Tantanoola Tiger 1892-1893

"The first reports were regarded as mythical, as it was regarded as next to impossible that either a tiger or a leopard could be at large without some due as to where it came from; but a clue has been found. Some 13 years ago while St Leon's circus was travelling between Mount Gambier and Millicent they lost a well grown tiger cub. They made diligent search for it, but failed to recover it. Not many knew of the loss at the time, and what few did, the incident soon passed out of their recollection, as it was assumed that the cub would die. Apparently the cub has been able to take care of himself all these years, and promises not only to be a source of interest but possibly of danger to the residents of the locality he infests. He must be now full grown. The locality has many scrubby stretches of country where a tiger could find safe concealment, and as he now knows the run of the country his natural cunning will make his capture no easy matter. As all doubts as to the existence of the animal may be laid aside, the question remains - Who is to arrange for his capture or destruction? It will not be wise to allow him the freedom of his own will, and how is this to be taken from him? A black tracker might find his lair, and if this were once found arrangements could more readily be made for his capture, alive or dead. The residents will naturally look to the Tantanoola District Council for help in the matter. If the tiger mauled a ratepayer as he mauled Mr. Long's bullock there would be a big rumpus over the affair. There is a movement afoot to organise a strong party to march for the beast's lair, and if possible to drive it into the open. Most of the surrounding stations will send men, and others from Mount Gambier and elsewhere are expected to join. The party will probably be made up next week."

Artemus Ward once proposed to write an essay for London Punch on the not very grammatical theme 'Is Cats to be Trusted?' and, including tigers and leopards in the scope of his enquiries, he told how the dramatic critic of a newspaper got rather roughly handled at his show when he volunteered to try the 'effect of kindness' upon an unruly leopard. The same enquiry as to whether cats are to be trusted has cropped up in Australia in connection with the proposal to breed them on a largo scale for the purpose of keeping the rabbit plague in check. Perhaps the domestic cat, if turned out to wildness, would not grow so enterprising as to become a nuisance. But it is to be feared that a pair of circus tigers, although born and bred in captivity, might soon rear a progeny that would make matters lively not only for poor bunny, but also for sheep and cattle, if not even for man himself. There are aspects of this question which, to speak seriously, are not unworthy of some consideration. If the chance liberation of a pair of rabbits had the effect of multiplying the rodents all over the land to such an extent as to have ruined the pastoral industry in some places, is it not worthwhile taking some pains to prevent undesirable animals from having any chance of obtaining a footing on our continent.

'A wolf is a nasty animal to have inside one's sheepfold' wrote the Latin poet, and if this be the case it must be equally nasty for sheepfarmers to have a tiger roaming about their stations. The alleged presence of such an undesirable visitor at Tantanoola, in the South East, has occasioned a good deal of talk. It is said that an animal somewhat larger than a kangaroo dog, and having stripes on its back, has been observed in the locality; also that tracks of some strange animal have been seen on tho ground, and injuries, believed to have been inflicted by it, upon the back of a bullock.

The escape of a tiger cub from a menagerie some fourteen or fifteen years ago is suggested as a possible explanation of the supposed existence of this formidable member of the feline tribe in the South East. The surmise seems, to say the least of it, somewhat far-fetched. Is it at all likely that a tiger could exist in a locality for so many years and find its food from day to day without leaving evidences of its presence long ere this. The tiger, if tiger there be, must have got loose from captivity at a very recent date, and there is no reason whatever to believe that any escape from a menagerie has, within late years, occurred and been kept secret. The evidence to hand on the subject as yet seems decidedly hazy. A man and his wife are supposed to have seen the animal, and they are also supposed to be under the impression that they saw stripes upon its back. The information furnished is not half so minute as that which was given on the subject of the bunyip, said to have been observed at Koolurlga some years ago ; and yet there are not very many believers in that interesting animal, even in the locality rendered classical in its mythology. Bunyips, sea serpents, and Tantanoola tigers are animals to be believed in when captured — but not before.

The Tantanoola tiger, although not a probability, is always a possibility. The origin of the dingo, which has committed such deplorable depredations on our northern pastoral country, is alleged to be traceable to the escape of dogs probably from some party of explorers who landed on tho shores of Australia at a remote period of history.

On the whole a tiger is a much more beautiful and captivating animal when viewed from the right side of a set of strong bars than when allowed to mingle promiscuously with a throng of spectators. The latest circus which visited Adelaide prided itself on having tigers which performed at liberty in the open ring, and no doubt this fact was a substantial attraction. The writer already quoted has remarked that 'there is a large class of parents who have an uncontrollable passion for taking their children to places where they will stand a chance of being frightened to death.' Sir George Dibbs in Sydney, being concerned lest a tragedy should take place, made some remonstrance about this circus exhibition, and was invited to go into the cage and test the harmlessness of the animals for himself. In spite of political and financial troubles on the outside, however, he decided that a retreat to the interior of a tenanted cage would not be desirable. Phil May, in one of his recent pictorial skits, depicted the resource of a henpecked husband who, to avoid his termagant of a wife, took refuge in the cage among the lions and tigers, and got his reward in the taunting exclamation, 'Ah ! you coward!' No Australian Premier has yet been driven to prefer the experience of a Daniel to the cruel tactics of an Opposition, however virulent.

One does not naturally envy a task like that of the skilful veterinary surgeon who has been dressing the wound of the tiger in tho Zoological Gardens with such success, albeit the brute displayed exemplary patience, and seemed to be perfectly aware that the pain inflicted was needful to effect a cure. If even the devil must have his due, it is only just that the dangerous tiger should get credit on the score of his sagacity and endurance. How dangerous he is has just been demonstrated in India, where Lieutenant-General Sir J . C. Dormer, Commander of the British Forces in Madras, has met his death through wounds inflicted upon him by one of the species. There is no real likelihood of the tiger being acclimatized in South Australia, but for their own peace of mind's sake the people of the South-East should place the question of the existence of the reported feline marauder at Tantanoola beyond doubt without loss of time.

TO THE EDITOR.Sir— I agree with your subleader of today re the Tantanoola tiger scare that it is only a senseless hoax — a fact which I can support from personal experience. Some five years since I was rabbit-hunting in the neighbourhood of the White Cliffs, twelve miles north of Morgan, on the River Murray, in company with two young men, who had some former experience in rabbit-snaring and trapping. We had several snares and traps set, but very few rabbits we got for our trouble. On visiting the traps at intervals we found on several occasions only the bones and mutilated fur of poor bunny. We were sorely puzzled as to what would be the matter. Soon the problem was solved. On three separate occasions, on going our usual rounds, to our surprise we got in the traps, instead of bunny, three immense cats, beautifully marked like a tiger in miniature, each weighing over 20 lb. or more. Each cat showed action front and fight, although held fast by one leg in the trap, which had been made fast with an iron spike in the ground. I sent the skins to the Register for inspection, as I thought then myself they were so much like those of tiger skins. I fancy, therefore, that the solution of the Tantanoola tiger is an immense cat of the domestic species, whose progenitors had been let loose years before for the purpose of destroying rabbits, and grown wild. Those who saw the Tantanoola tiger made a good story, and, like the three black crows of our childhood, it became a cat, or something like a tiger.

"A great deal has lately been said and written," remarks the South-Eastern Star," about a ferocious beast of prey which is supposed to be a tiger roaming at large in the otherwise peaceful neighborhood of Tantanoola. Like the bunyip of Australian fable the animal has been often seen but never captured, and its description varies in proportion to the imaginative powers of the narrator. At one time it is a huge catlike animal about the rise of a calf, at another it resembles a bear, and sometimes it more nearly approaches the form of a large dog. It is spotted like a leopard or striped like a tiger; it is black or brown or tan-colored just as the knowledge or ignorance of those who see it may suggest the color most resembling the animal they suppose it to be. It is said to be a tiger lost is a cub from a circus some thirteen years ago, though how it survived its cub days or where it has hidden itself during the intervening yean is not stated, it is supposed to have bitten a cow and to have killed several sheep, but its hiding-place, where the gruesome remains of its many feasts are scattered round in profusion, has not yet been discovered. It has actually been proposed in all seriousness that she district council should organise a party of armed men, who like the knights of old shall go forth to destroy the monster which is thus laying waste the land, and a correspondent writes to us suggesting that the marksmen of the Mount Gambier Volunteer Company should lend their aid in this most important undertaking. It has been suggested that the school board of advice should give the boys of the public school a holiday to enable them to go out and slay the monster with their shanghais and it is just about as probable that the latter course will be adopted as the former. We have only come across one man who has actually seen the animal and he, not being of an imaginative turn of mind, declares unhesitatingly that it is neither more nor less than a crossbred dingo."

What led people to doubt the existence of the tiger was the difficulty in accounting for its existence in that neighbourhood, but now in addition to the facts before stated we have a circumstantial account in the Border Watch of the loss of a tiger cub from Leon's Circus in the Millicent district some thirteen years ago. I admit that it is strange that so little has been seen or beard of it during all these years, and I can only account for this by supposing that it naturally kept in the teatree scrub or in the thickly timbered ranges, and being timid has kept out of sight of men. I do not want to create a scare, but as I consider we have sufficient evidence to justify us in coming to the conclusion that there is such an animal at large that may any day attack and kill a human being, and one having tasted human blood would certainly become a man-eater. I think we should treat the matter seriously, and try to devise some means of getting rid of this really terrible beast. I would suggest that any one who has had experience of tiger-hunting should indicate what they think the best means of ridding the country of this creature that may be heard of at any time as being seen at closer quarters than is desirable.

TO THE EDITOR.
Sir — Your sub-leader on the 5th and Mr. Haldane's letter on the 6th inst. cast unnecessary doubt on the existence of a tiger in the Tantanoola district, South East. The innocent way in which Mr. Haldane refers to his rabbit trapping and catching of 'tiger-cats' shows how inexperienced he was at that class of work, and makes it easy to understand how natural it was for him to fall into the error of thinking others knew as little as he did. But to those who know anything about the animals found in the Australian bush it is quite too absurd to suppose that any 'bushman' would make the mistake of thinking a tiger-cat was a tiger.

It has been stated in the part of the South-East referred to for a considerable time that an animal resembling a tiger was at large. The first I heard of it was from a black fellow, who stated that he was awakened one night by hearing an unusual sound, when be saw a large animal shaped like a cat, but as big as a calf, tearing at an emu-skin he had hung up at his camp. The blackfellow said further that the eyes of the animal were very large and shone like balls of fire. Also that he saw its tracks next day, and that they were like that of a cat, but very much larger. Later tracks such as described by the blackfellow were seen by several people, but until lately the animal was not seen again, when in broad daylight it was seen by a man and his wife crossing the road in front of them, and now it is also known that several cattle and a horse have been found badly injured, evidently by some animal getting on their shoulders and gnawing them.

THE THREE BLACK CROWS.

ONCE upon a time, there lived two brothers, the one a cleric, the other a layman. The former was always saying that no woman could keep a secret, and as his brother was married, he bade him test the truth of this assertion on his own wife. The layman agreed ; and one night, when they were alone, he said, with a sorrowful face, to his spouse :

" My dear wife, a most dreadful secret hangs over me ; oh that I could divulge it to you ; but no, I dare not ; you never could keep it, and, if once divulged, my reputation is gone."

" Fear not, love," rejoined the wife ; " are we not one body and one mind ? Is not your ad- vantage my benefit, and your injury my loss ? "

" Well, then," said the husband, "when I left my room this morning a deadly sickness came upon me, and after many a pang, a huge black crow flew out of my mouth, and, winging its way from the room, left me in fear and trembling:."

"Is it possible ? " asked the wife ; " yet why should you fear, my life ? be thankful rather that you have been freed from so noxious and troublesome an occupant."

Here the conversation ended. As soon as it was day, up got the wife, with her thoughts full of the black crow, and hastened to a neighbor's house.

"Dear friend," said she, "can I trust you with a secret? "

" As with your life," rejoined the confidante.

" Oh, such a marvellous accident happened to my husband !"

"What? what?" asked the anxious friend. "Only last night, he felt deadly sick, and, after a great deal of pain, two black crows flew out of his mouth, and took wing from the room."

Away went the wife home, with her mind disburdened of the awful secret ; whilst her friend hastened to her next neighbor, and retailed the story, only with the addition of one more crow. The next edition of the legend rose to four ; and at last, when the story had gone round the gossips of the village, a flock of forty crows were reported to have flown from the poor man's mouth ; and there were not a few who remembered seeing the black legion on the wing from the man's window. The consequence of all this was, that the poor husband found himself saddled with the very questionable reputation of a wizard, and was obliged to call together the village, and explain to them the true origin of the fable. On this his wife and her confidantes were overwhelmed with ridicule and shame, and the men of the village were the more impressed with the truth of the cleric's maxim.

TO THE EDITOR.
Sir— Your anonymous correspondent, ‘G. R,,’ and my formidable antagonist, is certainly a born Australian judging by the general tenor of his letter. He apparently knows more about the habits of the marsupial, the animal indigenous to his own native land. He makes a gloriously alarmist statement in saying that some Tantanoola farmers saw, and that some stock had been wounded by, the terrible omnivorous beast, which jumped on its victim's back and tore the flesh off. Such a statement will not bear a strict examination, and is enough to prove that the so-called tiger is not a tiger after all. Allow me to quote from authority: — Colonel Brackenridge, writing of his tiger-hunting in India, says “that it is a well known fact that when a tiger gets its victim once down it closes its eyes and never relaxes hold until life is extinct in its victim. He goes on to say that oftentimes a tiger has been shot in this manner, and proceeds to relate a story of a personal adventure with a tiger as follows :—

“I came across a tiger one day, while tiger-hunting in Ceylon, who had a buffalo down. The tiger had the victim by the throat, sucking the life-blood from the poor animal. A shot from my rifle was fired and missed. Tho tiger took no notice, never deigning to hear the crank of the rifle. A second shot was fired, and the tiger fell dead, shot through tho head.” I mention this to prove by my theory that it cannot be a tiger.

Gordon Cumming in his work relates similar stories of his exploits in Africa. I am afraid that 'G. R.' is shooting on the wing, or has never read much of travel, or about tho habits of the tiger. While I was a resident in the Madras Presidency, India, some twenty-three years ago, then a young man of thirty. I noticed that the newspapers published at intervals a general list of persons who had met their deaths from the ravages of the tiger, presumably travellers journeying from one city to another and one village to another. Such occurrences are quite common all through British India and Ceylon. To set matters at rest, so that peaceful citizens can sleep in their beds at Tantanoola, I may say that it is not likely that the king of the forest would be for long a resident among us without making his presence known by ocular demonstration long before this time. A tiger prefers to kill his own meat. I still stick to my theory that the story of the Tantanoola tiger has been slightly embellished by those who say they saw it. But, like the three black crows, first it was a tiger, then a calf, then a dingo, or something resembling a tiger.

I am certain the animal in question is not a tiger, but, like the little urchin in the song—

Father, I’ll tell what—
You are all a lot of stupid gouks;
It's nothing but a cat.

I trust that 'G. R.' and the Tantanoola folks will be satisfied that there is no necessity for a scare, as the animal's habits are totally against reason.

I am. Sir, &o..
T. R. HALDANE, JUN. Royal Exchange.

Tantanoola has had no banks to go bung nor financial disasters to dispel the monotony of their existence—Why should they be deprived of their tiger? Possibly there may be come romance about the beast —but the evidence brought against his existence is certainly weaker than that in favour of it. If the proof is not wholly satisfactory as to his existence it is more unsatisfactory as to his non existence. Several people aver that they have seen a large beast which is not a dog nor a cat nor anything like a cross between familiar animals; on the other hand a man has seen a crossbred dog, and a lot more have seen nothing. The case therefore stands as we put it some time ago. A young tiger was lost in the locality, a beast of prey of some sort is now giving evidence of his existence. What is this beast? Will the doubting critics volunteer to beat the bush where the tiger is said to exist, and give ocular demonstration that be does not?

TO THE EDITOR.

Sir - I regret that I raised the tiger in Mr. Haldane’s heart. I may say that I have no desire to hide myself under a non de plume from Mr. Haldane, and am quite willing that you, Mr. Editor, give him my name if he feels sufficient interest in the matter to ask for it and venture to say that if he does so he will find that I have some reason for interesting myself in the question under discussion. And I would suggest to Mr, Haldane that before he rushes into prin the should satisfy himself that he knows something of the particular subject he writes about, and before he replies to a letter he should read it, or if he does read it take care that he does not reply as if he had not. He would then avoid laying himself open to the charge of combating a preconceived idea of his own rather than the facts stated by another in all good faith after most careful consideration.

Although I do know something of marsupials, I do not know enough about tigers to be aware that they are not desirable at close quarters. If Mr. Haldane had taken into consideration the differences in the conditions between India and Australia, and in particular had borne into mind the fact that in India they have many tigers and few animals for them to feed upon and a dense population of human beings, he would have realised the reason why so many people are annually killed there. On the other hand I can only claim one tiger, and that one possibly the off-spring of those kept in captivity for several generations, and being quite alone with no bad example set by other members of its family did not resort at once to the vicious habits of its class, and, further, being in a wide extent of very rough and almost unoccupied country ran less of a risk of being tempted to do so than if otherwise placed.

I honestly believe there is a tiger at large, and have initiated steps being taken for its destruction by offering a sum of money as a reward, which I trust may be supplemented by others if not the Government.

I am, Sir, &c,

G.R.

TO THE EDITOR.

Sir— I have no particular desire to continue this discussion much longer, or to ascertain 'G. R.'s real name, neither do I desire to be considered a rodomontadist or to retire signally defeated by a stroke of my own weapon. I have my opinion about the matter —that if a tiger cub escaped from captivity borne thirteen years ago where has it been all this time? I remember the circumstance very well, but it is more than thirteen years ago — probably sixteen years. I saw and read the notice or paragraph in some country paper, and if my memory is to be trusted 'Leon' denied the impeachment. 'G. R.' need not call to my memory the difference of the climates of India and Australia, and especially of our own colony. I scarcely think a tiger could exist in our own country when at large in the winter-time ; the nature of the animal forbids it; it is against reason, blood, and nature. 'G. R.,' thou reasones well. But whence this longing after tiger stores? If this tiger story was a real fact— sworn and attested to by those that saw it — it would be difficult to make me believe such was the case. Granting his kingship has no companion or queen, living alone like a hermit, he would be liable to show himself and make use of his single blessedness in seeking for his food, alone as he is supposed to be. Rumour has it, and 'G. R.' has not seen it himself. I come to the conclusion that the whole affair is simply a hoax got up for sensational reading for our neighbours over the Border. I recommend a cure. Take Burns' advice — 'Let that flea stick to the wall.' Let the cat or tiger alone, and leave him alone in his glory. It has been suggested to me by a country man of mine who hails from the North country that this tiger is an Aberdenian, ane o' Crombie's kind, viz., a guid Aberdeen bull, fra somewhar about Glencoe. If that is true it settles the matter. The tiger is a Scotch tiger. Now, G.R., what for no ?

I am, Sir, &c,
T. R. HALDANE
JUN. Royal Exchange, May 12.

Another instance of the presence of foxes in the district (says the Border Watch of April 26 was furnished last week) when one of unusual size was captured at Mr. J. C. Sutton's, Pleasant Park. The animal afforded its pursuers a merry hunt, as it was not until over three miles had been covered that it sought the cover of a log. When pulled out and killed it was found to measure over 5 ft from tip to tip. A report as to a more alarming visitor comes from near Tantanoola. It is said that the neighborhood is in a state of terror through the presence of a tiger or leopard in the Mount Burr and the Bluff country. A Mr. Taylor and his wife are reported to have seen it. They were driving along a road and stopped to allow it to cross in front of them. They describe it as being a little larger than a kangaroo dog, covered with spots or stripes, and having a long tail dragging on the ground. What are said to be other evidences of a beast of prey are not wanting. Several residents have had some of their sheep killed and partly eaten, and we have been informed that a bullock belonging to Mr. R. Long has been injured by having the flesh eaten off its back. In our issue of November 9 we mentioned that tracks of a strange animal had been seen in the locality, and that the residents were uneasy on account of certain disquieting rumors. There is some talk of bringing the matter before the Benara District Council and asking them to take action.

He was hard on disorder but without vindictiveness, and towards Labor he was neither hostile nor obsequious. Though he preferred self help he had founded the Labor Bureau in February 1892 to bring together the unemployed and employers, but he refused to fix wages and condemned demonstrations by the unemployed.

By the beginning of 1893 the colony was moving into a great financial crisis. As usual Dibbs was too sanguine as catastrophe approached but bold and decisive when it struck. In that kind of emergency Dibbs came into his own. When panic threatened the Savings Bank of New South Wales he appeared at its doors and wrote in his own hand a proclamation guaranteeing its deposits.

Success did not improve the government's position and in December it was defeated. Dibbs shrugged this off as a vote of no consequence and prorogued parliament because the new rolls and electorates required by the 1893 electoral reforms were not yet fixed. Dibbs ironically called this manoeuvre 'Cromwellian' and was accused of dictatorship. In early 1894 his opponents' indignation turned to hysteria: he was compared with Strafford, Alva and the Czar.

REPORTS are current of a tiger being at large at German Creek. A blackfellow reports to having seen a large black and yellow striped beast that almost turned him white with fear, and several other residents say they have come across the footprints of an animal much larger than that of any of the cat tribe known to the district. If such a distinguished visitor is really at German Creek the puzzle is to imagine where he could have come from. We have not heard of any one who has lost a tiger, and it is not likely that one would be at large without some notice being taken of the occurrence. Is the story another edition of the famed bunyip?

Credit: Dr David Waldron

Cats may have arrived in Australia before European settlement by escaping from fishing vessels trading with northern Aboriginal communities or by swimming ashore from shipwrecks which occurred along the Western Australian coastline in the 17th century. They were also released into the wild in Australia during the nineteenth century to control mice and rabbits.

Feral cats range in size from 3.5 to 6.5kg for males and 3.4 to 4.5kg for females, although larger specimens are occasionally caught. The maximum recorded weight of a feral cat captured by Animal Pest Management Services is 7.9kg. Tabby is generally the most common coat colour, although black and ginger can be common in some areas.