A report just published suggests that the Thylacine's jaws were too weak to tackle anything much larger than a Bandicoot. They effectively exonerated it from being a sheep, or even lamb killer.
In other words, the reason it was hunted to extinction was in itself no justification for killing it, making its extinction all the more pointless and sad...
Can I summarise without writing a novel. Australasia is unique in that marsupials (young are born in a near embryonic state, make their way across the mother's body, until they find a pouch, and feed off the mother's milk until developed enough to be pups, joeys or whatever), dominated the mammalian scene until man intervened.
The Thylacine, Tasmanian or "Tassie" Tiger, resembled a dog, and occupied a similar niche filled by wolves or wild dogs elsewhere. These animals became extinct on mainland Australia before white settlers arrived, but on Tasmania they they still were thriving. When the white settlers arrived, soon tales of this animal began to circulate.
Britain wanted large scale sheep farms on Tasmania, but soon problems arose. The climate was unsuitable, escaped convicts and feral dogs all contributed to the problem. However, a scapegoat was needed, and lurid and totally exaggerated reports of this sheep killer began to circulate. Records indicate that probably around 10% of sheep losses were caused by tigers.
The Tiger was described as a worthless stinking vampire, Britiain was trying to encourage settlement in Tasmania, people were afraid to leave the major towns, even come to the country. A bounty scheme was launched - yes, the sadness of the Thylacine was that out of fear and ignorance, its extinction was deliberate
Early on in the 20th centuary, numbers had dwindled to the point where it was no longer viable to hunt it. The last proven Tiger to exist in the wild was shot in 1930 when it raided the chicken run of the Batty family.
Despite this, Thylacines were exported, hence the preserved specimens in various parts of the world. London Zoo paid £150 for its last specimen
Coming to the video clip, two sources differ, but the animal is probably one of a mother and pups captured and displayed at the Beaumaris Zoo, Hobart. The rest of the family soon died, but the survivor "Benjamin", probably a young female lived on. "Her" end was sad, as in the grip of the worldwide depression, staff at the zoo were replaced by "sussos" (jobseekers in 21st centuary UK) who did not care for the animals and would go home, leaving the animals without access to the shelters in their pens thus not having any protection from the cold.
The zoo's curator, John Reid was becoming increasingly unwell due to injuries sustained when trying to stop an intruder. His daughter Alison gradually took over his duties, when she complained regarding the welfare of the animals, the response was to take her keys away, so she could no longer administer to the animals needs after the zoo was closed.
In a bare concrete pen, with daytime temperatures reaching 100%F and nighttime sub zero, the night of Sept 7 was too much for Benjamin, so ended "her" life. All the zoo's carnivores, with the exception of the two lions met a similar fate
Claims of sightings of Tigers in the wild continued, recently a AU$1.25M was put up if proof of the continuing existence of the animal was forthcoming.
There is a possibility that animals were taken from Tasmania to mainland Australia, there are also claims of recent sightings there
It would be a dream come true if this maligned and persecuted animal has managed to survive
Sept 7 is National Thylacine Day and National extinct species day down under
