Thylacine/Thylacoleo: go to jail, do not collect $200 :(

[Ian Thomas]

The Quest for Thylacoleo couldn't do a Thylacoleo search these days.
Deploy cameras and tell the world like we did last time, years ago? We'd have posse of petty officials 'on our case', like this guy 🙄 ....

When this YouTube adventurer posted a video of his search for the Tasmanian tiger, he was threatened with legal action.
2023, August 18.
www.abc.net.au/news/2023-08-19/national-park-youtuber-calls-for-updated-filming-laws/102747924
On Christmas Day last year, Rob Parsons posted a video on YouTube.

It shows him and his mate Levi Triffitt venturing into Tasmania's remote wilderness as they try to find evidence of the extinct thylacine during a nine-day expedition.

The 90-minute adventure film has been watched almost 400,000 times.

But among the viewers were officials from Tasmania's Parks and Wildlife Service (PWS), who had little interest in the search for the Tasmanian tiger.

[dennisw]

I have trailcams out but at present all on private property, the department of ever changing names can watch any footage I post I won't trespass on their precious reserves. Heaven forbid you should find a piece of gold; under Dictator Dan's proposed laws it will be illegal to pick it up (even the stones are protected, I might go out and throw some just to put them in the wrong position).

[Ian Thomas]

Aug 20, 2023 10:41:52 GMT 10 dennisw said:

...  Heaven forbid you should find a piece of gold; under Dictator Dan's proposed laws it will be illegal to pick it up...

Mate ... that's probly not a street I'm willing to go down.

Except to say, WA looks attractive vis-a-vis Element 79. And yeah, I am serious ... goodbye Marxist Victoria? 🖕

[Ian Thomas]

Following on to the above ABC report. Rob Parsons defends himself in his own words ..

The Issue with Parks and Wildlife Services Tasmania

Another dude in similar difficulties with officialdom ..

ILLEGAL gold mining activities, change or be fined

A few random points I'd hazard.

1/
In the face of bureaucratic persecution, NEVER go mea culpa. Never concede anything; not even the slightest, unwitting transgression.

And sure as hell never plead guilty on Youtube!!!! 🤦‍♂️

2/
NEVER meet, by yourself alone, with bureaucrats for any kind of informal 'chat'. If they want to 'talk', it's thru your lawyer.
There is no such thing as an 'informal talk/chat' with police or government agents. Everything you say will be used against you. Moreover, sneaky techniques to elicit incriminating admissions from naive interviewees is a big part of the training that cops, inspectors, park-rangers et al undertake.

Therefore, it's best to say nothing. Or if you fancy verbal sparring, fire back questions at them.

3/

Whatever you do 'out in the woods', base yourself in another State or even offshore if possible. Where local, parochial writ does not reach.

4/
Pictures and vids. The legal position is that it's the photographer who owns copyright because an image capture bmo a camera is a 'creative work'^*1.

However, a property owner can demand payment/royalties if you take pictures within his property's bounds and you use said pics for commercial gain. Hence the above Youtubers' issues within State Parks ^*2.

*1: Bear in mind, things might get legally tricky in the case of automatic, trail-cameras. Who 'created' the image? You yourself or the autonomous instrument or the animal in the pic?

*2: It's legally obscure if you take pics of buildings/features within private/state boundaries while you yourself stay outside on a public footpath or whatever. Say if you photograph some notable feature from high on a hilltop outside the Park. Or if you fly your drone alongside the boundary whilst keeping on the outside. And, needless to say, you better stay lower than the max allowed ~150 metres altitude.

Fwiw, my personal opinion - and this is not legal advice - is that one probably(?) could use such pictures/vids commercially. But you'd be well advised to put some $$$s aside to fight a summary prosecution, when (not if) the time comes.

A middle ranked barrister asks about $600 for a morning's work in the Magistrates' Court.
Ahem ... now don't go asking how I know this. I have nothing to say.

Where there's even the slightest doubt and even when there's not, stand your ground if accused/questioned. You've done nothing wrong: go away.
It's important never to swear or lose your cool. You can always clam up and simply ask, "Am I under arrest? No? Ok, goodbye."

5/
Be aware that the cops and all sorts of spooks go to great lengths to know who comes and goes within State/Nat Parks. There are technological means - you think all those thousands of wildlife research cameras out there are the only cameras 'out there'? Then there are networks of touts. Every farmhouse & A-frame shack has its number-plate spotter who dwells within. And motels/caravan parks record visitors' rego numbers. There are the roadside cameras along highways and don't forget there are your mobile phone logs. All such data when collated builds a picture ... 🕵🏻

But 'nuff said on that topic ...