GIPPSLAND ‘MONSTER’ CAPTURED

Hawera Star, Volume LIII, 10 March 1934, Page 11

GIPPSLAND ‘MONSTER’ CAPTURED

W HAT is believed to be Gippsland’s “mystery animal” has been captured, says a Melbourne newspaper. The creature, it has been disclosed, is not a lion, a dingo, a panther, nor the village postman, as was variously suggested. It- is not as large as a calf, nor is it 3ft high and 6ft long, as has been described, but it is, as some wit- ■ nesses of its periodical appearances have said, fawn-coloured, with a large j rather cat-like head and a body like j that of a great over-grown dog or dingo, j It has a peculiar whine. The “mystery” animal is a giant l wombat, with an unorthodox wombat; gait, leaving footprints unlike those of j most of its family and very like those: found in the bush which gave birth to ' the mystery. The captor was iCoustablc Glenrov: biggins, of the wireless patrol, who has spent much of his life in the bush, and a bush companion. The wombat has been lodged next to the white rabbits at the Melbourne Zoo, where, loosed . from the heavy ropes necessary to hold ! him. he spent the first few moments in a desperate attempt to burrow through the iron fence. • The animal is equal to the largest the curator of the zoo, Mr A\ il'kie, has seen. It is about 3ft long, with a head at least a foot in length from the tip

Mystery Revealed as Giant Wombat

! of its nose to the base, behind the • j short, pig-like ears. It- has a low, whining growl and the largest feet for , I a wombat that Mr Wilkie or the eon- ■ ' stable, who has seen many, have ever i come across. , I Instead of leaving clawmarks and the i! mark of only a portion of its .feet, ! this wombat places its feet firmly upon C the ground, giving an impression, alii most as large as a hand, of the whole |of its foot. It was so fierce and per- ! turbed at its capture that a clear footprint could not be obtained for eom- ! parison. It did not yield to capture ! without a struggle. j “We were on a shooting expedition l in the hills near Drouin when we caught him,” said Constable Biggins. “lie ! fought fiercely and at one stage held ; down by the shoulder one of the two ; Alsatian dogs we had with us before he rolled into a waterhole, where he was lassoed. He charged each of us in the process, but missed us.” : Constable Biggins said that it would be quite possible for the wombat, in the darkness, to be mistaken for a : larger animal such as had been reported. Perched on a ridge, or half-hid-den by undergrowth, it could give all sorts of impressions to one seeing it by night.