Posted by: Loren Coleman on December 12th, 2007
What could be the source of the new sightings of striped mystery animals, detailed below?
When is a striped mystery animal seen in Australia not automatically tied to the sightings of Thylacines? Apparently, it was bound to happen in this Year of Mange.
You will note in this article the code word “mystery.”
But you will not find anything about the Thylacine, by name, in the following article. I noted that cryptid in the headline to not ignore the most obvious unknown striped animal seen in Australia. However, Thylacines have black stripes on a brownish body, and the description is of “dirty grey coat with white stripes on its rib area.”
Sometimes a Thylacine’s stripes appeared faded, whiter, or on more parts of the body than normally thought.
But maybe the “mystery animal” looked more like an unknown felid. If you re-read the description of the cryptid, you will see how thin it really is (the description, not the animal).
What did the animal look like, really? Did the animal have a broad muzzle? What was the length of the hair? What was the shape of the legs? There are so many unanswered questions in this quick report.
This is breaking news from the rural countryside halfway between Geelong, the second largest city in the state of Victoria, Australia, and the town of Winchelsea.
(I have added the photographs, for Cryptomundo comparative and illustrative purposes. They were not with the published article.)
A Freshwater Creek farmer believes he spotted an unidentified animal near his home last week.
Harry Cook yesterday told of having watched the mysterious four-legged creature on Friday at 4pm while showing a friend his property.
“We looked into the valley and this strange animal was standing there, with three wedge-tail eagles circling above. It had a dirty grey coat with white stripes on its rib area. I thought, God, it’s strange,” he said.
“When it saw us it went into a crouching run and took off into the creek.”
Mr Cook said the animal was about 1m tall with a small head, long legs and a slim build. He said the tail was upright and hairless, unlike anything he had seen before.
“What I saw wasn’t a fox, foxes don’t stand that tall. It’s a new kid on the block, I suppose,” he said.
This “mystery animal” (above) photographed in 2004 in North Carolina turned out to be a fox with mange, which in advanced stages can look very “mangy” (see below). But are stripes visible in mangy foxes?
Liz Wylie also reported seeing a similar creature on her nearby property in Modewarre.
The mum-of-three yesterday said she saw a striped animal three months ago casually walk past her horse being held in a paddock.
“I know what foxes look like and I know what wild dogs look like. This wasn’t either of those,” she said.
Big cat researcher Simon Townsend said anything was possible but the animal was most likely a mangy fox.
“If it’s showing stripes it may be suffering from problems with its coat,” he said. ~ by Britt Smith, “More strange animal sightings,”, Geelong Advertiser, December 12, 2007.
Thanks to Chad Arment, publisher of Coachwhip Publications, for sharing this item.
Loren Coleman is one of the world’s leading cryptozoologists, some say “the” leading living cryptozoologist. Certainly, he is acknowledged as the current living American researcher and writer who has most popularized cryptozoology in the late 20th and early 21st centuries. Starting his fieldwork and investigations in 1960, after traveling and trekking extensively in pursuit of cryptozoological mysteries, Coleman began writing to share his experiences in 1969. An honorary member of Ivan T. Sanderson’s Society for the Investigation of the Unexplained in the 1970s, Coleman has been bestowed with similar honorary memberships of the North Idaho College Cryptozoology Club in 1983, and in subsequent years, that of the British Columbia Scientific Cryptozoology Club, CryptoSafari International, and other international organizations. He was also a Life Member and Benefactor of the International Society of Cryptozoology (now-defunct). Loren Coleman’s daily blog, as a member of the Cryptomundo Team, served as an ongoing avenue of communication for the ever-growing body of cryptozoo news from 2005 through 2013. He returned as an infrequent contributor beginning Halloween week of 2015. Coleman is the founder in 2003, and current director of the International Cryptozoology Museum in Portland, Maine.