A WILD ANIMAL.

Press, Volume LXVIII, Issue 20495, 14 March 1932, Page 5

A WILD ANIMAL.

ALARM IN VICTORIA. MYSTERY OF THE RANGES. U-ROM OUJt OWN COBKIJSEOIiBJtSi'.) SYDNEY, March 3. At Myrtlef ord, in the Mount Buffalo district of. Victoria, a mystery animal, powerful and shaggy, is terrorising the people, and search parties have been out for more than a week in a vain search for it. It is said to have made at least three savage attacks, and the residents say that the prints of its giant feet have been found in the soft soil. No one seems to know exactly what it is like, but if all accounts are to be believed it is seven feet high, it has a hairy head, razor-like claws, and four white tusks, runs like a clumsy deer, and lurks in the shadows and leaps on unsuspecting horsemen. This mystery beast was first heard of about a month ago. One of the Cherry brothers, who are farmers at Running ' Creek, was going home on a still, moonless night. He came to the gate and bent from 1 ; the saddle of his horse to lift the latch. The gate opened. Then, in the darkness, there was a grunt and a scuffle and a bulky figure leapt at the horse's head. The horse bolted, Cherry clinging to its back.Next morning ho went to the gateway and examined the ground, and sure enough he Baw the footmarks of some giant beast. They might have been made by a grizzly bear! A couple of nights later the Cherry brothers heard a strange creature lumbering around their hut. The horses threshed and whinnied until the strange noises ceased. Hunters Surprised. The same week three men from the Eunning Creek district decided to hunt the animal and went to the Cherry brothers for guidance. They combed the thick scrub for several hours with their guns always ready for an encounter. It was nearly midnight when they set out for home in a buckboard. They bumped through the eerie shadows of Running Creek road and - then, in the twinkling of an eye, the thing they had been seeking was upon them. The scared horse stumbled and fell and the shafts broke and the three hunters were thrown on to the roadway. They picked up their guns and fired, but in the confusion the animal sneaked into the cover of the bush. But when daylight came,the men found the print of the giant feet. * Another Night Attack. Gradually the alarm died, and men scoffed at the stories that had been circulated. Then, last Thursday night, came the experience of William Nutall, a 21-year-old drwer. At nine o'clock at night he was riding : home, with his sister, Mrs L. Maker, and Ted Clealand. They were all jog-trotting along in the shadows when Mrs Maher heard her brother cry out: "Bide like madi an animal has attacked me." Her horse took fright and bolted for three miles. Meanwhile Nutall faced the mysterious animal which came from the shadows and.made to strike him with its paw. The claw ripped" his shirt and flannel but missed his body. His horse took fright and pounded down the Toad. Nutall looked once at the apparition, and then dashed for the wire fence 1 dividing him fromthe railway, fine, He

sprang the fence,' the creature at his heels. He raced down the railway line. The animal was springing behind him, grunting, scattering ..the metal with his feet. Twenty, or 30 yards they faced, and then Nutall saw his horse on the roadway, quivering. He turned from the railway line and cleared the dividing fence with a single spring. He heard - his pursuer blunder into the fence and fall back. He told his sister .that it was the only thing that, saved him. He vaulted into the saddle and rode to safety. Such is the history of the mystery animal so far. Some .Myrtlef ord folk have a theory that it is an old man kangaroo, driven from the "hills by the bushfires and wandering about smokeblinded. William Nutall does not accept that theory and thinks he was tacked by a gorilla;