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Big cat sightings all over Australia

Posted on August 7, 2008, 10:10pm and updated on October 26, 2008 at 7:38 pm
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It’s not just Mount Gambier and surrounding areas that big cats have been sighted. These sightings have been going on for decades, all over Australia. The Grampians Puma being one of the most popular.

During World War 2, American servicemen brought American Mountain Lions cubs into the Mount Gambier area to be used as mascots.

At the end of the war, Australian authorities advised the soldiers to release the animals in the Grampians.

After the release, the soldiers continued to leave food out for the animals and within a short time the animals failed to return for the food.

At this time it was assumed that the animals had not survived in the wild. This explanation in not convincing because sightings of these cats were recorded prior to World War 2.

The earliest Victorian big cat reports date back to the mid 1880’s around the outskirts of Melbourne. However in recent years, the central west of the state, around Hamilton, Ararat, Maryborough, St Arnaud and the wild and rugged Grampians, have become the centre of activity.

It’s not that hard to beleive there are big cats out there. Just look at the feral cat in the photo on the left, shot in Queensland and standing at 50cm (to the height of its back).

Living in the wild and feeding on carcases, farmers’ chickens and whatever else they can get their claws into, it’s wonder they grow to large sizes.

And what about The Safari Cat on the right? A cross between an ocelot and a domestic cat, proving that wild cats and domestic cats do in fact interbreed.

Therefore, if there were wild cats released into the wild. That could quite possibly be the result of what people are witnessing now. Simply a cross of wild and domestic cats.

Big cats

This post was submitted by Mykln.

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Comments

10 Responses to “Big cat sightings all over Australia”

  1. Gayle Gowen on August 11th, 2008 9:55 pm 1

    The Cats are in Queensland as well. I saw 2 in 1945. A Panther sized black cat jumped over the car in which my aunt and uncle were driving one day. There was a high bank on the left hand side, and it came off that, over the car, and ran into the forestry on the other side.
    Gayle.

  2. Ruby Lang on August 21st, 2008 11:21 am 2

    Hi Gayle, great report. Drop me a line at cfzaustralia@yahoo.com.au - I’d like to hear more.
    Cheers,
    Ruby

  3. Gavin Couzens on October 3rd, 2008 1:27 pm 3

    I was working in a small town called Dartmoor in western victoria in 1967-68 and at the weekend I would go by the river at one of the plantations with a 22 and bag some rabbits. Well this particular day I had a rabbit in my sight when I saw out of peripheral vision a large dark movement.

    When I got it in my scope sights it was huge and I must admit that it shook me up somewhat. I didnt tell anyone at the time because I was going back home to Geelong and didn’t want to cause any fuss.

  4. Dora kordos on October 8th, 2008 5:12 pm 4

    I’ve saw a big black cat, the size of a panther in Kinglake west, Victoria one morning on the way to work, it would have been about 7 years, on a seperate occasion my husband also saw it on his way to work in roughly the same area I saw it.

  5. john on October 8th, 2008 8:45 pm 5

    wow i find that so interesting, but are they really true???? i beleive so but never seen one. and could it just be a cross between a domestic and wild cats

  6. Martin Schweizer on October 11th, 2008 9:10 am 6

    Hi, I had one encounter in 98 where I was visiting the Blue Mountains after a bush fire.

    On a tree I saw a animal that I though to be a koala. As I came closer I realised it was a long stretched-out black cat on a branch. Shocked and frightened I raced back to my car about 2km. I told people at work about it but they laughed.

    I have visited Venezuela in South America and hunted jaguars in the rain forest and know what I saw.

    Interesting to here more about it, I will be on the lookout for it. Cheers

  7. Ron Cooper on October 11th, 2008 12:48 pm 7

    Hi.
    It was a long time ago (app.around 1980) when my ex brother in law and I went trail riding in the Licola /Gippsland area. We were driving along the road with our trail biks on the back when about 1 klm away there was a big cat walking slowly walking across the road ahead. We knew that it was some sort of big cat because from the distance we were from it it was still very big. It came out of the bush and moved slowly across the road ahead. By the time we arrived at the spot it had well gone. When I hear of big wild cat sightings, I then think of that time and know that they are real and not peoples imagination. The big wild cats are definetly out there. Possibly pumas, panthers or leopards. I would say they are fairly harmless to humans unless they were trapped or hungry or if they had young….
    Ron Cooper

  8. Pedro Perdomo on October 13th, 2008 10:33 pm 8

    This is the first time that I talk about what I saw early one winter morning in Seymour 10 years ago. About 50 meters away I saw a fast-walking animal walking along the fence and that gave me an indication of its height, probably a meter tall, if not taller, but the funny thing is that it wasn’t a cat, looking more like a cross between a fox and who knows what!

    Brown in color, pointy face, like a fox but a huge head, not in proportion to its body tall and fast walking and the back of the animal where the tail was looked a bit deformed, sort of like a hyena’s back but not quite as pronounced.

    It kind of freak me out how fast it was moving. I know what I saw and I wasn’t dreaming. I have come to a realisation that it was a huge version of a Tasmanian tiger but without the stripes. Surely there must be someone out there who has also seen this animal!

  9. Emily Taylor on October 23rd, 2008 8:45 pm 9

    A few years ago i was travelling with my parents to a friends place at about 7 o’clock on a summer night. As we were travelling into Lake Grace, a small town in the wheatbelt Western Australia, my entire family spotted a giant black cat on the top of a hill in a crop to the left of us. It was too far away to see clearly, but it was cat-like in shape, only much bigger than a domesticated cat could ever be. When it began to move it was clearly not dog-like, and the only resemblance it bore was to a cougar or panther. Since then it has become known as the ‘pougar’ and other locals have reported similar sightings in the wheatbelt region. Strange footprints have also appeared around a dam on our property, and when out at night one night my brother said he saw a large black cat run across his path.

    I think they’re not just in Victoria but in Western Australia too!

    We recently stayed in the Grampians where the highest number of sightings are recorded, and there is a cafe there called the black panther dedicated to the sightings and decorated with newspaper clippings about the cat. When we were there there current affair ran the story which included video footage and sound recordings, so at night when i was sleeping in my tent i was extremely scared of the rasping howls and frightened moos i heard!

    Cows and sheep have been found dead hung over branches in the Grampians, and nothing but a cat of prey could do that…

    What do you think?

  10. Editor on October 26th, 2008 7:33 pm 10

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