For decades, the Tasmanian tiger was portrayed as Australia’s most dangerous livestock predator. Farmers blamed it for dead sheep, newspapers described it as a threat to agriculture and the Tasmanian government eventually offered a cash reward for its destruction. By the time the last known thylacine died in Hobart Zoo in September 1936, the species had disappeared from the wild. Yet modern research shows that the animal may have been convicted in the court of public opinion long before the evidence was properly examined. Historical bounty records, population modelling, body size analysis and disease investigations now indicate that the thylacine’s reputation as a destructive sheep killer has been greatly exaggerated. The real story behind the extinction of the Tasmanian tiger appears to be far more complex and far more tragic.
Over $2,000 reward paid out because farmers believed thylacine was killing sheep
The campaign against the thylacine intensified in the late nineteenth century as sheep farming expanded throughout Tasmania.From 1888 to 1909, according to official government records, more than 2,000 bounties were offered for killing thylacines. The thylacine was routinely blamed for mass livestock losses by farmers, ranchers, and politicians.The problem is that much of this reputation was built on guesswork rather than direct observation.According to Tasmanian Land Conservation, many allegations were based on finding dead sheep and attributing the attack to the thylacine, without confirming which hunter was actually responsible. Feral dogs, which existed in parts of Tasmania, were also capable of killing livestock and often left behind similar evidence.The size of the animal is also included in this debate. Most adult thylacines weigh between 15 and 30 kg. Although certainly capable hunters, they were much smaller than many contemporary descriptions suggested.
New population models suggest hunting alone cannot explain the decline.
The 2021 analysis examined more than 1,200 historical observation records and reports involving the species.Researchers from the School of Natural Sciences at the University of Tasmania used statistical modeling to reconstruct the decline in thylacine populations and test different extinction scenarios. The results suggested that while bounty hunting had undoubtedly reduced numbers, persecution alone struggled to explain the rapid and widespread disappearance in Tasmania.The study ‘Extinction of Thylacine’ found evidence consistent with a population that was already under severe pressure at the beginning of the twentieth century.In some areas, sightings declined more rapidly than expected if hunting were the only factor. This raised the possibility that another process was at work along with human predation.
Disease theory focuses on strange reports from past decades
One of the most interesting explanations comes from historical reports collected by researcher Robert Paddle as part of his study ‘The Thylacine’s Last Straw: Epidemic Disease in a Recent Mammalian Extinction’.In his review of the evidence for the thylacine extinction, Paddle documented animals that appeared unusually weak, thin, or unhealthy. Eyewitnesses reported individuals suffering from hair loss and poor physical condition in areas where food resources should have been available.This pattern is similar to what scientists might expect from an epidemic disease spreading through a small and fragmented population.Although no biological samples exist that can conclusively prove that an outbreak of disease occurred, Paddle argues that epidemic disease is one of the few explanations able to account for the speed and geographic scale of the decline.Importantly, this theory does not replace hunting as a cause. Instead, it suggests that the persecution may have attacked a population already weakened by some other threat.
Extinction of the Tasmanian tiger was probably a chain reaction
The image of the thylacine as a sheep-killing threat helped justify decades of organized persecution. Once the bounty began, each dead animal became another reason for the hunter to eliminate.Yet the evidence available today points to a series of events rather than a single cause. Hunting killed thousands of animals. Habitat pressure reduced the available area. The small population became increasingly vulnerable. The spread of a disease can leave survivors even more vulnerable.The tragedy is that many of these questions were investigated only after the species became extinct.By the time scientists began to seriously investigate whether the thylacine’s reputation matched reality, the world’s largest known carnivorous marsupial had already become a symbol of extinction. What remains is a cautionary lesson in how myths, economic fears, and incomplete evidence can shape the fate of an entire species.