Tasmanian tiger hunter insists he is 'very close' to proving the extinct animal is still alive with these photos - and scientists are 'lazy' for demanding DNA evidence
- A tassie tiger hunter said he has 'irrefutable proof Tasmanian tiger is not extinct
- He released three images, one of which he claims is solid proof they're alive
- The images show a small animal with a straight tail and a series of stripes
- Tasmanian Museum have concluded that the animal was unlikely to be a tigerA man who has been combing the bush for years to uncover evidence of Tasmanian tigers believes he will soon have 'irrefutable proof' the mammal is not extinct.
Tassie tiger hunter Neil Waters from the Thylacine Awareness Group of Australia released a video of coloured pictures he claims are of the elusive animals.
He claims to have compiled comprehensive evidence to rebut experts who say the photos are likely to be of a padmelon, not juvenile tigers.
A man who has been combing the bush for years to uncover evidence of Tasmanian tigers believes he has 'irrefutable proof' the mammal is not extinct. Pictured: An animal Neil Waters said is a baby tassie tiger
He has now claimed to have compiled comprehensive evidence to rebut experts who say the photos are likely to be of a padmelon, a Macropod, not juvenile tigers. Pictured: A foot print Neil Waters said belongs to a thylacine
Mr Waters told news.com.au vets confirmed the animals in the photos are not feral cats either.
He also said they have four legs - which means they cannot be macropods, marsupials whose front legs are much smaller than their hind legs, such as a pademelon.
Mr Waters said the images prove the creatures are breeding and wants them to be reclassified as endangered and not extinct.
'[If] we can verify the two photos are clear of a thylacine baby then that is enough in the scientific world to prove it still exists, is still breeding and drastically needs to be protected more than what it is,' he said.
Tassie tiger hunter Neil Waters (pictured) from the Thylacine Awareness Group of Australia released a video of coloured pictures of the elusive animals on Monday
The former horticulturalist also said scientists are 'lazy' because they want DNA proof of thylacines still being alive, and that the Tasmanian Government doesn’t care about the creatures.
‘We’re trying to prove this animal exists and we get zero help from the government,’ he said‘Because we haven’t produced a dead animal for science to cut up they don't want to believe it. We have this idiotic government that wants to pretend it’s extinct.’
There are about a hundred other activists like him who are searching for proof that thylacine’s still exist in Australia.
Mr Waters said video of the furry creature walking through the bush was solid proof the Tasmanian tiger was still alive.
'It gets really interesting when the camera gets into focus,' Mr Waters said in the video.
Neil Waters, a known Tasmanian Tiger hunter from the Thylacine Awareness Group of Australia, released a video made up of coloured pictures of the elusive animals. He said the above image was solid proof the Tasmanian Tiger was still alive
In the footage, Mr Waters revealed three images that were captured three weeks ago alongside comments from experts.
The third image showed a small animal with a straight tail and what appeared to be a series of stripes along its backside - two features that mark a Tasmanian tiger.
'It's the image I'm hanging everything on because I know what I'm looking at here,' he said.
'And what's that we have here... several stripes on the tail, several stripes on the rump. Like a band going all the way around its back.'
Mr Waters was so confident that he sent the photos to the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery for assessment. He said the picture right showed an animal with several stripes on the tail, which resembled a Tasmanian Tiger
Tasmanian devil expert and curator at the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery Nick Mooney concluded the animal was unlikely to be a Tasmanian tiger.
'Nick Mooney has concluded that based on the physical characteristics shown in the photos provided by Mr Waters, the animals are very unlikely to be thylacines,' the museum said in a statement.
Mr Mooney said they were most likely pademelons which is a type of small wallaby.
'With all due respect I disagree with Nick Mooney's opinion and that's fine - that's perfectly OK - and he encourages me in his report to get as many opinions as I can because his is only one opinion,' Mr Waters said in the video.
The museum said there had not been any confirmed sightings documented since 1936 and the tiger has been declared extinct since the 1980s.
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