"It Wasn't Any Animal I've Ever Seen": Berriedale Survivor Speaks

Benny Salter doesn't want to be here.

The 36-year-old mechanic from Glenorchy sits across from me in a quiet corner of a Sandy Bay café, nursing a coffee he hasn't touched. His left arm is still bandaged from wrist to elbow. Faint scarring is visible on his neck, disappearing beneath his collar. He moves carefully, like someone whose body has recently taught him the cost of sudden movement.

"I'm not doing this for attention," he says, before I've asked my first question. "I just need someone to write down what actually happened. Because what they're saying — the 'exotic animal' thing — that's not what I saw."

Salter spent three weeks at Royal Hobart Hospital following the incident at 2 Wallcrest Road on 2 August. He underwent emergency surgery for what doctors described as "deep lacerations to the torso, arm, and leg." He lost significant blood. For the first forty-eight hours, his survival was uncertain.

He's declined all interview requests until now. When I ask why he's finally agreed to speak, he takes a long moment before answering.

"Because I can't sleep," he says quietly. "Every time I close my eyes, I see it. And I keep thinking — what if there's more of them? What if someone else walks into that, not knowing what's there? Someone should know. Even if they don't believe me."

"I Shouldn't Have Been There"

Salter is careful about what he'll discuss. He confirms he was inside 2 Wallcrest Road on the evening of 2 August but won't explain why.

"I was doing a favour for someone," he says. "That's all I'm going to say about that. The reason I was there — it's got nothing to do with what happened. And some details aren't mine to share."

He's aware this sounds evasive. He accepts that it undermines his credibility. But on this point, he won't budge.

"I know how it looks. Bloke won't say why he was in the house, but wants you to believe his story about some monster downstairs. I get it. But I'm not going to throw someone else under the bus just to make myself look better. You can print what I tell you or not. That part's up to you."

What he will describe is what he encountered in the lower floor.

The Lower Floor

Salter had been in the house for approximately twenty minutes when he heard something moving on the lower level.

"The place smelled wrong," he says. "Like something dead. I thought maybe a possum had got in and died under the house. Happens sometimes. I went down to check."

The stairwell was dark. Salter used his phone's torch to navigate the stairs.

"I got about halfway down when I heard it. This sound — not a growl exactly. Lower than that. You felt it more than heard it. In your chest."

He pauses, staring at his untouched coffee.

"I should have turned around. Every instinct I had was screaming at me to get out. But I kept thinking — it's probably just a dog. Someone's dog got in through a broken window. That's all."

It wasn't a dog.

"Eyes Like Nothing"

Salter struggles to describe what he saw when he reached the bottom of the stairs.

"It was big. Bigger than any dog. Built like a cat — a big cat, like a panther or something. But wrong. The proportions were wrong. The way it moved was wrong."

He shakes his head, frustrated by the inadequacy of language.

"Its eyes. That's what I can't get out of my head. They were completely black. Not dark brown, not deep-set — black. The whole eye. Like looking into nothing. Like there was nothing behind them at all."

The creature was crouched over something on the floor. Salter didn't see what. He doesn't want to speculate.

"It looked up at me. Slow. Like it had all the time in the world. Like it knew I wasn't going anywhere."

The Attack

What happened next took seconds but has replayed in Salter's mind for weeks.

"It moved. I don't know how else to describe it. One second it was across the room, the next it was on me. I didn't see it cross the distance. It was just there."

The creature's claws caught his arm first, then his side. Salter felt himself being dragged across the floor.

"The pain was — I can't describe it. Like being cut with razors. But the worst part was feeling how strong it was. I'm not a small bloke. I've worked physical jobs my whole life. And I couldn't do anything. It was like being grabbed by a machine."

He managed to kick free — "more luck than anything" — and scrambled for the stairs. The creature didn't immediately pursue.

"It let me go. I don't know why. Maybe it was just playing with me. Maybe something distracted it. But I got to the stairs and I ran."

The Light

Salter made it halfway up the stairs before the creature came after him. What saved his life, he believes, was a woman he'd never met.

"There was someone else in the house. A woman. I don't know who she was. I never saw her face properly. But she was at the top of the stairs when I came up, and she hit the light switch."

The effect on the creature was immediate.

"It flinched. Like the light hurt it. Like really hurt it — not just startled, but actual pain. It made this sound and pulled back. Gave me enough time to get past it."

Salter collapsed at the top of the stairs. The woman — later identified as Kate Gibbons — had been trying to help him when police arrived.

"She saved my life," he says. "Hitting that switch. If she hadn't done that, I'd be dead. And then they shot her."

His voice cracks slightly. He takes a moment to compose himself.

"I didn't know her. I don't know why she was there. But she saved my life, and then she died. And no one's even talking about that."

"Not Any Animal I've Ever Seen"

Salter is emphatic that what he encountered doesn't match the official description of an escaped exotic pet.

"I've seen big cats," he says. "At the zoo, on TV, whatever. This wasn't that. The eyes were wrong. The way it moved was wrong. And that thing with the light — since when do cats flinch from light like it's burning them?"

He knows how this sounds. He knows people will dismiss him as traumatised, confused, unreliable. He's made peace with that.

"I don't care if people believe me. I just want it on record. Whatever was in that house, it wasn't an escaped pet. It wasn't any animal I've ever seen. And if there's more of them out there somewhere, people need to know what they're dealing with."

When I ask what he thinks the creature actually was, Salter shakes his head.

"I don't know. I've been lying awake for weeks trying to figure that out. All I know is what I saw. And what I saw terrifies me."

The Questions Remain

Tasmania Police have not responded to requests for comment on Salter's account. Wildlife authorities continue to describe the animal as "species unidentified" and have declined to provide further details.

The animal's remains are still being held as evidence. No timeline has been given for when analysis will be complete or results released.

Kate Gibbons was buried on 15 August. She is survived by her son, Joel, 19.

The unidentified man found deceased in 2 Wallcrest Road has still not been publicly named. His death remains under investigation.

Luke Smith, the property owner, has not been charged with any offence. He has not spoken publicly about the incident.

And somewhere in an evidence locker, the body of something that shouldn't exist waits for an explanation that may never come.

If you have information about the Berriedale incident, contact Tasmania Police or Crime Stoppers.

Adam Panchak is Senior Investigative Journalist at the Tassie Independent.