It's also been called the Tasmanian hyena, Tasmanian Wolf, and others, but for a hundred years Tasmanian Tiger and Thylacine are the two that have stuck. Thylacine is a bit more technical/accurate. Yes, it is a marsupial and it preys upon other marsupials. Some of the animals were fairly large, I think one was recorded that was about ten feet from nose to tail end, although of course the tail was pretty long. If you go to the movie link preview I gave above, there is rare actual footage.
Tempdoug, c'mon man anyone can make up a b.s. story like that, we weren't born yesterday!
Just kidding...you're quite right the government gives little credibility after all this time. It is also correct Ted Turner may have pulled his reward offer fearing the result would be a dead Thylacine and then he would be villainized. However, I disagree a dead Thylacine is necessary for proof. A good photograph and esp. a good video would be sufficient. There have been a couple of fake photos over the years, but they didn't fool many. In the case of a single photo, it also depends frankly in part on the reputation of the photographer. None of the scammers in the past were forthright, willing to meet with experts, offer to take a lie detector test, etc. But a good clear video - that would certainly do it as long as it was made available for expert analysis.
While the government officially lists the Thylacine as extinct, I believe anyone who would watch and listen to my video interviews of people who have seen the Thylacine would be convinced that the persons did indeed see a Thylacine. Some of these sightings are extremely strong such as two people familiar with Tasmanian wildlife observing two Thylacines at close range for a period of several minutes. This one and most of the others were never reported to authorities and I only found out about them by chance or maybe some perseverance in following up on leads. These people weren't looking for any publicity at all.
The most recent sighting was last year by a minister who did not want to be recorded on video and insisted his name be held in confidence. I visited the sighting location and really it wasn't anything special, just thick bush in a rural farm/broken woodland area. Apparently, he was in the right place at the right time. About this time a farmer less than a mile away had found a strange kill of one of his sheep. The animal had been opened up and only the lungs and heart eaten plus the nasa structure. The Thylacine was known to have vampirish tastes...
About helicopter use, the main problem is for a big search over several months or several years you are talking mega bucks. I know of two uses of helicopters to get into remote areas and set up cameras, but IMO the tiger hunters weren't experts and only stayed a short while. I've logged about 200 hrs. flying over Tasmania which is a lot. Eight years of flying. But the planes were not STOL and the effort was basically to reconnoitre Tasmania. It is a difficult situation for many reasons. But I have a solid plan and I believe a real chance.
I've had one documentary company from England that wanted me to participate in their project, but I'm not interested in being an actor. I'm interested in actually finding the Thylacine. Animal Planet was down in Tasmania recently making another documentary and that should be out fair soon as in a few weeks. Hopefully, it's better than their Big Foot TV stuff. I know they did interview a few people I know who had credible sightings and I give them some credit for finding those witnesses.
The Tasmanian Tiger/Thylacine has pretty lofty status in Australia as well as Tasmania. It's on license plates, the State Seal, you have many businesses named after the animal, used on beer logos, football teams and even oil reservoirs in the ocean are named after it and numerous business. Pretty much equivalent to the Bald Eagle for Americans. Except it went extinct. Or didn't...