THE TASMANIAN TIGER
WHILE the Thylacine (“Tasmanian wolf”) today is confined to the remote and mountainous parts of the West Coast and barely able to support itself on the smaller “game” which inhabits those districts, it is not so many years ago when it was fairly well distributed in the State and a price was placed on its head because of its inroads among settlers’ flocks. Trappers, shepherds and others who spent any time in the bush found the hunting of the animal to be rather profitable and consequently a large number of animals fell victim to gun and snare. The Government paid a reward of £1 a head for all that were deposited at a police station, but a Thylacine‘s scalp in those days was worth much more than this. The shepherd generally rode round with the head to several sheep owners in the district and collected toll from each of them before claiming the final reward, and so, over the years, the business of catching Thylacines was one that brought in good returns. Then came a day when the animal was observed to be getting less common, until it could no longer be found on the nearer sheep runs, but was being driven back to the rougher country of the Central Plateau and the forests of the Tiers. Occasionally, one might wander down to the lowland pastures and kill a few sheep at night until it was tracked down or forced to retreat to its mountain haunts; but ultimately, all were driven to take refuge in the remote western districts, where the remnant is now making its last stand.
Changed Attitude
Today, as against rewards offered for its capture, the Government imposes penalties for its destruction. Conservation is the catchword. So rapidly has the Thylacine diminished, in a period of about half a century, that its very existence is now threatened and all efforts are directed to preserving the residue of its race. In addition to being placed on the list of wholly-protected animals, its export from the State is prohibited, and the Government is considering the creation of a sanctuary where it may be free from destruction in snares or traps which are set whenever an open game season is declared.
A Distinct Family
Variously called “wolf,” “tiger,” and “hyaena,” this primitive marsupial carnivore is actually none of these. Although it bears some superficial likeness to a dog or wolf, it is a distinct family, with close affinities with the Dasyuridae, which includes the common bush mice (Phascogales), native cats and the Tasmanian “devil”; and although fossils indicate its presence in the past on the Mainland of Australia, it is not now found beyond Tasmania.
WHILE the Thylacine (“Tasmanian wolf”) today is confined to the remote and mountainous parts of the West Coast and barely able to support itself on the smaller “game” which inhabits those districts, it is not so many years ago when it was fairly well distributed in the State and a price was placed on its head because of its inroads among settlers’ flocks. Trappers, shepherds and others who spent any time in the bush found the hunting of the animal to be rather profitable and consequently a large number of animals fell victim to gun and snare. The Government paid a reward of £1 a head for all that were deposited at a police station, but a Thylacine‘s scalp in those days was worth much more than this. The shepherd generally rode round with the head to several sheep owners in the district and collected toll from each of them before claiming the final reward, and so, over the years, the business of catching Thylacines was one that brought in good returns. Then came a day when the animal was observed to be getting less common, until it could no longer be found on the nearer sheep runs, but was being driven back to the rougher country of the Central Plateau and the forests of the Tiers. Occasionally, one might wander down to the lowland pastures and kill a few sheep at night until it was tracked down or forced to retreat to its mountain haunts; but ultimately, all were driven to take refuge in the remote western districts, where the remnant is now making its last stand.
Changed Attitude
Today, as against rewards offered for its capture, the Government imposes penalties for its destruction. Conservation is the catchword. So rapidly has the Thylacine diminished, in a period of about half a century, that its very existence is now threatened and all efforts are directed to preserving the residue of its race. In addition to being placed on the list of wholly-protected animals, its export from the State is prohibited, and the Government is considering the creation of a sanctuary where it may be free from destruction in snares or traps which are set whenever an open game season is declared.
A Distinct Family
Variously called “wolf,” “tiger,” and “hyaena,” this primitive marsupial carnivore is actually none of these. Although it bears some superficial likeness to a dog or wolf, it is a distinct family, with close affinities with the Dasyuridae, which includes the common bush mice (Phascogales), native cats and the Tasmanian “devil”; and although fossils indicate its presence in the past on the Mainland of Australia, it is not now found beyond Tasmania.
The Mercury (Hobart, Tas: 1860 – 1954) Sat 25 Mar 1939, Page 5
