International Tasmanian tiger buffs, from left, Tony Healy, Chris Clark, Michael Williams, Rebecca Lang and Lars Thomas have travelled to the island state in a continuing quest for proof that the fabled creature still exists. Picture: ROSS MARSDEN
AN international team of Tasmanian tigers trackers is back in the island state for another expedition to find the fabled creature.
The group of naturalists, headed by Mike Williams, returned last week to search for the thylacine, which was officially declared extinct in the early 1980s.
The last captive thylacine died in Hobart Zoo in 1936.
Joining Mr Williams on his latest six-week search will be zoologists and thylacine hunters from Britain and Denmark.
The expedition is being run by the Centre for Fortean Zoology, based in the UK and Australia, which investigates “mystery animals” considered rare, extinct or undiscovered.
It will be the group’s second expedition after travelling south in October 2013.
But Mr Williams, from New South Wales, has personally been searching for the largest known carnivorous marsupial of modern times for more than a decade
“If someone said to me when I first started that 10 years on we would still be getting tips — our last one was a year ago — I wouldn’t have believed you,” he said.
“With the increase of people using crash (dashboard-mounted) cameras, we believe a local using one might be a good chance of stumbling across a thylacine while driving.”
The five-person team arrived in the state last week and has already been following up tips and speaking to people who claim they spotted the animal in the state’s north.
They will explore areas around northern Tasmania for about four weeks before shifting their focus to the state’s isolated south-west.
“Tasmania is recognised as one of the most biologically rich places on the planet, so it makes sense that the Tasmanian tiger could survive in remote parts of the state,” Mr Williams said.
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