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Chronicle (Adelaide, SA : 1895 - 1954), Thursday 21 July 1949, page 20

National Library of Australia http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article93217730

Mountain Folk In Tosmanio Are Staying Indoors At

Night . . .

Is

Tiger

'

On Prowl

by Denis — ?

I

? Hawker —

Folks around Mountain River settlement on the fringe of Tas

mania's apple-growing Huon River, haven't cared to venture out

of doors on recent moonlit nights.

Their disinclination springs from, fear of the unknown. A

'phantom' animal, to which locals attribute some, of the will o'

the wisp qualities of the Loch Ness Nonster, is at large in the dis

trict.

MOUNTAINRiver set

tlers, living as they

do on the edge of

the comparatively unexplored

horizontal scrub country

stretching west to Port Davey,

are not ol the type to be

frightened by material bodies,

but when an animal, which

makes noises like 'the low

throated neighing of a horse''

leaves no tracks on its first ap

pearance,it is a matter of some

concern.

Since having been seen

around the settlement on three

moonlit nights the women and

children have stayed -indoors

while a posse of 20 men has

scoured the hills for the 'phantom.'

Drovers added to tue local

consternation when they re

ported that their dogs turned

and ran when they came on an

unknown animal unexpectedly

in the scrub.

Roaring Noises

TIMBERcutters, drovers

and orchardists hare seen

the shadowy outline of

the animal making off

ahead of them as they have

ahead of them as they have

moved about at night. The un

phantom-like noises it makes

have been described as 'roar-

ing,' 'growling,' and 'the low

throated neighing of a horse.

One man found a place in

the scrub where obviouslya

-large animal bedded down. The

trampled undergrowth indi

cated that the beast was

smaller- than a horse, but big

ger than a dog.

Jack Oates, an experienced

bushman, was the first to see

the animal. It jumped up five

feet in front of him. 'It scared

me stiff,' he said. 'It had a

big head, and a broad, white

:hest.''~

Two drovers, mustering

cattle, came on the 'phantom'lying near a log. They re

ported that it was large, tall,

and dark brown and resembled

a greyhound, but was half as

big again.

Local people harked back to

the time early in- the year when

73 head of prize Romney Marsh

sheep were stampeded into the

Huon River by an unknown

creature.

These and other conflicting

reports, and local fears, caused

the field officer of the Tas

manian Fauna Board (Mr. A.

manian Fauna Board (Mr. A.

C. Fleming) to visit Mountain

River. After hearing the ex

periences of people who had

seen the animal, he said that

it was probably a Tasmanian

tiger.

But Mountain River is still

doubtful.

The Tasmanian wolf or tiger

(thylacinus cynocephalus), now

almost extinct, has many in

teresting characteristics.

It is the largest existing

native carnivorous animal in

Australia and is also a mar

supial.

Broader in the body than a

greyhound, but built on similar

lines and almost as speedy,

the tiger has short, rather

harsh grey-brown hair and is

marked with dark transversestripes across the hind part of

the body.

Unlike a dog,, its tail is fused

with its body. in the female

the puppy-carrying pouch

opens backward.

The tiger existed on the

mainland in what authorities

call 'recent geological times.'

It was driven to Tasmania bythe advent of the dingo and

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the advent of the dingo and

the formation of Bass Strait

isolated it there.

The Tasmanian 'tiger' or Marsupial Wolf, from Charles Barrett's book, 'ls!e of Mountains.'

PriceOn Head

THEtiger became a menace

to early settlers in Tas

mania and its raids on

stock caused the Govern

ment to put a price of £10 on its

head.

It was not uncommon for

shepherds then to make al

most £50 from one animal.-

They took the head round

neighboring holdings and

persuaded individual land

holders to reward them for

ridding the property of a

tiger. When their 'round'

becameexhausted they took

the head to the authorities

and claimed £10.'

To be found in possession of

a tiger head today would cost

anyone £20.

The tiger hunts alone and

runs down its game. One of

its habits is to drive a wallabyon to a beach and there kill it.

The tiger eats only the best

cuts and leaves the rest for the

Tasmanian devil, a terrier-like

animal (sarcophilus harrisi) ,

also a marsupial, which exists

,

also a marsupial, which exists

in larger numbers than its

bigger hunting colleague.

The devil is like a terrier,

but has a bushy tail and short

muzzle. Blackish-brown, it is

implacably ferocious.

Shrewd Animal .

THEtiger, one of the

shrewdest of animals, is

seldom caught in traps, or

snares. Many have be

lieved him now extinct; the last

authentic report of one being

seen was in 1935.

Recently the chairman of

Sydney's Taronga Park Zoo

trustees (Mr. E. J. Halls trom)

initiated an expedition to Tas

mania's wild west coast to ob

tain a tiger. Despite his offer

of £100 for one, none was

caught.

Authorities say that if the

Mountain River 'phantom' is

anything?

more than vivid

imagination, it most probably

imagination, it most probablyis

a tiger. The trackless area

behind the settlement would be

its natural habitat.