Really, Thylacine causes a threat to farm animals?

This discussion is based on a photograph taken in 1921 by Harry Burrell, an Australian amateur naturalist. This image shows that a Tasmanian tiger (Thylacinus cynocephalus) is holding a chicken in his mount, and this has been published in the Australian Museum Magazine. 

There was a myth among ancient people that thylacines were a threat to the livestock animals. So historians and scientists argued that this image is proof of this idea. But the reality of this image was doubted by everyone. Burrell’s former associates stated that the Thylacine in this photograph is not a real one, and this may be a mounted specimen placed in a bush background. 

In 2005 Carol Freeman, an Adjunct Researcher at the University of Tasmania, used a digital imaging program to determine this photograph’s reality. This is one of the last negative representations of thylacine in zoology work since this can be considered a “deceptive potential” of photography that can impact wildlife. 

Harry Burrell

Carol said that Burrell may be motivated to submit this kind of false photography since he is an amateur naturalist. But amateurs were not always respectable since these images can mislead people. Further, she said that Burrell is popular in making jokes relates to animals. He has the ability to build dioramas and make suggestions about them and the representation of animals. 

Finally, Carol said that this photograph is a fake one. 

The photo in question. Image credit: Harry Burrell

The case of Norman Laird

Norman Laird. An associate of Harry Burrell has stated that the Thylacine in this picture is a fake one set up in a bush background. Carol started to investigate this while requesting access to the original glass-packed negatives in the Australian Museum. She found that the image has cropped to make it look like the thylacine was in the wild. So, she believed Norman Laird after a detailed analysis on it.   

 

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