Official hunt for Australia's big cats has begun

If you read the OP properly you will find that his reference states "The Victorian Government is investigating".

If you read my reply properly..I clearly stated they are just doing normal work hours..and if you look what they did last time they had an "enquiry"..you will see they did nothing.
So nothing this time..and nothing last time..aint going to cost much tiger.

The OP also states that the Gippsland Cat was proven to be just a feral cat.

Actually "theOP" ie, YOU didnt.
Go read your post again.
DeepThoughtCriminal mentioned it..it was in the newspapers.

Regarding your statement that the shooter provided other photo's I cannot find any unless you mean this one:

So you didnt know where to look..didnt know whom to ask..dont know what you are talking about..fair enough..
And no..wrong again..its just a tabby cat..nothing to do with this story..or the photos we are talking about.

Sorry, but the Tasmanian Tiger and Panther sightings, like the Yowee, belong in the same drawer as Alice in Wonderland.

You dont have to apologise..
Couple of clueless mistakes..didnt read your own post..attempted misdirection..and a funny ad hominem(strawman)..Its all good fun..

From the OP link:

Melbourne-based big cats researcher Michael Moss said he had been telephoned by a DSE scientist wanting copies of his research and who asked him to keep the contact secret.

"There is no doubt they (big cats) are out there," Mr Moss said, adding that the recent rediscovery of the Tiger Quoll in the Otways again proved how easy it was for animals to remain undetected in wilderness area for long periods of time.

Sounds like the Government is researching an interdimensional species.

Any other ideas on the need for secrecy?

Ferals can get big. There's a nursery that I shop at for plants and they have a big yellow tabby that lives there now. I swear it's the size of a medium sized dog. Really cool cat and very friendly

Any other ideas on the need for secrecy?

Secrecy ?..
Its just simple common sense..
Your working in a govt job..the official line of your dept is there is nothing to the subject.
Your not going to enhance your career prospects by stepping out of line or stepping outside their narrow paradigm and risk your mortgage payments.
Also..people want to appear rational and normal..
The cake mix is...Ignore..sneer..smear,,move on folks there is nothing here and throw in a few appeals to authority...and a dash of lame versions of argumentum ad ignorantiam..
Voila=consensus reality.

reply to post by asecretcountry


I have perhaps been a little too flippant in my replies which has cause you some offense for which I unreservedly apologize. However, I think the following cartoon from Victoria's largest daily Newspaper, The Melbourne Herald-Sun, sums the situation up very simply.



Believe me, there have been many investigations into these so-called "Big-Cat" events and no evidence has been, or ever will be, found.

I have perhaps been a little too flippant in my replies which has cause you some offense for which I unreservedly apologize. However, I think the following cartoon from Victoria's largest daily Newspaper, The Melbourne Herald-Sun, sums the situation up very simply.

Thank you for your apology.
That shows a high level of integrity my friend..!!
But..I was never offended..its a strange subject which polarises people..
The cartoon is excellent..good cartoonists can really nail topics..

Believe me, there have been many investigations into these so-called "Big-Cat" events and no evidence has been, or ever will be, found.

Lets look at the "investigations"you are talking about.
None were scientific in any sense.
Of the "investigations I am aware of, four out of five were positive.
If you know of any more that I have not listed here, then could you be so kind as to supply the details please.

1/THe Grampians Puma Investigation by Professor John Henry
Grampians Puma
This came out possibly existing.

2/The 1999 Bauer report came out possibly existing.
3/NSW DPI 2003 came out possibly existing.
4/NSW DPI 2008 came out possibly existing.
DPI reversed the 2008 and hid the 20008 report..and produced the
5/NSW DPI 2009 report which said they don't exist.
nsw-government-bigcat-reports.blogspot.com.au...
1987 police and truck drivers reported a lioness eating a sheep outside broken Hill.
Police shot the animal dead.
A body on the table is primary evidence. !
DPI NSW never investigated how a lioness came to be in the bush eating a sheep.
There are photos of this animal in some libraries, if you are interested I can give you the details for you to confirm this.
There was also a MT DNA blast sequence which came back panthera pardus from Victoria from swabs off a kill.
Means nothing sadly because the scientist who did the DNA blast search would not place his name on the paper(unpublished) due to fears he would not keep getting work with DSE Victoria.
Peace..







.

Originally posted by MegaSpace
I find it odd that there has been no reports of injured people or been killed from such large cats? or even hospital records showing patients having been hospitalized by attacks from such a large cat. Am i wrong? Have i missed any news articles showing that there have been reports indeed in the news media that people have been attacked?

edit on 23-8-2012 by MegaSpace because: (no reason given)

Not really odd considering the type of country and the nature of the animal in question.
Why would they risk attacking a person when cute marsupials are everywhere & don't pose a risk, also the chances of cornering 1 & suffering a defensive attack are almost nil.

I would say there is something there, what exactly remains to be seen but Australia is unusual in that it doesn't have a known big cat of it's own. Very unusual infant can anybody shed some light on why we don't.

I doubt they are ferals because with the millions of feral cats we have I think we would regularly see them. Is it possible for panthers/pumas/? to breed with a house cat?

There is no way that the Yanks shot their mascots like they were supposed to, I just can't believe that happened.
I can however believe they walked out in the bush & wished them a happy life & there would of been enough to sustain a breeding population.

Feral cats are, and always have been, a problem in Country Victoria as people tend to 'dump' their unwanted domestic cats with increasing regularity in the 'bush'. A small coastal town in West Gippsland has just announced that a recent 'trapping safari' has netted over 60 feral cats which were destroying local fauna.
The American 'Regimental Mascot' stories were debunked years ago.

reply to post by OzTiger


Yeah how is the american army or marines going to get a wild puma, take it on a boat everywhere they go, keep it without the cat taking off a GI's arm once a week during feeding time, and take it for it's daily walks? Pretty easy one to debunk. But it's possible that rich folk who had estates nearby at one time may have released a pet cougar into the bush. Maybe a few and they have created a small population.

Any fancy estates with old money in the area. Or relics of old wealthy estates nearby where there may have been an irresponsible release of alien animals to australia?

reply to post by BASSPLYR


They changed the laws in Aust in the late 70s regarding the keeping of what they called "exotic animals." Most people, rather than pay the ridiculous fees to keep them, just released them into the wild, so it's likely this could account for some of the sightings.

I do agree with you about the whole US servicemen keeping big cats as mascots, I mean it'd be a pretty hard secret to keep, especially inside a cramped ship. But there is something out there, there's just too many sightings and photos for there nto to be. If you've ever been to Aust, anyone will tell you, it is big. Big enough to hide a small population of anything for years without ever seeing them. I've been to southwest Tasmania, and the rainforest is so dense down there, you could literally step on a Tasmanian Tiger before you knew it was there.

I personally believe you have large cats, probably panthers or pumas in that area of Victoria.

What's your take on the Tasmanian Tiger? I also believe that they are not completely extinct, endangered but not extinct. Seems to me that even though Tasmania is small there is still plenty of room for those Thylo's to go about their business unobserved. They've only been extinct for 100 years, thats not too long. Bet there are a few the hunters missed that keep a low profile way out in the bush trying to make a population comeback. At least I hope so.

Originally posted by WorkingClassMan
I would say there is something there, what exactly remains to be seen but Australia is unusual in that it doesn't have a known big cat of it's own. Very unusual infant can anybody shed some light on why we don't.

Hi there. Zoologist here.

So there are three types of mammals. Monotremes, marsupials, and placental mammals. They're differentiated in terms of how they reproduce. Monotremes are the most ancestral and members of each group are more closely related to each other than to any animals in the other groups.

Monotremes are only found in Australia and New Guinea. Marsupials are mostly found in Australia and New Guinea. Australia is cool because since there weren't historically placental mammals at all except for bats, things tended to develop to *look like* species that we have here in North America or in Europe or other places. The thylacine (Tasmanian Tiger... probably are some left on at least one large island near Australia) looks like a carnivore, acts like a carnivore, but it's really not a carnivore... not a member of the Carnivora order.

So if there were big cats either a) they would have to have been introduced (like the pumas, possibly, I don't know anything about that) or b) they're not actually cats, they're just big marsupials that look like cats... but I would think we'd know about that by now. Who knows, though.

Originally posted by OzTiger
Feral cats are, and always have been, a problem in Country Victoria as people tend to 'dump' their unwanted domestic cats with increasing regularity in the 'bush'. A small coastal town in West Gippsland has just announced that a recent 'trapping safari' has netted over 60 feral cats which were destroying local fauna.
The American 'Regimental Mascot' stories were debunked years ago.

Feral cats are a problem right across the country there are millions of them, & they have been in the wild since Cook came here & probably before, last time I was out west I shot 40 in a day, & spoke to some people who told me some of the local tribes are living quite well of them.
Have a look at the cat hanging trees.

Debunked by who & how, Old guy who lived down the road from me as a kid told me he lived near a US base during WW2 & they had half a dozen of them & would even let local kids come have a look on occasion. I can't see why he would of lied we weren't talking about conspiracies.
I also thought there were offical DPI documents ordering these animals be destroyed, but we all know what thought did so..

Originally posted by BASSPLYR
I personally believe you have large cats, probably panthers or pumas in that area of Victoria.

What's your take on the Tasmanian Tiger? I also believe that they are not completely extinct, endangered but not extinct. Seems to me that even though Tasmania is small there is still plenty of room for those Thylo's to go about their business unobserved. They've only been extinct for 100 years, thats not too long. Bet there are a few the hunters missed that keep a low profile way out in the bush trying to make a population comeback. At least I hope so.

To ever say they were extinct was way to big a call imo when you take into account the terrain & there have been sightings on the mainland as well. Many tasmanians believe they are on the come back & are starting to hear there distinctive call more often.

Not seen is far from extinct except in the mind of arrogant humans, we have had our fair share of "extinct" animals show up again.

Originally posted by ravenshadow13

Originally posted by WorkingClassMan
I would say there is something there, what exactly remains to be seen but Australia is unusual in that it doesn't have a known big cat of it's own. Very unusual infant can anybody shed some light on why we don't.

Hi there. Zoologist here.

So there are three types of mammals. Monotremes, marsupials, and placental mammals. They're differentiated in terms of how they reproduce. Monotremes are the most ancestral and members of each group are more closely related to each other than to any animals in the other groups.

Monotremes are only found in Australia and New Guinea. Marsupials are mostly found in Australia and New Guinea. Australia is cool because since there weren't historically placental mammals at all except for bats, things tended to develop to *look like* species that we have here in North America or in Europe or other places. The thylacine (Tasmanian Tiger... probably are some left on at least one large island near Australia) looks like a carnivore, acts like a carnivore, but it's really not a carnivore... not a member of the Carnivora order.

So if there were big cats either a) they would have to have been introduced (like the pumas, possibly, I don't know anything about that) or b) they're not actually cats, they're just big marsupials that look like cats... but I would think we'd know about that by now. Who knows, though.

It's nice to have a zoo guy chime in but I think u missed my point & I'm not sure I agree.

Point was it is unusual for Aus to never have had a big cat & I can't remember the exact way it was put but something like we are the only sub Saharan continent not to.
You can almost swim to Indonesia from Australia & the common theory is there was a land bridge many moons ago, now indo has tigers, leopards & other jungle cats with all the marsupials here a cat would of thrived & had very few predators.

Why isn't a Tassie tiger a carnivore, I was taught it was the largest marsupial carnivore?

You forgot C: They have been here all along & our ignorance proceeds us.
One of the other things that is not often noted about big cats in Ozz is that we are not dealing with 1 type but a variety. Disclaimer: according to reports & their descriptions, & it is not confined to Victoria there have been many sightings in north Queensland & NT.
A very interesting one in NQ involves 2 separate sightings by Australian army personnel of an unidentifiable animal that stood as tall as a mans waist and put the fear of god into a military attack dog. They even took paw castings I believe I don't have time atm but I'll see if I can find the story & pic. Maybe someone could shed some light on the paw print cause the description as I recall was unusual & more like a hyena or something.

Originally posted by BASSPLYR
reply to post by OzTiger

 

Yeah how is the american army or marines going to get a wild puma, take it on a boat everywhere they go, keep it without the cat taking off a GI's arm once a week during feeding time, and take it for it's daily walks? Pretty easy one to debunk. But it's possible that rich folk who had estates nearby at one time may have released a pet cougar into the bush. Maybe a few and they have created a small population.

Any fancy estates with old money in the area. Or relics of old wealthy estates nearby where there may have been an irresponsible release of alien animals to australia?

You have been to the zoo or circus right? Do they not also keep bears as mascots?
Yes plenty of things were released by people when our laws changed, they loved their animals they were not going to kill them.

reply to post by BASSPLYR


Anyone who has travelled Tasmania will attest to the odd sounding calls there at night. I recall staying at Cradle Mountain in central Tas, and hearing an odd call frequently during the night. Many locals seem to think the Tiger could easily have survived, and in largish numbers, given the dense terrain there and general lack of population, especially in the southwest.

The Tassie Devil by comparison makes a sound like someone throwing up (sorry that's the best way I can describe it), whereas this was more like a child crying sound. It could well be anything of course, I can't say for sure the Tassie Tiger still exists, but given the circumstances, it wouldn't surprise me.

Templar, Thanks for the description of what the tassie sounds like in the bush. I was actually going to ask that but you got there ahead of me. Great minds think alike.

So the tas tiger sounds like a guy hurling up. SOunds interesting. I've heard animals make similar sounds so I think I can imagine what you are describing. The baby crying is also an interesting sound. Several animals may make that sound. But it must be fairly unique a sound in tasmania to distinguish it self from the other animal sounds. Would like to hear a recording of it one day.

I think the Tigers are still around. Although I am no expert in any way regarding these animals I a convinced that video of the animal running across the road thats been out for a few years is a tasmanian tiger.

As far as the land bridge theory goes, and large cats coming into australia due to it. I believe that holds some water. However one would expect all the marsupials to migrate up into the south asian archipelago too. But we don't see many marsupials living north of australia. I think thats interesting. So a large panther or tiger making its way to australia would make sense. One would imagine why it would choose to leave its habitat where there is plenty of food for the more rough terrain of australia though.

Personally I don't believe it to be a tiger, but some sort of panther like a cougar, and that it arrived in australia probably in the 1800 as an exotic pet/s that got released into the wild.

The case is now closed: see link

www.abc.net.au...

What. A bunch of crap. So two researchers say there are no big cats therefore there are absolutely no big cats in Australia. I say keep doing the research there are plenty of people observing cats that are obviously not giant feral house cats