Big Cats In Australia

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Australian Big cats

The title is absurd, the idea that there are big cats in Australia sounds ridiculous.But..there is always a but...the facts imply that there is something going on that shouldnt be.

Who would report sightings of big cat like forms in Australia.Thats the problem..there are literally thousands of reports if you include newspapers, television and private and state government data bases.One data base in the lower Blue Mountains in NSW contains over 300 witness statements, the majority of which were just in one location.In 1999, the NSW state government brought in Dr Johannes Bauer who is a wildlife ecologist who specialises in leopards.His conclusions which they buried were. "Difficult as it seems to accept the most likely explanation of the evidence is the presence of a large feline predator in this area, most likely a leopard, less likely a jaguar “

In 2001 the final updated report by Professor John Henry concluded their report on the possible presence of Pumas(felis concolor) in the Grampians In Victoria."The two paw prints marked by David Hamilton and Wally Smith immeddiately after their sighting of a big cat like animal at Rocklands Reservoir and at the exact location where the animal had been seen drinking at the waters edge , were made by a big-cat of considerable weight, leaning forward.The big-cat who made these paw prints may well be of a similar size to that of an adult female puma..... “The main conclusion of the Deakin Puma Study , from my perspective, is that there is sufficient evidence from a number of intersecting sources to affirm beyond reasonable doubt the presence of a big-cat population in western Victoria. This population of big-cats most probably dates from March 1942 and had, as its original location, the Grampians Mountain ranges. There is circumstantial and historical support for the conclusion that these big-cats are pumas, felis concolor, from North America”.

But what about hard proof.?Is there a body of any big cat.Well..yes there is.So far we have bodies of one lioness shot in western NSW , and one Puma shot in Victoria.Neither animal was ever reported to have escaped from any private circus or zoo.Secondary evidence consists of scats, hair samples and spoor(footprints).The conclusions most of the time, were of large felid.

But why do more people not know about this.?Simple.Its a fringe "hobby" for researchers and most observers are ridiculed, even if they are zoologists, government agricultural staff, professional hunters, or even farmers.Photos of the kills do not have the "sloppy" appearance of dog and fox kills.Most farmers should know the difference and they should also be able to recognise the difference between a German Shepherd sized cat running through their fields and a dog.

The first historical reports of large cat like forms that we are aware of were in the 1880`s in Victoria(lion hunts were being advertised) and the Northern Territory(leopard like cats seen by scientific search parties).Australia is one of the few countries which historical never had felids.We did have a scary looking marsupial called a Thylacoleo which pound for pound..appears to have the highest bite crushing ratio for its size..of any animal that existed.

Theories

*The animals are monster forms of felis catus(house cats gone wild)*The creatures are felis catus crossed with some form of jungle cats like Leopard cats,civets etc.*Escaped animals from circus and zoo`s.*Remnants of Thylacoleo still survive in Australia.*Or something even odder than the above suggestions.

Here is an example of a recent report.

Maraylya resident, Greg Illingworth's sighting of a large black cat reported in the Hills News last week has elicited three calls to record keeper, Chris Coffey.Mr Illingworth now believes it may have been a jaguar he saw, and Ms Coffey says he may be right.The black panther is the common name for a black colour variant of any of several species of cat.``Black panthers are black leopards or black jaguars,'' she said.``The jaguar is a bigger and stockier animal than a leopard. Both put kills in trees. We've had sheep in a tree at Grose Vale, and goats in a tree at Colo Heights.''Now a Kenthurst truck driver has reported sighting a large cat before Christmas while another was reported at Mudgee on New Year's Eve. A third call came from Maraylya pensioner Kerry Russell.``I sighted it at 7am on November 18,'' Mr Russell said. ``It was daylight, there was no rain, it was a clear day, and the location was Scheyville Road, Maraylya near the chicken quarantine station.

``I was driving round a bend and this thing was about 40 yards in front of me, stationary in the middle of the road.''Mr Russell stopped his car, opened the driver's door and stood there looking at it. He didn't believe what he was seeing.``The outstanding feature was definitely its tail. It was very long, like a greyhound's tail, pointed at the end but thick and black and round as it got to the body.``Another gentleman driving towards me pulled over and we both looked at each other and looked at this thing. It would have been about the size of a large dog and black from head to foot.``It stood there for a good minute. It just looked at us and then did a slow proud walk into Scheyville National Park.''Mr Russell had not reported his sighting before for fear of ridicule.``But when I saw this story, I thought I'm not alone in seeing this thing.''

Some people have suggested that we should "start" using "science" in our little adventure.I love the automatic assumption that we are pursuing these enigmatic big cats and have never tried to use a methodology that is scientifically based.

We are dealing with secondary evidence like scats/spoor/hair/kills and whenever we have been able to we have taken those clues and had them examined by real scientists..and the result most of the time was 1/Not dog large carnivore(which leaves what?) or 2/Big cat of some sort.But what is more damning is that some of the scientists we were told were the "gold standard" of testing.Meaning, if they recognised some of the secondary evidence as being from a large felid..then bingo.What we didnt realise at the time was..these same scientists were reluctant to ascribe any result as being from a large cat because they didnt want to "open a can of worms" as they said.The reason was that they were all subcontractors to govt departments and not employees.And the state governments were/are not interested in the reality behind the cat sightings.

Update-Footage of the now deceased "Lithgow Panther", ie, a large feral cat standing about 500 mm might be appearing inn the next month or so.Could be interesting.!!Well,we filmed the frozen animal...wethinks its the Lithgow "panther" and when its stuffed we will film it and place the footage online.