The Tassie Tiger

[stui magpie]

Sightings of the Tassie Tiger just continue.

The Dingo did a number on them on the mainland, although there's still sightings up in FNQ, but the latest one is in Tassie.

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/national/new-footage-fuels-long-futile-hunt-for-tasmanian-tiger/news-story/f20bbe3080a8426cf39bbe44d65acec2

Given there's a fair bit of wilderness still in tassie and the fact that supposedly extinct species have been found alive and well in pockets from time to time, it's not beyond the realms of probability that there are still colonies of Tigers still roaming the apple isle.

So the questions are, what do we do?

Should a lot of effort be put into trying to establish if there are still Thylacines alive in the wild?

If there are, what do we do then?

Should we try to catch some and set up a breeding program, or seal off a few hundred hectares where they're found and leave them to it? If the latter, how do you police that?

If they are still around, the curiosity factor would be huge, people wanting to see them and get a selfie, all things which would mess with their environment and endanger them again.

Where's the balance between leveraging the curiosity to make some coin to help further protect them against making it a side show and finally wiping them out?

It's all well and good to go looking.

[think positive]

Do and spend what ever it takes to save them. I prefer the wild sanctuary solution. How do you police it? Shoot the �$%$ers trying to do the wrong thing. Ok David, ok. Massive fines. I'm talking at least $100,000 for deliberately harming or trying to capture one, and $50,000 for a selfie!

[Pa Marmo]

I would be amazing if they are still out there, I hope they are. I would love to see some video but also see them left alone.

[Tannin]

The first thing to do is to learn how to ignore complete moonshine nonsense.

The second thing to do is act on the many species which are in danger of becoming extinct.

(And since when did any Murdoch rag give a flying flick about conservation or nature? If there was the faintest chance that this ridiculous story was true (there isn't), the Murdoch rags would be first in line to should "jobs", "development", "investment", "exports" "build a road", and "dirty green extremists from the hippy suburbs".)

[partypie]

Believe it or not I've seen one in daylight in south Western Australia about 7 years ago. I had a clear view of it. There are a few stories about them in the area and a fossil exists in Jewel Cave near Augusta. Nannup has a footy team called the Nannup Tigers and it's the town's emblem. Recently I ran into a guy who owned a farm near where I saw it, who had sheep mauled, and I asked him about it. He said he'd seen one twice.
At the time I told someone about it who immediately jumped up and down and yelled at me that I was insane (So?)

[partypie]

PS there are quite a few groups devoted researching sightings and capturing one on film. I doubt theyd be trying to catch one as they are dangerous predators

[Tannin]

There has been more effort, more money, more boots on the ground, and more passion dedicated to finding Thylacines than every other extinct or endangered Australian species put together.

Sum total of hard evidence in getting on towards a century? None. Nothing. Nil. Zero. Zilch. Not a bit. Nada. Not anything. Naught. Nix. Not a cracker. Blank. Void.

It would only take one scat (polite word for a turd), one bone, one tooth, one hair ....

.... crickets.

It is extinct. Dead. Gawn. Stop pretending and start work to prevent the next one.

[Pies4shaw]

I've seen the movie. It looked alive (in 1938 or so).

[Morrigu]

[Tannin]

^ That's a slander on the many excellent institutions which go to enormous lengths to preserve endangered species. Old-fashioned 1940s-style zoos behave as you say. Thankfully, there are few of them left. Modern zoos primarily exist to preserve endangered species and regard paying visitors as a way to (a) generate income to pay for their real work, and (b) a way to spread the good word.

Example: the several Australian institutions which have spent years of effort on breeding the critically endangered Helmeted and Regent Honeyeaters. Thanks to their efforts, and to the efforts of thousands of volunteer habitat restorers (including me) we have been able to start releasing Regent Honeyeaters - once one of the most common birds in southern Australia, and always amongst the most spectacularly beautiful - back into the wild. Slowly, slowly, we are winning this one. But it's a hell of a job and there is a long way to go yet. Without wonderful organisations like Healsville, it would be impossible.

Another example: hopes for the endangered Southern Hairy-nose Wombat and the critically endangered Northern Hairy-nose Wombat - not so long ago THE most endangered large mammal on Earth - depend on (a) habitat restoration (as always) and (b) the development of the extremely difficult captive breeding techniques being pioneered by Healsville.

[stui magpie]

[Tannin]

^ Exactly what I said. Sum total of hard evidence: none. Nothing. Nil. Zero. Zilch. Not a bit. Nada. Not anything. Naught. Nix. Not a cracker. Blank. Void.

No scat, no bone, no tooth, no hair. Not even an (easily faked) footprint in the mud. One hair brushed off against a tree would provide 100% proof. But no, that would spoil all the fun. Instead we get blurry low-res photograph number 17.309 and more crayons on the wall.

[Morrigu]

..

[Skids]

[HAL]