Unfortunately, there are problems with accepting this alternative position in the source debate.  Churchill stated in his 1957 interview with Sharland, and in his 1969 interview with Bailey, that only two thylacines of the eight that he caught were taken alive, and that one of these was a female with three pups.  His first confirmed live capture was at Adamsfield in 1923.  This thylacine entered the Beaumaris Zoo's (QD) collection between the 23rd May 1923 and the 5th June 1923, and died shortly thereafter with a foot infection, having never being placed on public display.      Is it reasonable to question that with Churchill's two live captures accounted for, could his purported 1934 capture for the zoo have been confused, with the passage of time, for his earlier 1923 Adamsfield capture?

A third position was recently advanced by Sleightholme, Gordon & Campbell (2019).  In a paper published in the Australian Zoologist entitled "The Kaine capture - questioning the history of the last thylacine in captivity", the authors discuss the capture of a previously unknown thylacine for the Beaumaris Zoo (QD) in 1931, and its relevance to the order of the last captive thylacines on display at the zoo.  The Kaine thylacine was captured by the daughters of a Preolenna sheep farmer by the name of James Kaine.  The recollections detailed in the paper were made by Kaine's only surviving daughter, Nell, who was witness to the capture.     A juvenile male thylacine was caught in a trap by Nell and her sister on the fringe of the Kaine property in 1931.  Its hind leg had been damaged - probably broken in the trap.  The thylacine was later recovered by their father, boxed up in a crate, and transported to James Harrison in Wynyard, (Tasmania's leading dealer in wild animals), where veterinary attention was immediately sought for the damaged limb.  Over the course of a few weeks, the thylacine made a full recovery and was subsequently sold by Harrison to the Beaumaris Zoo (QD) for £8 in August 1931.

. Another image of Benjamin.  Like all of Dr. Fleay's photographs of this individual, this photo was taken on 19 December 1933. Photo courtesy: David Fleay Trustees.

    Soon after its arrival at the zoo, it was filmed for a few seconds by a visiting British doctor (Dr. Stewart) and his wife honeymooning in Tasmania.  However, this was not the only occasion on which the Kaine thylacine was filmed.  Historical films 3 and 4, which had previously been thought to have been taken in 1928, were proven by Sleightholme & Campbell (2014) to have been taken several years later, in the early months of 1933.  At the time of writing, they assumed from its stripe pattern that the thylacine shown was the Churchill capture, but all of the evidence now points to this being the Kaine specimen.

    The question then arises - was the Kaine specimen the zoo's last captive thylacine, that died on the 6th September 1936?

    In May 1936, a young photographer by the name of Ben Sheppard visited the Beaumaris Zoo (QD) and took a single photograph of the zoo's only thylacine, in its enclosure.  This is now one of the most reproduced images of the thylacine in the literature.

    Sleightholme, Gordon and Campbell (2019) made a detailed comparison of the stripe pattern between the Sheppard specimen and that photographed and filmed by David Fleay, and found them to be a perfect match.  In addition, both the Sheppard and Fleay specimens had identical trap marks to the right rear leg.  They concluded that the Fleay (1933) and Sheppard (1936) thylacines were one and the same animal.

    This finding poses problems with the provenance of any additional capture acquired by the zoo from Churchill.

    The accepted view is that Churchill captured a thylacine near Tyenna in the early months of 1934, and that this thylacine was sold to the zoo in May 1934.  Unfortunately, the minutes of the Hobart City Council Reserves Committee for the period 21st June 1932 - 22nd May 1934 that would have confirmed the Churchill purchase have not been preserved.

    If Churchill did capture a third live specimen in 1934, why did this fact escape him in his interviews with Sharland and Bailey?

    Sleightholme, Gordon and Campbell (2019) argued that as there are no records of two thylacines being on simultaneous display at the Beaumaris Zoo (QD) post-1934, and no known photographs of the Churchill specimen, this must raise doubt on the universal acceptance and validity of Churchill's 1934 capture.  They state: "These paradoxes leave us with a number of perplexing questions relating to the end display of the species at the zoo, that will undoubtedly require further research to resolve".

    We know that the Kaine thylacine entered the zoo's collection in August 1931, and that it was subsequently photographed by Doctor Stewart shortly thereafter.  It was then filmed by Fleay in December 1933, and photographed by Sheppard in May 1936.

. Benjamin, Beaumaris Zoo (QD), circa 1933.

If the Churchill thylacine entered the zoo's collection in May 1934, as is commonly believed, how can the various inconsistencies in its story be resolved with what we know of the Kaine capture?     Further research is undoubtedly required to resolve this quandary.     All parties in the source debate are in full agreement over the date of Benjamin's death.  The minutes of the Hobart City Council Reserves Committee have been preserved, and on the 16th September 1936 note:

    "The Superintendent of Reserves reported that the Tasmanian tiger died on Monday evening last, 7th instant, and the body has been forwarded to the Museum.  Noted:  Efforts to be made by Superintendent to obtain another tiger up to the value of £30 each".

    As noted in the minutes of the HCC Reserves Committee, Benjamin's body was sent to the Tasmanian Museum.  What happened to the body when it arrived at the museum is unknown.  As a great zoological rarity, was it photographed?  Where the organs preserved and sent to Sir Colin MacKenzie at the Australian Institute of Anatomy in Canberra?  Was the skin preserved?  The answer to all of these questions remains unknown.

    Somewhat ironically, Benjamin was the only thylacine to have received full legal protection.