"Tiger riddle grows. Animal in picture a thylacine, say experts," proclaimed a headline in The Mercury on February 28; "Tiger or not, they're photos to thrill," said The Sydney Morning Herald on March 2, before The Mercury lamented "Proof of Tassie tiger photo seems extinct". In fact, The Age had been offered the pictures and had also been approached by several media outlets seeking access to them. The paper consulted photographic, academic and biological experts, but because they could not confirm the authenticity of the pictures, declined to pay the asking price.

Robert Paddle, Melbourne-based author of The Last Tasmanian Tiger: The History and Extinction of the Thylacine, says there have been more than 3000 reports of sightings on the mainland and in Tasmania. "Most sighting are from profoundly mistaken, profoundly disturbed or profoundly malicious people. But it only takes one to be genuine. "There is nothing inconsistent, as a scientist, (about) saying it's extinct but keeping an open mind. I'd love to be proven wrong." The last known tiger died in Hobart Zoo on September 7, 1936. The accepted scientific definition is that if a sighting has not been confirmed for 50 years, the animal is deemed extinct. "Now all hope is lost, for many expensive searches have been made, yet no thylacine sighting has been authenticated for many years," wrote Tim Flannery, the director of the South Australian Museum, in A Gap in Nature: Discovering the World's Extinct Animals.

But the small matter of extinction was not enough to get in the way of The Bulletin. On Wednesday, the magazine announced it would pay $1.25 million for the capture of "a live, uninjured animal" as part of its 125th-anniversary celebrations. Then, Stewart Malcolm, whose Burnie-based travel company takes tourists thylacine hunting, chipped in with a further $1.75 million, claiming that he had been planning to offer the bounty for months and had been gazumped by The Bulletin. American media mogul Ted Turner, the man who established CNN, offered a $US100,000 reward for proof of the animal's existence in 1983; the offer was later withdrawn.

Cynics wondered whether the $1.25 million promotion was an attempt to prevent the extinction of another endangered breed - the Bulletin reader, after circulation of the Kerry Packer-owned magazine fell by 11.1 per cent in the last audit. Editor-in-chief Garry Linnell said the promotion was continuing the magazine's century-old tradition of sponsoring expeditions. This time, however, there was significantly more fine print. "We're hoping to find the scientific story of the decade and put an end once and for all to the cottage industry that has existed for the past 20 or 30 years of a hardcore of true believers (in the tiger)," Mr Linnell said. One such believer has posted on eBay a picture of what is claimed to be a tiger in Warrandyte State Park. The asking price is $1500, but so far no bids appear to have been received. The Bulletin promotion had an immediate response, with photos being sent in and media from around the world contacting Mr Linnell. "I've been on the phone to the BBC in Glasgow. I told them we were going after Nessie next," he said.

It even prompted the director of the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery, Bill Bleathman, to propose the museum and magazine embark on a joint program of long-term research to investigate the many sightings reported to the museum. While the media interest might fail to flush out a thylacine, it has flushed out Tasmanian Department of Primary Industries, Water and Environment wildlife biologist Nick Mooney. He is responsible for dealing with reported tiger sightings, as well as issues with other species such as the disease-threatened Tasmanian devils, and the fox, which is apparently now present on the island. Recent appearances of the biologist are almost approaching the number of reported sightings of the tiger over the past 70 years.

Mr Mooney is sick of the media. "It's getting to the point where it's trivialising something... The net product is negative because it discredits and makes a joke out of extinct and endangered creatures." He was concerned that there was no sense of ethics underpinning The Bulletin's promotion. "At its best, it's a waste of time; at the worst you could kill a thylacine, potentially. If someone did, we probably wouldn't hear about it, but if you catch a thylacine in a trap you're bound to injure it. If people don't read the fine print (to The Bulletin offer) we'll have real problems." The conditions of the promotion - open to "natural persons, 18 years of age or older" - say participants take "responsibility for obtaining any permits, approvals, licences or other consents from all Government authorities in relation to any action the Entrant takes in pursuit of the prize" and "will not breach any State, Federal or Commonwealth laws".

And Tasmanian Environment Minister Judy Jackson immediately cast doubt on its viability, saying that under state law, permits to hunt a Tasmanian tiger would not be issued. "Let's not forget it was because the tiger had a bounty on it last century and the century before last that we are now in this very sad situation that it is most probably extinct," she said. Mr Linnell maintains there are loophooles in the legislation.

Bob Peters of Global Media Analysts says The Bulletin will probably get its money's worth. "It's a clever attempt to get promoted in other media without paying for it," he said. As Ms Jackson cautioned would-be tiger hunters not to break state laws, it seemed likely that this weekend at least, the most successful hunts in Tasmania would be for Easter eggs.