Hello fellow ZooChat users. First wanted to introduce myself before anything else. Still learning how too navigate forums, but slowly getting my head around it!! Please bear with me (pun intended).. I am a former big cat handler / zookeeper from a zoo here in Australia, but I now run a website / Facebook page that looks into big cat sightings in Australia (bit of a passion project). Sounds crazy I know, but these sightings have been happening for over a hundred years in this country alone, so there has to be some merit to them right? Anyways, most of my posts / questions will be big cat related and would love to draw on the wealth of knowledge within this forum about the key species I believe we have here in Australia. I am interested to hear your thoughts about alien big cats and the like. Looking forward to hearing your stories!! - PantherPeople
Cant wait to hear some of the stories I'm sure you'll share on here! Would you be able to link your FB page please? I'd love to give it a like/follow.
I am a cat fanatic and look forward to your input. As for there having to be a basis for big cat sightings for over a hundred years, I am going to respectfully disagree (please do not take this personally). There have been sightings of Bigfoot (Sasquatch) here in the states for longer than that, but no serious wildlife lover (amateur or professional) would believe that Bigfoot exists.
I would agree with you on that one, but we are talking about two very different beings - with two very different explanations as to how / why they may be exisiting in an area. Probably not the time or place for this, so will save it for another thread, but certainly interested in hearing your thoughts!!
Hey Thomas!! Hopefully I am doing this correctly. Please let me know if there's another / better way of doing this. Our Facebook page is called PantherPeople Australia. Check it out!!
I assume you've got good coverage of the big cats around the Grampians in Victoria that were allegedly set free after the American military left the area - was it post Vietnam or WW2 or something? I can't remember the details of the story. We have friends who own a farm on the western edge of the Grampians and they insist they have lost plenty of sheep to large predators and he swore he has caught glimpses of very large cats on his property.
Hi Simon. Thanks for the reply. Surely do. We have heard many stories and have a number of witness reports of sightings in the Grampians National Park. The mountain ranges there seem to be quite the hotspot, and after going for a drive through there last month, I can see why. Perfect habitat to support a large carnivore population. Extensive caves, thick tree cover, adequate water - plus an abundance of native prey animals and the surrounding farms make for a perfect location for a big cat species to thrive. From memory, it seems to be the 'Grampians Puma' that has made most of the headlines in that area. But black individuals are also seen from time to time.
The only problem with this theory is the lack of 'hard evidence'. There just simply isn't any. Plenty of Chinese whispers and stories from yesteryear, but unfortunately this evidence is anecdotal at best. Not to say it isn't true - in fact I wholeheartedly believe that it is plausible if not probable that this is the cause for most of the big cat sightings around Australia, but unfortunately you can't take that to press (so to speak).
