Thylacine stays extinct

[Tim Williams <twilliams_alpha@hotmail.com>]

Well, you could have knocked me over with a feather...

http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/no-show-by-tigers-of-tasmania/2005/07/05/1120329448480.html

No show by tigers of Tasmania
July 6, 2005

They came, they searched and they left. The Bulletin's $1.25 million bounty 
for a live Tasmanian tiger has expired without a hide, hair nor trace of the 
world's most coveted extinct marsupial.

The magazine's editor-in-chief, Garry Linnell, said there had been no firm 
evidence of a living Tasmanian tiger, or thylacine, during the three-month 
offer.

"I think if $1.25 million cannot provide the skerrick of evidence of the 
tiger's existence, then it's pretty safe to assume it's not there," he said.

The Bulletin offer was an attempt to solve what it called "one of 
Australia's most enduring mysteries". At the outset, Mr Linnell said there 
was hope that the thylacine had survived in the Tasmanian wilderness, 
despite being declared extinct in 1986.

However, even with more than 4000 unconfirmed sightings of thylacines since 
the last tiger died in captivity in 1936, The Bulletin's search had produced 
nothing new. "I'm disappointed, actually, because I would have rather found 
one," Mr Linnell said.

The closest the magazine came to finding "evidence" was an obviously 
doctored digital photo of an albino-looking tiger, he said.

The reward did, however, confirm that Australia's larrikins are alive and 
well. The Bulletin received photos of labradors painted with black stripes 
and children in tiger costumes.

It was approached by some people who offered to quit their jobs for a year 
and search for thylacines, providing they were funded. A German man said he 
had dreamt about the thylacine and its whereabouts and the magazine should 
fly him to Australia to prove his visions.

"We fully agreed with him: he was definitely dreaming," Mr Linnell says in 
tomorrow's edition. While he says the thylacine is a cold case, the magazine 
may donate money to ensure the survival of Tasmania's other unique animal, 
the Tasmanian devil.

- AAP