Nice plug, Mike
That thing (and the thing in quite a few other pictures and footage floating around the intertubes) looks a LOT like my dog. He's a mastiff x ridgeback, a lot of people have picked on him for looking like a Thylacine. Same square head, pricked ears, tapering hindquarters, colouring, stiff and slightly upcurved tail, etc. His prints are almost mark for mark the same as most "big cat" casts I have looked at, too. If I was more bored, I'd take his castings and a few local stock death reports to the local paper
He also has a habit when stalking prey of lowering his body and "slinking" along... more feline, than canine. Also likes to hunt almost anything, right down to mice. If you ever see a mastiff x trying to fit behind the fridge to nail a mouse, you know that nature has a sense of humour too. He's a big sook really but I wouldn't like to open our front gate after dark if I was someone else. Anything that eats golf balls for a hobby is not to be interrupted.
Course, my cat is the offspring of a domestic shorthair persian and an unknown southern qld feral. He spent the first 6 months "going sideways" at us, or anything that moved.Not that playfully nibbling your ankles from under the couch like a normal kitten, he would go from "what the F$%k are you?!" to "I'm going to stalk and bite you, and then bite you some more, with the membranes half over my eyes, zombie style".
Literally would never (and still never) backs down from anything. Yknow how you can play fight with a cat, and in about 5 mins it gets all worked up and runs off? Not this one. He just tries to bite you to pieces and as a kitten had to be put into "the Cooler" (spare room) for 10 minutes just to chill him out some. He pants when hot (tongue out, and everything), eats fruit and veg - seriously..cherry tomatos, banana, carrots, anything. When he's not being a weirdo he's trying to de-flea your head. Quite the accessory for the Cryptid-About-Town
He also had an extra, smaller set of upper canines (jammed in behind his main set) that fell out about 8 months, and is currently about 3 feet long (should measure, I read anything over 20 inches is odd, hes certainly a lot bigger than that), nose to tail. Has stripes, too. He has mellowed in his old age (the ripe old age of three) but will still happily bail up visitors at the gate, tells the dog what to do and likes to go out frightening cows. I was going to get him snipped , of course, but to be honest I am kind of curious as to just how big (and weird) he will get left intact.
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