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Snakeluvver2

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I've always been interested in this story/mystery of a large cat roaming the southern states or even the marsupial tiger making a come back.
Anyone want to share opinions?
 
Yeh i've heard of some sightings down my way of a big black cat. Haven't seen it myself, but i'm waiting
 
there are many rumors of black panthers being seen in the bush,no real proof yet some say they are abonded or excaped from closed down wildlife parks others think they may have been bought here by american G.Is during WW11 somehow bred is all interesting.Marsupiail tigers maybe the long exstinct tasmanian tiger who knows.
 
I use to work Big Cats in Zoos and every week I would hear story's from people who live down south claiming they have either seen or know somone who claims to have seen one. There is a lot of evidence to suggest that there are large cats in those areas. However we also recieved reports from Government bodies in Vic and NSW of feral cats caught or shot that weighed up to 30kg. Now that is one big feral cat. Cats that size could potentially be mistaken for an escaped exotic cat.

There is also evidence that suggests US Soldiers bought Mountain Lions with them to Aus in WW1 as mascots to the Military. It is possible that these sightings are decendants from these cats, however it is highly un-likely.
 
Yer i would love to think its a tasmanian tiger that would be great but very wishful thinking.
Theres a fair bit of video footage, even a book:p
haha
but the vidoes don't have a scale to compare, that would make it much more creditable.

That would be cool to work in a zoo barrimundi.
30kg thats a feral cat :|
 
I grew up in the furthest southern suburb in sydney and literally had the national park as my backyard. I was out in the bush one day with some mates and we saw a feral cat that was no BS.... the size of a medium sized dog. This thing looked at us in the eyes for what seemed an eternity (probably 10seconds) and then took off. It was massive! We called it a small lion and have never seen another like it again!
 
Meant to be some around my area a few reported sightings and paw prints etc damn Yarra Valley lol
 
Was a piece on 60 minutes about 20 years ago, where they trapped an enormous black feral, was as big as a Serval with shorter legs...lol
 
This is a true story. I was driving up the coast with my wife and young son and dog. We pulled over for a rest at around 6.00 am at one of the roadside rest areas just north of kempsey and there was a Ute with a cage on the back with a black panther in the cage. The ute had a sign saying travelling zoo or something and I carried my boy over for a closer look. Not wanting to wake the driver we kept our distance, but my dog followed me.... he could smell something weird and with his head down he followed the scent to the back of the ute. The cat was watching him the whole time just sitting there flicking the tip of its tail, as the dog stopped at the back of the ute he looked up and at the same time they looked at each other the cat let go an almighty hiss and a scowl.
My big brave redcattle x bully x german shepard yelped and ran and hid behind me!

The driver was actually no where to be seen, I thought he was having a sleep but must have been having a crap in the bush.

Wouldn't it be illegal to drive like that up the coast road? There were no covers on the cage. And I'm going back 16 yrs.
 
Some time ago there was a fake picture of a hunter next to a "panther." Really, he'd just shot a domestic cat, cut its tail off to send in as "proof" and then dumped the body in the river for some unknown reason. He used not-so-clever tactics employed by lots of overweight teenage girls on myspace; used angles to get his desired result. Linky. I think it started there...

Also, for anyone who has the patience for this site to load: Big Cats reports.
 
There is a guy in Vic with a young puma shot back in the 60's I think. It is 100% puma but would be hard to prove where it was shot. Feral cats get mighty big down here and I suspect thats all that people are seeing.
 
Growing up on a property I've seen a fair few feral cats, mostly average household size. Though from time to time I've seen some frigging big suckers. Easily the stature of a small staffy.

The lithgow panther stories seem pretty acurate to me, but most people have a fairly active imagination and are scared of the dark!!
 
Seen plenty of feral cats in the bush , never seen one big enough to be mistaken for a panther or mountain lion .
But i have seen ferals cats that were huge , some are real long and leggy almost chetah like in proportions but not the height and then some ferals that were very very solid .
Usually the colour is tabby orange or greys and a few were black.
But none could be mistaken for large panthers although these ferals were close to twice the size of your normal sized house cat.
 
Yep
Pickings must be good for a feral cat in Aus.
They're bloody everywhere too the bastards, thanks to the cat owners that shouldn't be cat owners.
 
I was watching some show about a chef who kept his own sheep.. one day when he checked on them one of the adults was dead and half of it was eaten.. he called a vet to check it out and the vet said it looked like the work of a big cat. Then called a specialist who confirmed it certainly did - crushed neck/windpipe or something and certain markings on the bones like the cats nibble. Said it looked just like a big cat attack and took it away with him.

Dunno what to believe about that but it was pretty spooky, if they can survive in the English woods (assuming they can haha) why not here?
 
Well when i was younger i went camping on the shore of the hawkesbury river with my family, and during the night we heard a large bang on the roof of a old boat shed that we were camped under..... waking up to the loud noise, we couldn't figure out what it was, so we went back to sleep, the next morning we found a large pile of urine on the tent, which had come from a hole in the roof of the boat shed ( this boast shed was really just a roof) We left and went home not really thinking much about it...... later on that day we got a phone call from the owners of the place we stayed ( it was my uncles families farm) and they said they saw the PANTHER through the bin and around where we had been camping........ now we have proof that there is a panther somewhere.... got DNA evidence :D...... now we always joke about "the panther took my baby" as i was only about 5 at the time.

This is no lie, it really happened, bit scary really. i wonder if its still out there somewhere?

Rebecca
 
There is ment to be big cats near mt macidon, went up there shooting years ago and got a couple of big feral cats,no bigger than staffy size.
Alot of people seeing things that they want to beleve i think.
If there was 'panthers' out there they would have been found by now.
 
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