"You'd be brave to write it off completely, wouldn't you?" This is just one of many messages of support biologist Ken Tustin has received this week, after the Otago Daily Times was the first to publish his photograph of what could be a moose in Fiordland.
Mr Tustin is still in two minds about whether he may have captured the first conclusive photographic evidence of a moose in Fiordland in more than 50 years, despite many people contacting him to say they believed he had snapped "the money shot".
"Between email and telephone calls, I've had about 30 people contact me. About a third say 'Congratulations, you've got a moose', and the other two-thirds say 'Look, I don't know.
It's probably a deer, but look at that muzzle'."
Mr Tustin said the photo had also generated much media interest and he had been interviewed by newspapers, national radio and television.
"I'm surprised that such a poor quality photo has created so much general interest and debate."
The photo was one of about 5000 snapped by 13 motion-sensor digital cameras with infrared flash, which have been set up for the past 18 months on animal trails near Herrick Creek and Henry Burn, near Dusky Sound.
Of the 5000 photos, about 4000 were triggered by red deer.
But one taken on March 7 this year made him sit up, Mr Tustin said.
He has been searching for the elusive animal for nearly four decades.
He photographed what he believed was a moose in Fiordland in 1995, and was more comfortable calling the animal in that photo a moose.
The last confirmed sighting of a Fiordland moose was by Robin Francis Smith, who photographed a moose cow at Herrick Creek in 1952.
In the latest photo, Mr Tustin said the animal's large muzzle, with hair on its bottom jaw, resembled a moose calf or yearling.
But its slender, upright neck made it look more like a red deer.
Mr Tustin said all the cameras at Herrick Creek had been removed for maintenance, and would be replaced within the next month.
Some would be moved to get better angles.
"The search will continue. We'll keep going until we get `the money shot'," he said.
