7/27/2019 Morwell Lion (1916)

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Traralgon Record (Traralgon, Vic. : 1886 - 1932) , Tuesday 27 June 1916, page 3

National Library of Australia http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article71548966

Is It the Morwell

Lion ?

The sheepkilling

animal that was

found poisoned in Mr Gilfedder pad.

dock close to the Mirboo township on

Sunday night week does not appear

to be either a dingo or fox, says the

"Gippslander."

It was two or three

times larger than these animals. It

had the legn,paws and nails of a dog,

and the snout and tail of a fox or a

dingo, Its mode ofkilling

sheep was

to worry their rumps and pull away

some of the entrails. Residents who

sawit

say thatit

was a cross between

a dingo or fox and a dog. To Ascer

tain, if

possible, what the animal was,

Mr Gilfedler intendssending the

skull, claws and tail, t) the Director

of the Melbourne Zao, whois recog.

nised as an authority on animals.

Same people at Yirnar whohbad

sheep

destroyed in the waydescribed, pois

oned the carcases, but the animal

would not take the bait. A successful

wayto destroy any other of such breed

as turn up among sheepis to skin rab,

bits and put them in afire,

and thus

destroy

thesmell of the hands and use

on thetrail,

and cut others and lay

the baitsalong the trail without

touching them with the hands. This

was the method Mr Gilfedder used.

Since the death of the animal we have

not heard ofany sheep being worriod

around the distrio.

Mr Gilfedder has received the follow.

ing letter from Mr D. Gibson, National

Bank, Maffra:-Dear Sir,-I noticed

in the paper a few days ago that you

had poisoned an animal, somewhat like a

dingo, but larger, that had been destroy.

ing your sheep. Ienclose a rough sketch

of the Tasmanian Zebra Wolf, in the

hope that itmay enable you to

.identifyit

with that animal.I,

and others, haveseen them up

in the mountains,hut the

fact of their being indigenoas to Victoria

has never been eat iblished by their capture. Probably they are the animal

vaguely called the "'Tantanoola Tiger"

vaguely called "'Tantanoola

and the "Morwell Lion," which has been

seen in somany

localities.The Zebra

Wolf isa marsupial, colored from French

grey to russettsbrown according to the

season, and striped with dark brown to

black on back and tail, and less con

spicuously on the legs. The coatis

short and close; buildvery strong

;pads

especially large for its size; powerful

hind-quarters; progresses either at a

trot or by long bounds ; height at shoal,

der 2!?tbin to 3ft; have seen one in

capstivity which stood on

its hind legs over

5ft high. They are night prowlers;

carry theiryoung

in a pouch. They use

hallow logs, etc,, to sampin, and cover

luong distances,rarely coming

out in the

daylight ; thisis

the reason they have

escaped capture so long. The skin or

cleaned skeleton would be eagerlypur.

chased by either the Melbourne Zoo (D.

Le Seouf), or the National Gallery

Museum, and would probably fetch £20or so, which makes them worth while

saving.