Strange animal sighting in Victoria

More Strange Animal Sightings (Dec 12 Geelong Advertiser)

by Britt Smith

VICTORIA: 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.

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.

http://www.geelongadvertiser.com.au/article/2007/12/12/9642_news.html

CFZ OZ Team

Tarra-Bulga - It's a Hoax!

As far as yowie sighting cases go, the Tarra-Bulga case, on the face of it, was a compelling one.

On April 23, 2006, at least six people heard strange 'bellowing' sounds and saw what they described to Parks officials as a 'big ape' at Corrigan's Suspension Bridge in Tarra-Bulga National Park.

Crypto sleuths Paul Cropper and Tony Healy began to do some digging and tracked down witness Mike Skelton.

He provided a detailed description of the creature that helped to put the sighting into perspective - it appears that Mr Skelton most likely saw someone in a 'Chewbacca' suit (a creature featured in the famous Star Wars movie trilogy).

A field site visit by Cropper and friend James Reid sealed the trio's suspicions that the sighting was actually a hoax.

For the detailed story, visit Cropper and Healy's website The Yowie File.

What do the veteran cryptozoology researchers, and authors of the new book 'The Yowie: In Search of Australia's Bigfoot', think of the hoax? "Clearly someone went to a lot of trouble to hoax this...Possibly this is a clear message never to even take multiple witness cases at face value".

This case could easily have been added to the annals of Australian cryptozoology as a bona fide mystery if someone had not bothered to do a little digging. 

CFZ Oz Team

The Truth About Australian Snakes

Ho ho ho - it's almost time for Christmas.

So let's 'cut the crap', as Neville Burns' informative DVD about Australian snakes proclaims, and introduce you to the ultimate herpetological stocking stuffer.

This is one heart-pumping mini-doco! A few of the CFZers have known Neville (and his snakes) for quite some time.

He's a well-known Australian herpetologist and bushman of many years standing, and has rubbed shoulders with everyone who's anyone in the reptile world, including the renowned Irwin clan of Steve/Australia Zoo fame.

There isn't anything Neville doesn't know about our scaly friends, and the advice he shares in this DVD could save a life.

Buy the DVD from Strictly Reptiles.

CFZ OZ Team