Farmer protecting chickens captures creature considered locally extinct for 130 years

A farmer in southern Australia captured an animal considered locally extinct for over a century while trying to protect his chickens. Photos show the spotted creature.

Frank Pao-Ling Tsai, a trout farmer in Beachport, South Australia, heard a “panic” from his chickens and rushed outside early in the morning on Tuesday, Sept. 26, he told McClatchy News in an email.

Inside the coup, Tsai found a spotted creature and a dead chicken, he said.

“I had no idea what it was at first,” Tsai told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. “I expected to find a cat, but I found this little animal instead.”

Photos show the captured animal. It has a furry brown body, long tail and smattering of white spots. It appears angry and bared its teeth at the camera, photos show.

The spotted-tailed quoll was captured in a plastic chicken cage. Photo from Frank Pao-Ling Tsai

The spotted-tailed quoll was captured in a plastic chicken cage. Photo from Frank Pao-Ling Tsai

Tsai captured the creature in a plastic chicken cage, he told McClatchy News. He took photos and shared them in hopes of identifying the animal.

Wildlife officials identified the animal as a spotted-tailed quoll, The Guardian reported.

The spotted-tailed quoll, also known as the tiger quoll, is an endangered marsupial and the “largest native carnivore left on the (Australia) mainland,” according to the Australian Conservation Foundation. An estimated 14,000 spotted-tailed quolls are left in the wild, the organization said.

The last officially documented sighting of a spotted-tailed quoll in South Australia was in the 1880s, National Parks and Wildlife Service Limestone Coast district ranger Ross Anderson told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. The species has been considered locally extinct for over 130 years, the outlet reported.

A photo show the spotted-tailed quoll in a metal cage. Photo from Frank Pao-Ling Tsai

A photo show the spotted-tailed quoll in a metal cage. Photo from Frank Pao-Ling Tsai

“It’s a once-in-a-lifetime event, really,” Anderson told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

“It’s amazing to have something we thought was extinct turning up at our backdoor,” Anderson told The Guardian.

The quoll Tsai originally captured managed to escape out a damaged corner of the cage, he said.

Wildlife officials set up another trap and again captured a spotted-tailed quoll, “most likely the same one,” the local Australian outlet 7 News reported.

“We can’t be sure where it’s come from,” Anderson told The Guardian. “Is it an animal that still exists as a relic population? Is that something that has escaped from captivity? Or is it just a lone animal that’s (…) a really long way?”

After being checked by a vet and DNA-tested, the captured quoll was released at an undisclosed location, 7 News reported.

Wildlife officials will set up cameras and traps to study the rediscovered quoll species and see if there are more quolls around Beachport, The Guardian reported.

Beachport is in the state of South Australia and about 800 miles southwest of Sydney.

Driver spots iconic wild cat — considered locally extinct for 42 years — along road

‘Strange’ sea creature was considered locally extinct — until a runner spotted one

Woman spots small creature — considered locally extinct for 100 years — in her garden