VICTORIAN Government agencies are investigating the discovery of a dead Tasmanian Devil on a road near Wonthaggi in South Gippsland.

However The Weekly Times has learned the animal is likely an escapee from a wildlife park about 30km away.

The Weekly Times obtained an email, originating from Parks Victoria, which contained pictures of the animal and disclosed the exact location where the animal was found.

The email claimed the body was still warm when found at 7am on Thursday, and was being transferred to Cranbourne by Government staff.

However after contacting the Maru Koala and Animal Park at nearby Grantville, The Weekly Times discovered the park had been missing a male devil for a fortnight.

The devil in the photographs is clearly male.

Animal park manager Neroli Heffer said park staff had been searching night and day for the animal, and were "very disappointed" to hear of its fate.

"They're like our family here, we've got names for them," she said.

Ms Heffer said she had not been contacted by either DSE or Parks Victoria regarding the animal's death.

Wonthaggi-based cryptozoologist Mike Cleeland, who studies animals presumed to be extinct, said the animal was the sixth Tasmanian Devil killed on Victorian roads in the past 100 years.

Mr Cleeland said there had also been consistent sightings of a Tasmanian Tiger in the Wonthaggi region.