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Paper short abstract:

By persisting as a ghost tracked by humans determined to prove its existence, the thylacine has overcome its own alleged extinction. In a mutualistic relationship, its human trackers document it and advocate for the conservation of its habitat, to alleviate both extermination guilt and ecoanxiety.

Paper long abstract:

At a time of global biodiversity crisis, the human-monster relationship allows human believers in the ghost thylacine to deal with their historical contribution to exterminations, and allows the thylacine to overcome its own alleged extinction. Together with dozens of other native Australian animals, the thylacine (Tasmanian tiger) was driven to extinction by the effects of European land use change, competition, and hunting. Although the last scientifically documented thylacine died in 1936, sightings continue, and people who believe that thylacines still exist form organisations dedicated to proving their existence. As a participant-observer, I explored the relationship between the members of one such organisation (TAGOA) and the ghost thylacines that they document. Members’ activities are driven by the wish to prove the thylacine’s ongoing existence, undoing “the mistakes of the past”, and preserving habitat for the ongoing conservation of it and other species. Without the ghost thylacine, the members’ activities - and the organisation’s very existence – would be meaningless; conversely, the ghost thylacine would not exist without its trackers (even though other ‘thylacines’ might). Trackers and thylacines share part of each other’s lifeworlds mutualistically, overlapping in their physical, biological, and spiritual environments; the loss of either would leave the other badly impoverished. As an embodiment of members’ anxieties, the ghost thylacine facilitates discussion and management of aspects of extermination guilt and ecoanxiety.