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HISTORY:
- MAGNIFICENT SURVIVOR -
(page 3)
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MAGNIFICENT SURVIVOR - CONTINUED
EXISTENCE OF THE TASMANIAN TIGER (CONTINUED)
"Tigerman" (2005)

    After five months alone in the bush, I was left with a deep sense of loneliness and depression.  Many have underestimated the task of trudging the bush looking for an animal which the whole world says is extinct.  I did learn a lot however; with so little recorded knowledge of thylacine habits or field sign, the only way to understand the Tasmanian tiger is to first understand all other animals in the work area.

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possible thylacine scat (dropping) - (image - Tigerman)
small macropod jaw fragments - (image - Tigerman)
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Several interesting signs were found, but nothing definite.
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    Camping alone in the bush for weeks does strange things to the mind.  During this second search I experienced depression approaching a nervous break down.  After one three-week period wandering around the bush alone looking for tiger, tiger, tiger, I actually started to forget what I was looking for.  The image of a thylacine became blurred in my mind, and I couldn't remember what they looked like.  No amount of tears or self pity would let me see one, or even the slightest evidence of one.

    Trying to truly get inside the head of an animal which nobody knows much about, and was probably extinct, was a source of unspeakable depression.  I felt sorry for this species - so persecuted that it was now nowhere to be found.  I realised there was a problem, when on a sunset hill looking over forest as far as the eye could see, I started to view myself as the last Tasmanian tiger; lonely and wandering around the bush looking for a mate, but unable to find one.

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4WD - (image - Tigerman)
4WD - (image - Tigerman)
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The vehicle endured almost as much hardship as I did.
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    It was about half-way through the second search that I began to think more seriously about the movie script.  I could not find the Tasmanian tiger, but I felt the need to show others the emotion revolving in my head, so I set out to bring the species to life in a feature film.  When times were worst, I drew strength from imagining how the scenes would look; in effect creating a tiger to replace the one I couldn't find.  This second search lasted seven months or so, by which time I was mentally and physically exhausted, and had all but given up.

    While taking a break at my home in Queensland to mentally recover, I was able to finish the film script, and preparations were made to gain funding for production.  While organising the film script, I conducted a review of recent thylacine literature and managed to gain a few new insights on behaviour and preferred habitat.  Several mentally gruelling field searches followed over the next two years without much joy, although there was a sense that I was slowly narrowing it down.  During May 2002, I was finally able to glimpse a juvenile thylacine for five seconds.  The next day, I saw an adult in the same area.  My online book describes both sightings in detail.

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4WD - (image - Tigerman)
4WD - (image - Tigerman)
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After a break to regain motivation, I was back in 2000 with a smaller 4WD to easier access the abandoned logging tracks.

    Of course, everything changed after actually seeing the animals.  For the next four months, I lived in rented cars trying to film thylacines in the same area without success.  After the first month, it was abundantly clear that working out of a car in the middle of winter was unsustainable, so the decision was made to buy a house nearby.

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