Thylacine sighting gives heart

I AM incredibly gratified by the report in the Mercury (October 16) of the sighting of a thylacine (Tasmanian tiger) by a Western Australian couple, who in February last year reported seeing one at Corinna on the West Coast.

Apart from the vertical stripes, this couple noted that the tail of the animal was stiff and firm, and that “the animal was calm and did not act scared at all”.

That was exactly the same as my experience 50 years ago while living in Burnie. On a trip back from Marrawah and Redpa, I had the exact same experience. The thylacine came from the southern side of the road, and walked into the right front of my car. It showed no sense of danger or peril. I had, at that stage, never seen any photos of the thylacine, but some years later, when the Mercury’s then nature editor “Peregrine” published a photo of the last-known thylacine in the Hobart zoo in a Saturday morning edition, I immediately recognised what I had killed a few years previously.

After this event, I read up about the thylacine, (the books were produced by the forerunner of what is now Service Tasmania) and there are varying reports of the animal being very skittish, and others of the animal calmly walking into timberworkers’ tents looking for food, even while the occupants were in the tent.

One of my former staff, who has travelled to and through the West Coast, hundreds of times over the years, has sighted at least two thylacines in that time. They are not plentiful. But they are still about!

Barrier to public

WITH the lodging of representations concerning a tourist hotel in the Rosny Hill Nature Recreation Area now closed, the process moves on. Under law, these must be taken into consideration by Clarence City Council. Under the planning scheme, as few as seven aldermen can make the first decision about this tourist hotel. How many of the 500 or so objectors will be able to take their objections further it they do not agree with the council’s initial decision? They have that right. But do they have $300 to $400 to lodge a form with the Resource Management Appeals Tribunal? This fee represents another bureaucratic barrier to public participation in the planning process.

Take smoking out

THIS week the Hobart City Council’s resolution to ban smoking from thee more public spaces — Franklin Square, the University Rose Garden and Legacy Park — takes effect. A ban on smoking in the block bounded by Liverpool, Murray, Collins and Campbell streets, including outside the Royal Hobart Hospital, is set for April next year.

While people associate smoking with lung cancer they are typically unaware of the raft of other conditions that can be brought about by smoking, like stroke, type two diabetes, macular degeneration, low bone density, reduced fertility, and coronary heart disease, Australia’s single biggest killer. It is important to strive to take smoking out of the picture entirely, and certainly far away from our beautiful, otherwise healthy living spaces where people routinely gather. Congratulations HCC.

Seniors Week shocker

IT is Seniors Week in Tasmania. How many of our seniors will board a Metro bus and show their Seniors Card, only to be told they have to pay to travel?

After nearly two decades of free travel for seniors during Seniors Week, the Hodgman Government has axed the service. There has been no advertising to explain to seniors they must pay to travel this year. How many will be caught out?

It is a slap in the face for our senior citizens and another cruel cut by the State Government. I know that a token effort was made to justify this decision: seniors who filled out an online survey received a $5 credit on their Metro Green Card (limited to 1300 cards). Assuming 1300 seniors with internet access did the survey, that $5 only equals two trips. Home and back from a single senior’s event, when there are 500 activities and events planned for Seniors Week.

The Council for the Ageing (COTA) deserves every accolade for that 500event program across the state. Last year 11,000 seniors used the free Metro travel service, vital to them to attend the hundreds of wonderful events planned by COTA. This year, how many will be sitting at home reading the program instead of attending the events it lists thanks to the state government? Our seniors deserve better.