New Zealand Mystery Animal Photo

Anyone from NZ that could give us some more info on your wildlife?

The giant alleged wild felid, dubbed the “Kaiwaka Lion,” was seen, for example, by Kaiwaka firefighter Allan Swanson’s son Carl, 18, during an urban search and rescue exercise in a quarry at Kaiwaka, 90 minutes north of Auckland, on May 29, 2008.

Source




What do you guys think?

Source

Is it a large feline? Or is it just a domestic housecat?

You decide!

While it is difficult to tell if the cryptid is even a felid mystery animal vs a canid one, it is good to, at least, have obtained some form of photographic evidence. Or, perhaps, in this case, without scale, from a distance, does this just confuse closeup sightings of larger felines with an image of a small domestic cat?

tO

looks a bit like a goat to me.

although I am no wildlife expert I know New Zealand have deer as well as goats

reply to post by TheOmen


If man can modify genetics on the animal kingdom, there is a possibility that aliens do likewise on selected endangered species including on us.

reply to post by munkey66


Thats why I was hoping for a NZ resident to come forward and take a look.

It would certainly be interesting, as I seem to see alot of big cat stories cropping up recently.

tO

reply to post by TheOmen


ever country has it's big cat legend, either left behind after the war by US troops who kept it as a mascot, or it escaped a zoo or circus.

Some of these animals are well over 60 years old now which is pretty interesting for animals that usually live for around 12 to 15 in the wild, sometimes up to 20 to 25 in captivity.

reply to post by ctjctjctj


I like your thinking, but I'm not entirely sure that is what's going on in this circumstance.........

reply to post by munkey66


Do you mean the sightings go back 60 years?

Or are there documented cases of one of these big cats growing to 60 years?

Without some sort of scale, and a higher quality picture, it can be anything.

Their description is a bit confusing...

They turned their car around and said they watched the big cat, about 200m away, from the roadside for about seven minutes.

...

Mr Limond was unshaken in his belief he had seen a “small lion-like animal”. He based his claims on having been to Africa and seen lions at game parks.

A lion is a "big cat". A "small lion-like animal" is just a cat... Alsatian sized is not "small lion"...

Yes, I know I'm nit picking, but sadly there isn't much to go on.

reply to post by Gemwolf


I know...

But apparantley there has been a few sightings of said "big cats" in the area and I just hoped we had some residents of NZ to help us!

Interesting picture.

I don't know about the big cat phenomenon in NZ, but it has peaked over the gap here in Australia.

Considering the fairly parallel nature of Australian and NZ politics and culture, I can take a stab at what it could be, but as Gemwolf said, the creature in the photo could be anything.


The most likely explanation for credible big cat sightings and evidence down here in Australia and NZ is simply that: real big cats.

Back in the 50s and 60s it was a fashion statement for all the city socialites to own an exotic animal. There were no laws prohibiting it at the time, and some rich individuals imported African and Asian cats as pets.

I'm not sure on the exact year, but somewhere during the Vietnam era a law was brought in banning these pets and a collection was made of already existing ones. They were to be destroyed.

It is said that many owners, rather than have the animals killed, took them out of the city and let them loose into the bush.

We are talking probably several dozen along Australia's east coast that were let free. They wouldn't still be alive today, but I guess it is possible they found breeding partners or began to interbreed with Australian wild cats.

As I said, I'm not 100% certain on the situation in NZ, but as our countries tend to follow each other's lead about many things I guess the same may have occurred.

Could give you a whole list of animals that MIGHT be =P
The quality is so poor though it's impossible to tell,
It looks like a grazing animal to me.
Wish they took a few more photos.

reply to post by fooffstarr


Sounds very similar to what is going on in the UK.

In the 70's (or maybe 60's) a law was passed banning big cats from being kept as pets, and some released them into the wild.

I believe it could well be a case of them breeding and sustaining a population that could go undetected for a number of years.

Why are all pictures that are provided as evidence taken from such great distances that ANYTHING can be seen in the picture?

I never understood why someone wouldn't get a decent picture with a decent camera.

reply to post by bobbylove321


As much as I agree with you, you must also take into consideration that if it indeed were a big cat, that approaching it may not be the best idea.

Also, they may not have been able to get as close as they had hoped.

On the otherhand, it could be that it's a hoax, and that they took it from that distance to make sure you can't clearly see that.

reply to post by TheOmen


Well in Australia we to have a cat problem, and have a fairly large feral cat problem and anyone who has hunted or seen these things will say they grow to a massive size, even domesticated animals can grow close to a metres length. There has been some video of large black cats but to say they may be a leopard or panther could be jumping the gun, it is not known for sure but some pretty impressive specimens have been shot.
Here is a good link, but WARNING it contains some graphic photos for those easily upset.
Tetrapod Zoology

Take a look at this guys!
I think I found an answer:

"The Liger"

Source: Wikipedia
The liger is a hybrid cross between a male lion (Panthera leo) and a tigress (Panthera tigris), hence has parents with the same genus but of different species. It is distinct from the similar hybrid tigon. It is the largest of all cats and extant felines.

en.wikipedia.org...
Could this be it?

reply to post by Pakd-on-mystery


As much as I think the Liger is super awesome...

I don't think it's him.

Did you just come across it and wanted to share??

actually everyone i know here in germany knows of those things, but i guess here it's not so very well known...

No, I know of the Liger, I just don't think that it would be one in the Picture.

One person did say it was like a small african lion, and a Liger is the biggest Cat on the planet, so I'm just not sure why ou thought it would be a LigeR???