| TRAGIC
IMAGES OF A BYGONE ERA
The historical period in which thylacine
bounty hunting took place was by no means an age of ecological awareness.
While there were certainly a few commendable exceptions, most people of
the time considered any animal that represented even a remote possibility
of a threat to agriculture a "pest". Unless a living thing could
be exploited in some way for profit, it was regarded as worthless and relentlessly
destroyed without question. Any species (carnivorous or herbivorous)
that was perceived as an obstruction to man's so called "progress" was
killed through either direct assault by shooting, trapping and laying poisoned
baits, or by simply obliterating its habitat.
The thylacine is a classic victim of greed,
false notions, irrational opposition toward native wildlife and apathetic
attitudes. Thousands of these magnificent animals were killed by
Tasmania's farming community in a misguided attempt to protect alien livestock
such as sheep that didn't belong on the island in the first place.
When compared to other factors, it is unlikely that many domestic animals
were actually taken by thylacines. For example, historical records
show that the majority of sheep losses were in reality attributable to
thieves and predation by feral domestic dogs. Indeed, loss of stock
due to thylacines was probably never substantial enough to be economically
significant. In the case of Tasmania, it was unfortunately the thylacine
which became the settlers' target of blame for agricultural troubles.
As has so often been the case, a wild, misunderstood species was accused
of "getting in the way of development".
Presented here is a gallery of twelve historical
photographs which date from the late 18th to early 19th centuries.
They are a poignant visual record of one of man's most hurtful actions
toward his marsupial cousins. The scenes depicted in this gallery
are highly unpleasant, but they should not be forgotten. The persecution
of the thylacine is not just a terrible blight on Australian history, but
indeed, that of the world at large. Like all species, this animal
is a part of the natural heritage of the planet as a whole - the product
of millions of years of evolution. Places which still retain populations
of other endangered species would be well advised not to let a similar
tragedy befall them.
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