Melbourne-based Michael Moss, who has been a thylacine researcher for ten years — and who has paid special attention to Victoria, Australia — is, as of mid-2006, planning to visit Portland, Australia. He is bringing a couple of infra-red cameras, and will try to capture Tasmanian tigers on film.
If recent sightings are any indication, he might have better luck than many before him.
Portland inhabitant Anthony Ersello said on June 12, 2006 that he observed in an intersection what "looked like a bit of a dog but [...] didn't really look like one." It had a pointed face and stripes, like the presumably extinct thylacines. Ersello attempted to photograph it with his cell phone but was unsuccessful.
Another person, who did not wish to be identified, claimed to have observed thylacines twice during the previous twelve months. This resident of Portland believes that thylacine pups have been seen, and that tigers cross farms on a regular basis.
Moss, who had been told the foregoing over a three-month period, spoke of the possibility that thylacines had been released into Gippsland during the early part of the twentieth century. He cited a Wilsons Promontory 1912 management report for relevant details.
But there is no confirming documentation that the animals were actually set free there.
And, like in Victoria, there is — so far — no scat evidence, despite all the eyewitness accounts.
— Douglas Chapman
The Standard, http://the.standard.net.au/articles/2006/06/13/1149964506180.html, 6/13/06
Sydney Morning Herald, http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/08/18/1061059765660.html, 8/18/03