Mysterious Creatures : A Guide to Cryptozoology

vague, and it’s uncertain whether or not a THY-
LACINE or big cat was involved.
A large, jet-black cat was seen prowling the
hills around Jamberoo, New South Wales, in
1909.
A striped cat was held responsible for sheep
killings in the area around Marulan and Tallong,
New South Wales, between 1927 and 1930.
A big cat that could allegedly eat an adult
sheep in one sitting was investigated by Fisheries
and Game Officer Rod Estoppey near Briagolong,
Victoria, from the mid-1930s to the mid-
1950s.
A large, black, leopardlike animal was reported
around Emmaville in the New England
area of New South Wales, from 1956 to 1962,
with comebacks in 1969, 1973, and 1995.
Some incidents were also reported in the region
before World War II. Known as the Emmaville
panther, it was held responsible for many nocturnal
sheep killings. During 1956 and 1957,
some 340 sheep were killed on a single ranch
owned by Clive Berry. The case was declared
solved on at least two occasions after the killing
of a large black boar and an old hairless dingo,
but the depredations continued.
An odd carnivore was responsible for killing
many sheep near Brookton, Western Australia,
for two years in the 1960s. Hunter Harry Butler
shot it, and it turned out to be a beat-up and
scalped dingo that had lost its tail and left deformed
tracks.
In 1969 at Byaduk, Victoria, Les Rentsch
watched a pumalike cat with a glistening, silvergray
coat for five to six minutes. It had two large
upper fangs.
In September 1972, George Moir of Kulja,
Western Australia, found several of his piglets
dead, with their hearts torn out and their throats
ripped open. He also watched two black animals
with long tails rounding up his sheep. Moir and
a game warden chased them for 5 miles but
could not catch them.
A black panther was seen by thirty-two witnesses
around Cambewarra Mountain, New
South Wales, in June 1975. Leopardlike tracks
were examined by retired naval officer Raymond
Noakes, and cows, dogs, chickens, goats,
and sheep were reported missing or mutilated.
A woman reported a large cat around July 10,
1977, in the Kaiapoi area, South Island, New
Zealand. Pawprints and droppings, but little
else, were found on July 21 at Pines Beach.
A large, pumalike cat has been reported near
Cordering, Western Australia, by many ranchers
since 1977. It apparently could kill sheep
with surgical precision. Many of them were not
eaten, but those that were had their skins peeled
back and the ribs stripped of all meat. Kangaroos
were also found killed by puncture wounds
to the head.
Peter Bruem observed a black, leopardlike cat
and a brown, pumalike cat running together
near Bendeela, New South Wales, in the summer
of 1979. He waited in the shade to see
whether they would return and they did, approaching
within 100 yards.
A large, black, catlike animal was reported
frequently in the Kangaroo Valley area, New
South Wales, between 1968 and 1981. It gained
particular notoriety when it killed a valuable
pony near Budgong in June 1981. The case was
declared “solved” twice, when a feral cat (in
1977) and melanistic wallaby (in 1981) were
captured.
Norwegian zoologist Per Seglen encountered
a dark, leopardlike animal near Badgingarra National
Park, Western Australia, on August 21,
1982. It had a long, spotted or heavily striped
tail.
Large brown or black, pumalike cats have
been responsible for livestock depredations in
the Grampians Mountain Range, Victoria, since
the 1940s. Reports increased dramatically
around 1969 and remained steady though the
1970s and 1980s. Rob Wallis saw a black, muscular
cat near Moyston in August 1989 as it
crossed the road in front of his vehicle. He estimated
it was 8 feet long including the tail and
weighed 250 pounds. He located its tracks the
next morning and made a plaster cast of one
clear track that resembled the print of a smallish
puma, although claw marks were visible.
Present status: In 1987, the Victorian government
added pumas to the list of predators that
are known to attack livestock.
Possible explanations:
(1) Surviving Marsupial lion (Thylacoleo
AUSTRALIAN BIG CAT 25