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Mystery Australian Big Cat Shot
mugley writes "The Sunday Herald Sun is running a story about the shooting of a large cat, believed to be a leopard or puma, in the Gippsland region of Victoria, Australia. Alien big cats have long been a topic of interest for cryptozoologists (and more recently, Lance Henriksen and his credit card) - is this the first real evidence of their existence?" From the article: "Mike Williams, a representative of the Centre for Fortean Zoology, a body that researches mysterious or out-of-place animals, said he believed it was concrete evidence that big cats are on the loose in Australia. Hundreds of sightings have been reported over the years and a leaked government document revealed 59 sightings had been reported in Gippsland between 1998 and 2001. The cats are said to be descendants of animals that either escaped from zoos or circuses or were released by US airmen who kept them as mascots while stationed in Australia in World War II. "
"... believed to be a leopard or puma..."
:-?
How does one confuse a leopard with a puma, especially when the animal in question is not running, but lying dead in front of you?
Or maybe they are talking about mysterious out-of-place big cats that alternate between two shapes
-A
"- What's so unpleasant about being drunk?"
"- You ask a glass of water."[from h2g2]
They shouldn't be there to begin with anyway. We have enough problems with feral cats, dogs, foxes, rabbits etc without encouraging even more non-native wildlife, especially carnivores, since Australian fauna have been largely without natural predators for thousands of years.
* Introduced Species, check
* Predatory behaviour, check
* Running unchecked in the Australian bush, check
Considering how much damage smaller introduced animals (cats, dogs, rats, mice, rabbits, foxes, cane toads, et al) have done to our wildlife, do we really want much larger ones running around unchecked? :D
I'd say not - the real question is how this guy managed to have a gun, given our mega tight gun laws
For those who aren't familiar with it, is one of the trashiest "newspapers" around. And the Centre for Fortean Zoology's whose mission statement is "At the beginning of the 21st Century monsters still roam the remote, and sometimes not so remote, corners of our planet. It is our job to search for them."
News for nuts.
:wq
this seems fishy to me. Firstly, the hunter reckons his bullet blew the feline's head apart, and from the photo it really looks like there is NOTHING left of it... would a RIFLE bullet really do that much damage? I mean, if it was a shot gun, fired into it's face, then yea, but a rifle fired from behind, passing in behind the ear and THEN blowing the head apart?
Secondly, rather than pack out this surely important find, he cuts off the tail and just takes that with him, I mean, if it were me, I'd be carrying the whole carcass out, or at least marking and burying it so they can come back and retrieve it. It's not even like he had to carry it, he could have strapped it on like a backpack (I believe this is how hunters carry deer), tied it on the back of the bike, or even towed it behind the bike wrapped in a tarpaulin or something, it was dead anyway not like he could have hurt it any more than it was.
Thirdly, the fact that he shot the thing, when it was not a threat (he says it turned away, side on), with a rifle. I've never shot a gun, rifle or otherwise, but I imagine that with a rifle there needs to be some aiming involved, he was calm enough to aim, and fire the gun, making a clean shot into the cats head... if a big cat graced my path, I think I'd be frozen stiff, hoping like hell it won't be interested in me, not tracking it with the sights on my rifle.
I dunno, this whole thing just seems really fishy to me. Not that there couldn't be a few big cats roaming the Australian countryside, but have a sneaking suspicion that this was not one of them.
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Then, I know, I'll cut off its TAIL!
Hmm, what about the rest of the carcass? Hey, I'll throw it away!
What was this guy thinking? He kills a rare "urban myth" creature (one he had never seen in 50 years hunting the outback), proving the claims of hundreds of farmers (whether he knew it or not), and the best plan he can come up with is 'keep the tail - throw out the rest'? He was hunting deer, right? He had to have some plan to carry the deer out of the wild, right?
Can you imagine the scene when he came back into town?
"Hey, see this black rope?"
"Yeah?"
"It's part of a gigantic cat I shot while I was hunting!"
"Yeah?" (Sceptically)
"Yeah!" (Brandishes tail) "Look, It was coming right at me!"
"Yeah. Right"
"No, REALLY..."
1. The Herald Sun is ... how should I put this... not renowned for its high standards of journalistic integrity.
2. A hunter shoots a 'mythical beast', takes a photograph of the carcass (but not a very good photo, it's hard to tell WTF it is he's shot) and then only bothers to bring back the tail?
Oh Puh-lease !
3. I've been hiking in places which really have big cats (national parks in South America) and the paw-prints and 'traces' (puma sh#t) are everywhere. If there was a population of big cats in Gippsland, we'd know about it.
Quidquid Latine dictum sit, altum videtur (anything said in Latin sounds important)
...or were released by US airmen who kept them as mascots while stationed in Australia in World War II.
Am I the only American to feel vaguely embarassed to once again be seen as the descendant of a bunch of knuckleheaded yokels?
"Oh, sure, we may have released gigantic carnivores in your backyard, but we sure saved everyone's asses in WWII."
Catching and killing an animal -- the near equivalent of yeti rumours -- and then disposing of the body in a non-recoverable manner, sounds entirely improbable except in extreme circumstance. This is country Victoria, not exactly deepest Africa.
Australia doesn't have any large carnivores. It is very unlikely that if you absolutely had to leave a carcass behind (which in this instance makes the entire story sound dubious) that it would be gone the following day. This is about the time I would expect you would need to obtain assistance to recover it.