Review: Lure of the Thylacine

Lure of the Thylacine

True stories and legendary tales of the Tasmanian Tiger. 

 

Author:                                Col Bailey

Publisher:                            Echo Publishing

Type:                                    Soft Cover

Pages:                                   280

Genre:                                  (True Stories)

Published:                            2016

ISBN:                                   978-1-76040-088-0

 

The book itself is well made. Its a little over nine inches tall, six inches wide and  a inch thick. I didn't notice any misspellings or grammatical errors. One slightly odd thing was that there are eight glossy pages of drawing and photographs, these are nice but are not in the center of the book. It doesn't distract from the book in any way its just a little different.

 

The book begins with longer bushmen stories that border on glorifying the old trappers and loggers. With stories of the Thylacine becoming as tame as a beloved pet to tales of the creatures vicious nature.

The book delves into the history of the Thylacine, the government bounty and the eventual conservation efforts. Most of the information concerns Tasmania but sometimes include West Papua and mainland Australia. 

The "scientific community's" denial of evidence (sightings, photos, blood, hair, videos, footprint casts, and in at least one case a whole corpse,) provided to them infuriates me. I wonder if these creatures might have been saved from extinction if the "scientific community" had done its job instead of ridiculing witnesses. Even today those who witness the Thylacine are met with ridicule. The author doesn't seem quite as angry about this as i am, which is probably a good thing for the reader.

There is a little crossover when we get into more modern sightings especially with the Alien Big Cat or Australian Puma and Lions witness testimony. While some stories go for pages long, others are a few to a page. Indeed while there are 64 chapters some of those chapters are only two pages long.

There is an extensive chapter on the Newfoundland Wolf and its sad parallels with the Thylacine. In fact i should mention the Thylacines story is a sad one, and a lot of the pictures show it in the horrible zoo conditions of the time.

The chapter on the Aboriginal Australians relationship with the Thylacine was especially fascinating.

The end of the book lists source credits for each individual chapter.

This is a great read and got me through a day when i had no electricity. I would recommend it for anyone interested in Cryptozology, animals, and Australian history.

There is an aspect of the Thylacine not covered in this book, and after searching online i can not find any reference to it. So in the interests of my own safety i am leaving it out of this review.

The slaying of Cecil was tragic, lets do something.

A coward and a lion

If the world needed another reason for strict gun laws they got one with Walter Palmer, the American dentist who killed the Cecil the lion.

It is said that the guides Walter hired to enable him to kill a lion, dragged a carcass behind their car in order to lead Cecil out of the safety of the national park. Cecil was then shot with a bow and hounded for 40 hours before being shot dead. It didn't end there for Cecil, he was skinned and beheaded.  

Cecil was well known in the park and even wore a tracking collar as he was part of a  Wildlife Conservation Research project from Oxford University. He was relatively tame and had little fear of humans, allowing them to approach and photograph him often.

Walter Palmer  a Minnesota dentist claimed he didn't realise the "hunt" was illegal. If that is true then it is truly frightening that someone of such low perceptive ability, intelligence or common sense, could have access to firearms.

But Walter Palmer is a repeat offender, he has killed many wild animals, some of which i have used pictures of in this blog. It has been revealed that Walter Palmer illegally killed a black bear in 2009, pleaded and was let off with a slap on the wrist, and somehow was still allowed to use firearms.

The other poaches who participated in killing Cecil have been prosecuted, and i have read that Walter Palmer may face extradition. He has a lot of money though so he may be able to buy his way out of it, we have too keep an eye on this, to ensure justice is done.

Sadly due to the Death of Cecil one of his cubs has been killed by a new pride leader. We hope this death is added to Walter Palmer's charges.

On a personal note, i would like you to remember how you felt about this story, about the callous and unnecessary killing of Cecil. Because that is how some vegetarians and vegans feel about all animals. So next time you see someone vilifying, teasing, being aggressive to someone who chooses not to kill animals needlessly, please remember that we are not that much different, and stand up for them.

Vegans and vegetarians get abuse all the time, simply because we choose not to be cruel to animals, if your one of the people that do this, stop, its not funny, (we have probably heard it before) and its not going to make you feel any better about your actions.

If the tragic death of Cecil touched you, why not do something to make you feel beter;

Adopt a lion

Help get better gun laws 

Stop animal cruelty in Australia

Stop animal cruelty (International)

Go Vegetarian

Go Vegan

If you know of an Australian anti-gun violence group, or any other organisation you feel should be listed here please let me know.