seeing, however, I did not think it a thylacine until an hour or two later after getting over what I’d seen, it was that incredible, ancient looking. I even drew a small image of it later as I am positive it was a thylacine. I know what I saw."
Source: http://www.thylacineawarenessgroup.com/blog-post/thylacine-sightings-in-western-australia/
WA.2013.xx.xx
"Could these be mainland thylacines? These two clips were shot on a trail cam near Busselton, Western Australia in 2013."
WA.2016.12.25
At least two witnesses, including Brian Slee, brother of the deceased thylacine researcher Sid Slee. An excerpt from a newspaper article detailing the sighting:
"Busselton Historical Society president Brian Slee was driving into town last week when an animal dashing out of the bush reignited an old theory close to home and cemented previously-held beliefs.
“We were driving along Queen Elizabeth Avenue heading into town about 8.30pm on Christmas Day when something trotted out in front of the car,” Mr Slee said.
“It turned and looked at us and I saw its face and at first I was in doubt and thought ‘what the heck is this?’
“It was about 15 feet in front of the car and was about three-quarters grown and about the size of a cattle dog. I was looking at its tail which was sticking straight out like a kangaroo tail.”
Mr Slee said he had no doubt that what he saw was a thylacine, better known as a Tasmanian tiger.
“It was so plain, it was in front of me,” he said.
...
It was dark in colour but I couldn’t see any stripes, which was unusual because the one in 1945 had stripes."
Source: Willix, Pierra. (2017). ‘Tassie tiger’ sighting revives Aussie mystery. Busselton Dunsborough Times, 5 January (Thursday).
WA.2020.12.24 (2AM)
A report made to REPAD by Kate (surname withheld):
"At 2am I was driving to work, and along Karnup Road (north of Mandurah) there was a strange animal in front of my car. It was too big to be a fox, but the tail wasn’t that of a dog or a cat, and the way it moved wasn’t like anything I had seen before. I was in shock at what I saw but I don’t doubt that it may have possibly been a Thylacine. I’ve seen cats, dogs and foxes many times but never before had I seen whatever this animal was! It was a similar size to my Kelpie dog with a feline face structure but a skinny long straight tail that stuck out."
WA.XXXX.xx.xx #1-2
"Apart from the hissing noise, the one made when dad caught it in a trap years ago, there is the spine chilling scream made possibly at mating time. This makes your blood run cold when heard at close distance at night. This scream has been heard by a few people in this district, one such incident was the family who lived in an old farm house which I owned three miles down the road and the people who lived next door.
On investigating next day we found the tell tale footprints in their vegetable garden.
Later when I went to examine a hay crop on this property, I disturbed a thylacine in a small patch of docks where it appeared to be watching the neighbours turkeys ten chains away. It ran towards the turkeys for about two chains then in a flash it just disappeared into the hay crop again. It was dark biscuit on its back. I did not pursue it because of its size." (p. 8, 10)
Source: Slee, Sid. (1987). The Haunt of the Marsupial Wolf. Bunbury, WA: South West Printing and Publishing Company.
WA.XXXX.xx.xx #3-5
Wendy Slee:
"Many South West residents believe they have seen thylacines in the bush.
They tell stories of unexplained prints and huge creatures with bodies like a dog and tails like a kangaroo.
Wendy Slee is a true believer — her father Syd spent decades trying to prove the existence of the Nannup tiger, to no avail.
"I've seen them a few times in my life," she said.
"You can scoff at it, but I've seen them enough times now to know they exist.""
Source: Miolin, Louise. (28 August, 2022). Tamanian tiger alive in spirit in thylacine-obsessed WA town of Nannup. ABC News (online). Available at: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-08-28/tasmanian-tiger-obsessed-town-legend-of-the-nannup/101371150
WA thylacine hotspots (in progress)
Mandurah to Myalup
"Many locals believe that a thylacine or Tasmanian tiger (Thylacinus cynocephalus) lives in the vicinity of the park, and there have been a number of unsubstantiated reports of sightings over a number of years. No undisputed evidence of the animal's existence has yet been produced, but no doubt the stories will live on in local folk lore." (p. 50)
Source: Gough, David and Portlock, Chris. (1995). Yalgorup National Park: A Place of Lakes. Landscope 10(3): 45-51.
WA.c1966/68.xx.xx
Two witnesses, a young boy "KLP" (aged c.10-13) and his aunt. This is his account of the event:
"I was just doing a Google search to see if anyone else had seen a Tassie Tiger-like animal in the Mandurah WA area.
I saw such an animal around 1966-68 on Old Coast Rd, Miami. I was travelling in a car with my aunty, at night, when a large dog-like animal crossed the road in front of us. What struck me at the time, and I still recall vividly, was that the animal had distinctive stripes on its hindquarters and tail. It was very strange. I lived in the area with my parents and siblings, spent most of my free time playing in and exploring in the bush, and it was unlike any other animal, or dog, I had ever seen, or heard of.
I was aged between 10-13 at the time. When I got older, and saw pictures of Tasmanian Tigers, I was, on one hand, convinced that this was the animal I had seen, while on the other hand, logic told me it couldn’t possibly be; Tasmanian Tigers lived in Tasmania and they were extinct anyway.
I have rarely told anyone about the strange animal in case they thought I was ‘kook’. Out of curiosity as to whether anyone else had seen a similar animal in my area, I did a Google search tonight and found an article by Greg Heberle on WA sightings. To my excitement, four of the reported sightings are in the area near where I lived. I tried to contact Greg on his email address, to find out when and exactly where these sightings were, but the email bounced.
There are a a number of caves south of where I lived at Dawesville, and my pop took us down some of them. One of the caves had piles of bones, which as a child I found scary. I have often wondered if the strange animal lived in the caves, and if skeletons were down there. Looking at Greg’s map of reported sightings, these caves are in the vicinity. The Dawesville area has a lot of underground limestone caverns, and I imagine there are many accessible caves that I’m unaware of.
As you have an interest in sightings of Tasmanian Tiger like animals, I thought you may be interested in my experience, and possibly in passing on the info to someone who may like to investigate the caves to see if any skeletal or other evidence exists."
Source: http://members.ii.net/~lawley/thylacine/anecdotes/index.html
WA.2005.xx.xx
A single witness, a married woman. Her husband was asleep in the car.
"I was driving south of Mandurah towards Bunbury along the Old Coast Road in 2005. My husband was asleep as we were passing Lake Clifton. A thylacine crossed the road in front of me. I said, “What was that!” My comment woke my husband, but by that time, the animal had disappeared. I have no doubt about what I saw."
Source: http://members.ii.net/~lawley/thylacine/anecdotes/index.html
WA.2020.12.24 (2AM)
A report made to REPAD by Kate (surname withheld):
"At 2am I was driving to work, and along Karnup Road (north of Mandurah) there was a strange animal in front of my car. It was too big to be a fox, but the tail wasn’t that of a dog or a cat, and the way it moved wasn’t like anything I had seen before. I was in shock at what I saw but I don’t doubt that it may have possibly been a Thylacine. I’ve seen cats, dogs and foxes many times but never before had I seen whatever this animal was! It was a similar size to my Kelpie dog with a feline face structure but a skinny long straight tail that stuck out."