Big Cat In Australia?

[insecurity]

When I was about 8 I was looking out the kitchen window into the padock and small amount of bushland surrounding my house when I saw a strange wavering black thing poking out of the very tall grass (maybe 2 1/2 ft tall) as whatever it was moved out of the tall grass I relised it was cat, a very large one at that(not panter size but big) it was solidly built and had a rediculously long tail. I know feral cats can grow rather large but this cat was bout 2ft high and solid like a panther. I was so scared of the thing I hid under my brothers bed (i cant fit under mine) This was in the central victorian area close to Shepparton. Also not too long ago me and a good friend were at her place feeding her neighbores horses while they were away when we noticed huge sctatches on one of the horses backs at frist we thought a koala or trees but they honestly looked like cat injuries and she live close to the tallarook ranges where all alot of big cat sightings are reported. Anyway just wondering if anyone has had a similar thing happen in the same area or knows of anything??

Thank you

[Ruby]

Well this did not happen to me but my grandma but anyway she was on her way to her holiday house in Wisemans Ferry she was about 1min away from the house when she say a huge black cat like thing in the middle of the road it was just laying there anyway when it saw my grandma's car it got up and run into the bushes Mabye the thing that was at yours and your friends house is the same as the the thing near my grandmas.She also has all the things a big cat would need a huge river out the front of the house and bush at the back and lots of animals

Mabye the thing was a puma

[insecurity]

Very interesting story, maybe it was a thylacaline caniviorus or whatever it is called.

[Tia]

Insecurity did you catch the video they played a couple of nights ago? It is suppose to be of a panther? bypassing a mother roo/ wallaby and going after a younger one nearby. It was filmed in Victoria.

I haven't been able to find a copy anywhere. I know it was in the Herald Sun on the 7th but you have to order a copy to get the full story.

[insecurity]

Ill have to try and get my sticky little fingers on a paper containing the story. Ive been facinated with such things since I was a little girl. Thank you for your info.

[mr_halo]

i'm just curious...

are here any big cats that are native to australia?

Edited December 11, 2004 by mr_halo

[Tia]

No big cats, but we use to have the Thylacoleo. There are still people who believe there may be some still alive.

Thylacoleo carnifex

From: http://www.angelfire.com/theforce/thylacoleo/

Its cat-like appearance owes something to the theory that T. carnifex was descended from the Burryamids, or Pygmy Possums, which are native to the mountains of S.E. Australia. Hence an arboreal reconstruction with leopard-like appearance is presented. An alternative interpretation has thylacoleonids arising from Vombatid stock. In this case they would have been more closely related to modern day wombats than to possums. That ancestry would, presumably, leave them looking not quite so feline in appearance. The reader should consult the reference material for further exposition on the question of Thylacoleo's ancestry.

The dentition of this animal was unique. It had no canine teeth as do placental predators like wolves or lions. Instead it was equipped with very large incisors and extremely specialised carnassial teeth. These had become blade-like cutting edges, two pairs only being positioned on the upper and lower jaws.

It has been asserted that T. carnifex's dentition represents the most extreme specialisation of any known mammalian carnivore. The reader is directed particularly to references #2 & #3 for a detailed discussion.

The front paws of T. carnifex were equipped with a partly opposable thumb. The terminal phalanx of the thumb sported an impressively large, curved claw, while the other digits had smaller claws. The rear feet were equipped with similarly opposable thumbs. It's probably true to say that this was an animal equipped with four hands, rather than paws, and that it almost certainly was primarily an arboreal hunter. However, fossil specimens have been unearthed in areas which were open plains when the animal lived. So it appears to have been resourceful enough to make a living with or without a forest habitat.

Variation in the size of fossil remains are usually interpreted to mean that males of the species were bigger than females. Sexual dimorphism is common in many mammalian species, for instance kangaroos, lions and seals. It generally indicates a breeding system where males must defeat and dispossess other more dominant males for access to females. In such species, mature males are often fewer in number than breeding-age females.

Generally speaking, fossil T. carnifex presents as a large animal which exhibited a wide range in body size. Fossil evidence suggests that an average individual would have weighed about 45 kg (Ref #2). The largest specimens, which were just a shade smaller than the African lioness, Panthera leo, appear to have lived in south-eastern Australia.

[Subtemperate]

That latest one was debunked by the zoological society, as well as melbourne zoo. I dont have the info at the moment, I will try to track that one down....

[Tia]

The guy who filmed it has contacted another board I go to and claims all the video hasn't been shown. All he told me was CBN had it now, so I've had no luck seeing it.

[Subtemperate]

Well, since the zoo's opinion is they desperately want proof that there are big cats , such as a panther, around in australia.... I doubt they'd just dismiss it if they didnt have reason too.

I for one believe there could be big cats here, so Im not doing this because I dont believe, just trying to convey the story...

here it is....

"Melbourne Zoo's public relations chief yesterday declared the silly season open as senior animal keepers were called in to analyse images of yet another mystery cat seen near the Grampians.

Zoo staff take every sighting of unusual creatures seriously, just in case the fabled American puma or the Tasmanian tiger are discovered in Victoria. Legend has it that decades ago an American circus, or American airmen stationed in the bush who supposedly kept big cats as mascots, released the creatures into the wild, and that their numbers have since multiplied.

This year, 38 sightings of suspected big cats have been recorded by the 50-member Australian Rare Fauna Research Association.

If the rare animals did exist, the zoo keepers would like to know, said Judith Henke, the Melbourne Zoo's communications manager.

Senior keeper Noel Harcourt and the keeper in charge of carnivores, Richard Roswell, examined the shaky video recording of the latest sighting taken by campers at Dunkeld - and sold to Channel Seven for an undisclosed sum.

The video shows a large black cat running through open pasture and encountering a kangaroo. But it was too small, ran too fast and looked too much like a regular cat to be anything more exotic, the keepers said.

And that's if you ignore the fact that the kangaroo finally appeared to hop after the cat, suggesting a degree of familiarity.

"There are so many people who keep releasing cats, it's a huge problem for wildlife," Mr Roswell said.

Ms Henke said such sightings were examined about three times a year by keepers. "They're patient souls," she said."

The Age

[Tia]

Thanks for that Subby , do you have the stills at all?

I've got to go now but tomorrow if I remember I'll dig around and find the article that the government released, detailing that they believe big cats do exist in the Hawkesbury Region up here.

Found the one from your story Subby, ( Just giving myself a few whacks across the head)

Edited December 11, 2004 by Tia

[mr_halo]

oh right....

i really thought there would of been some sort of big cats species in australia, i mean its such a big place, with so many wild areas....

i wonder where these big cats could of come from then?

Edited December 11, 2004 by mr_halo

[Panthera leo atrox]

If there are any "panthers", they are probably a handful of released or escaped exotics, and not necessarily melanistic ones. Cougar and leopard are some of the most likely candidates.

[Tia]

Heres the article I mentioned earlier.......

Big cats not a tall tale

By Eamonn Duff

November 2, 2003

The Sun-Herald

A State Government inquiry has found it is "more likely than not" a colony of "big cats" is roaming Sydney's outskirts and beyond.

The revelations are the result of a fresh four-month investigation into the "black panther phenomenon" which for years has plagued residents across Sydney's west, north-west, Richmond, the Blue Mountains and Lithgow.

While National Parks and Wildlife officials are yet to implement a positive course of action, a senior source confirmed last night a big cat expert had been contacted with a view to future work.

He said: "While we still haven't got conclusive evidence that the creature exists, compiled evidence points strongly to the fact that it does."

The source added: "If and when an expert is commissioned, the first aim would be to identify exactly what sort of animal it is. The second would be to ascertain how many there might be."

Although big cat sightings across NSW date back more than 100 years, speculation intensified in May 2001 when a successful Freedom of Information request revealed the NSW Government had been maintaining a secret file on the creature.

It also revealed wildlife hierarchy were so concerned about the potential threat to humans that they commissioned big cat expert Dr Johannes Bauer to evaluate what had previously been deemed unthinkable.

He concluded: "Difficult as it seems to accept, the most likely explanation of the evidence . . . is the presence of a large feline predator."

While conclusive proof has failed to materialise since, sightings have continued to flow in from bushwalkers, tourists and local residents, including a NSW police officer and a Qantas pilot.

When Kenthurst teenager Luke Walker suffered deep cuts in March this year and said they were the result of a terrifying struggle with a panther-like cat, the NSW Government reopened the case.

The latest report, compiled by NSW Agriculture and obtained exclusively by The Sun-Herald, included a review of sightings and extensive interviews with residents of Grose Vale, where the creature has frequently been sighted.

It found that recent witnesses to big cat activity in NSW were highly credible.

Also taken into consideration was a previous report by Dr Keith Hart, district veterinarian of the Moss Vale Rural Lands Protection Board, who, after testing scat samples, concluded a large cat was living in the Grose Vale area.

The report said: "Nothing found in this review conclusively proves the presence of free-ranging exotic large cats in NSW, but this cannot be discounted and seems more likely than not on available evidence."

One theory the report refused to dismiss was that "historically, sightings in Eastern Australia occur in old gold mining areas and that anecdotal evidence suggests pumas [Felis concolor] were brought to Australia by American goldminers in the 1850s.

The report added: "These animals may have subsequently escaped or were released, causing numerous sightings over many years."

Even as the Government was preparing to go public with its latest findings, a Central Coast family approached NSW Agriculture last month with claims that a huge black cat was "openly roaming" their newly purchased Mudgee weekend holiday home.

Speaking to The Sun-Herald, Chris, who refused to reveal her surname through fear of would-be hunters overrunning her property, said: "We've watched it stalk wallabies, we've seen it sitting high up in a tree. It roams around like a large family dog that thinks it owns the place."

She added: "There is absolutely no disputing what it is. The kids are terrified and, to be perfectly honest, so are we."

[Weird_Al_Yankovic]

http://www.australianbigcats.bravehost.com/

visit there for more information

[crazy_boy]

ABC?

[Panthera leo atrox]

Alien big cat.

From Dictionary.com

"Ecology. An organism, especially a plant or animal, that occurs in or is naturalized in a region to which it is not native."

[crazy_boy]

Alien big cat.

From Dictionary.com

"Ecology. An organism, especially a plant or animal, that occurs in or is naturalized in a region to which it is not native."

400276[/snapback]

I know what it is i'm saying could it have been one?

[Panthera leo atrox]

O, I see. It could have been, but a misidentification or exaggeration is also very likely.

[crazy_boy]

ok

[Tia]

http://www.australianbigcats.bravehost.com/

visit there for more information

399948[/snapback]

Thanks for the great site.

[Mysteryman]

Maybe some of these suggestions of sightings could have been mistaken for a "black wallaby" which in a way match the description supporting the fact that they have pretty long tails...

[Tia]

We get wallabies in our backyard, you wouldn't mistake one for a big cat.

Though I do agree Mysteryman you'll get some people who at first glance will see something out of the ordinary, and instead of having a better look they'll run around saying they saw sassy, mothman etc.

[Mysteryman]

Thank you and very true. Also, I was doing a little research on the google search for "Large Cats in Australia" and I found this site. Its related to this thread in a way...

http://delarue.net/bigcats.htm

[Tia]

Thanks Mysteryman, I haven't seen this site before and will have a good look through it later.