People on the internet have been left scratching their heads over new images allegedly showing a Tasmanian Tiger, 88 years after the species went extinct.
Reddit users were split by the new photographs, with some convinced they could show the real thing and others fearing it’s a hoax.
A man identified as Zack shared the images with American wildlife biologist Forrest Galante, claiming he and his dad encountered the beast at the side of a road while visiting Tasmania in April.
Speaking with Forrest during an interview on his YouTube channel, Zack said he and his father had, at first, believed it was a dog before it “opened its mouth” and made a shrieking sound.
He claimed the encounter lasted around 30 seconds, during which he managed to take some photos, before the animal bolted away.
The biologist said the photos of the alleged “Tasmanian Tiger” were “pretty on the money”, with one showing the animal’s face illuminated by a flashlight. Zack claimed the encounter was like “a stand off” and said: “We weren’t sure what either one of us was going to do. It was like waiting for one or the other to attack.”
Following the interview, Forrest said: “I really, really want to believe him, but it’s gotta be a hoax. But then it’s not the weirdest thing to happen. My gut tells me it’s some kind of fake.”
The images were later shared to Reddit‘s r/HighStrangeness subreddit, where users were split over whether the sighting was the real deal. One user said they were “heartbroken” as they could not believe the sighting.
They wrote: “I’m heartbroken as I’ve been following potential thylacine sightings for years and truly believe a remnant population could be out there. But these photos are too good to be true when you contrast it with Forrest’s interview with a guy who was incredibly sketchy.”
Another user said they were convinced the Tasmanian Tiger is still out there after a drive around the wilderness. They wrote: “It wasn’t until I drove around Tasmania that the possibility of a surviving population seemed non-insane. The Tasmanian wilderness is vast and almost inaccessible. It takes up a fifth of the state, with three roads through it, and overlaps with the Tasmanian tiger’s original range.”
But one Tasmanian resident disagreed, writing: “I live in Tasmania, if the thylacine still existed then someone would have hit it with a car by now and we would have a carcass.”
Others seemed convinced these new photos could be real. One wrote: “It looks real to me, but unfortunately AI has made it so hard to know.” Another said: “If those are authentic and not AI generated then the Tiger still exists!”