Thylacine expedition leader Mike Williams, left, and Rebecca Lang are part of the expert team hoping to fi nd evidence that could solve Tasmania’s great Tasmanian tiger mystery. Picture: Chris Kidd Source: Mercury
THE thylacine has officially been put on notice: the hunt is on.
An international team of naturalists from the Centre for Fortean Zoology has arrived in Tasmania for the first in a series of well-resourced and professional expeditions into Tasmania's wilderness to hunt for evidence of the Tasmanian tiger.
Although the animal was officially declared extinct in the 1980s, reports of thylacine sightings are still common and expedition leader Mike Williams from NSW has high hopes that they can find something.
"The problem with a lot of the sightings from members of the public is that they're generally caught by surprise, and their photos are taken on things like mobile phones and aren't very good," he said.
"It will take really good quality video to really convince anyone and preferably a video shot by a person, so we've brought as much gear as we can to improve our chances of being ready if we do see one." Mr Williams is highly regarded in his field and has spent many years searching for evidence of the big cats that are said to roam areas of rural NSW and Victoria.
He is careful not to be too specific about the regions they will investigate in Tasmania, but said they would focus on the state's northwest and southwest.
"We're meeting up with some eyewitnesses to begin with and that will help us narrow down our search areas," he said.
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