"A little over 40 years
ago I became a sheep holder myself. Just as I was getting nicely
stocked up, in one year I had 442 sheep killed, and continued to lose from
60 to 80 annually. I (while a tenant) erected two miles of wire netting
fence from my house to the Weavers Creek, cleared the fallen trees off
to the river, built automatic traps, and so mitigated the trouble that
I have since leased a lot of that Crown Land, and erected on it about six
miles of galvanised wire fencing. To talk of putting these animals
on the wholly protected list is neither more nor less than an infringement
of the liberty of the subject, and if such is done, and I have any more
sheep killed, I shall claim compensation from the Crown, even if I have
to follow them to the High Court" - Robert Stevenson, White Hills.
|
The Mercury,
20th July 1928 (p. 3).
|
In the Colonial Times of the 6th September 1836 (p. 7) is an article describing
a new method of vermin control for wild dogs, tigers and devils:
"We have been requested to give publicity to the following manner of destroying
wild dogs, tigers, devils, etc., the great enemies of the flocks of this
Colony. When it is known that animals of the above description are
in the neighbourhood, a man on horseback should drag a trail of some kind,
either a paunch, or any stinking animal flesh; this trail should extend
some distance, and be made in the form of a cross, in the centre of which
poisoned meat or traps may be laid. Great care should, be taken by
the person making the trail not to touch the ground, or the meat, or the
trap, for the vermin scenting the human touch would not come near.
When the trap or poisoned meat is prepared, the dogs or other vermin when
beginning to hunt at night will come upon one of the cross trails, and
will most certainly hunt about the line till they come to the trap or meat.
Dogs and indeed all wild animals are more acute in their scent and hearing
than are those domesticated, and the success of the plan depends principally
on the caution employed. The devil and tiger are most ravenous, and
will soon fall upon the meat, or into the trap, whereas the dog must be
extremely, keen set before he will do so. The wild dog being however
such a destroyer of sheep is worth a little trouble to get rid of, and
should it be found that no poisoned bait will tempt him, and that he is
too cunning for a pit-fall or man trap, you have a certainty of a shot
at him if you will keep sheltered from the sight at a gun-shot distance
from the trail, taking care not to cross the trail, and to be to the leeward.
It is natural for all vermin to hunt on such a scent as above described,
and although they will sometimes smell and turn over the food without eating,
still you may depend as a certainty on shooting or trapping. Of course
success is more likely to follow, if the neighbouring flocks are well watched,
or taken from that part of the run, for then the voracious appetites of
the vermin render them much more daring than where fresh fat mutton is
to be had for a run. It is needless to remark that this plan costs
little, or nothing, and is a common method of destroying vermin in several
parts of the continent, there can be no reason why it should not succeed
equally as well in Van Diemen's Land. Thousands of foxes are in some
parts of France annually killed in this manner, as are also wolves; and
surely, if the cunning fox can be so trapped the stupid tiger or thick
headed devil would be more easily ensnared. We have however given
publicity to the plan, and the sheep owners will, if they try, find it
more effectual than all the dog acts that could he framed in preserving
their sheep from the ravages of the vermin". |
.
.
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Source: Heinrich Leutemann,
"Die
Welt in Bildern" (The World in Pictures), from the German magazine,
Münchener
Bilderbogen (1864).
|
An article entitled
"Hunters
Paradise", from the Examiner newspaper of the 13th April 1929 (p. 6)
reports:
"Hyenas or Tasmanian wolves,
native devils, and eagles were plentiful, and a large number of the two
first mentioned were captured in pits with swinging tops, and the latter
were snared at the entrance to yards enclosed with brush. A number
of trees near the woolshed at Waterhouse were decorated with heads of these
animals as trophies".
The North West Post
of the 22nd February 1915 (p. 2) states:
"The other day while Mr. F. Dempster was out on his
run, he shot a native tiger which measured 7 feet in length. When
skinned it was found that three bullets had entered the skull, thus proving
the tenacity of the life of the species".
The thylacine was an
easy target of blame for the failings of the stockmen. Its predation
on livestock was grossly exaggerated to cover for poorly managed estates,
feral dog kills, poor pasture, rural depression and rustling.
In the Wellington Times
and Agricultural and Mining Gazette of the 3rd June 1893 (p. 3), an article
entitled
"Desperate Encounter with a Native Tiger" states:
"We have been supplied
with particulars of a recent encounter with a native tiger which seems
to upset the theory, often sought to be established, that the animals are
not ferocious, and will not attack human beings. This statement may,
under ordinary circumstance be true, and may only be subject to exceptions
in cases of danger and anxiety, as in the present instance.
Mr. Simon Power,
in the employ of Mr. H. R. Hethewic (possible misspelling) in the
Evandale district, on visiting the snares one morning found a dog tiger
in one of them. The animal, which was dead, was taken out and the
snare re-set. It might here be stated that like the majority of snares
to catch tigers, it was set on a log which crossed a small river.
On returning to the snare some time after, a buck tiger was caught, and
he was lying in the water with the snare round his neck, and apparently
dead. Mr. Power walked along the log towards the snare, and without
the least warning the tiger sprang at him, caught him by the right shoulder
with his teeth, tearing away a large piece of the coat, and severely lacerating
the right side of his face with its great paws. Mr. Power's position
now became serious, as the tiger, in making another desperate spring, broke
the snare and caught him by the right arm near the wrist. By an almost
superhuman effort the infuriated brute was shaken off, and Mr. Power grasped
it firmly by the tail, by which means he was able, although not without
the greatest difficulty, to overpower it. By this time both the man
and the tiger had become desperate. Mr. Power still held on to the
animal by the tail, and eventually pulled it on to the bank of the river,
where he quickly turned it over and broke its back. The fight was
now done as the tiger died, and when measured was found to be 5ft 4in from
the nose to the tip of the tail". |
