Phantom cats, also known as Alien Big Cats (ABCs), are large feline, such as jaguars or cougars, which have been purported to appear in regions outside their indigenous range. Sightings, tracks and predation have been reported in a number of countries and states including Britain, Australia, New Zealand, Finland, Denmark, and Hawaii.

As with other aspects of Cryptozoology, the study of Phantom Cats is considered by mainstream science to constitute pseudoscience or fringe science. In general, scientists reject the possibility that such mega-fauna cryptids exist, because of the improbably large numbers necessary to maintain a breeding population and because climate and food supply issues make their survival in reported habitats unlikely.

UK

Since the 1960s, there have been many sightings of big cats across Great Britain. Puma, clouded leopard, jungle cat, leopard cat and lynx have also been killed or captured, as documented by Karl Shuker in Mystery Cats of the World. A 15-month survey conducted in 2003-2004 by the British Big Cats Society gave the following regional breakdown, based on 2052 sightings: South West 21%, South East 16%, East Anglia 12%, Scotland 11%, and West Midlands 9%.

Australia

Sightings of exotic big cats in Australia began more than 100 years ago. The New South Wales State Government reported in 2003 that it was "more likely than not" that there was a colony of exotic big cats living in the bush near Sydney.

Gippsland phantom cat

In the Gippsland region of south-eastern Victoria, the origin of the cats is claimed to be American World War II airmen who brought cougars with them as mascots and released them in the Australian Bush. Photographic evidence is often difficult to interpret. The mass slaughter of sheep is often given as evidence to support the big cat theory. They are often killed by a clean puncture or slit in the throat. The animals' insides are then eaten precisely and with no mess, in the same way a big cat kills and eats its prey.

A study by Deakin University concluded that a big cat population in the area is "beyond reasonable doubt".

Blue Mountains panther

The Blue Mountains panther is a phantom cat reported in sightings in the Blue Mountains area, west of Sydney, New South Wales for over a century. Speculations about the Blue Mountains panther include that it is a Circus escape, that it is the offspring of American wildcats brought by gold miners in the Bathurst Gold Rush, or that the cat is an escapee from a nearby and now closed Safari Park.

Video footage showing a large black cat near Lithgow was examined by a group of seven zoo, museum, parks and agriculture staff, who concluded that it a large domestic cat (2–3 times normal size) based partly on its morphology and partly on the behaviour of a nearby normal-sized domestic cat.

Tantanoola Tiger

The region around Tantanoola, a town in the south-east of South Australia was supposed to have been the stalking ground of The Tantanoola Tiger during the late nineteenth century. In 1895 an animal believed to be the Tantanoola Tiger was shot and identified as an Assyrian wolf. It was stuffed and remains on display in the Tantanoola Hotel.

Sunshine Coast big cats

There have been some claims that "Big Cats" have stalked the hinterland of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland since early in the 19th Century.



These claims have been met with skepticism.

Denmark

In 1995, a big cat usually described as a lion (but sometimes as a lynx) was dubbed the Beast of Funen by numerous eye-witnesses. There was an earlier big cat sighting from 1982 in southern Jutland.

The Netherlands

In 2005 a black cougar was allegedly spotted on several occasions in a wildlife preserve, but the animal, nicknamed Winnie, was later identified as an unusually large crossbreed between a domestic and a wild cat.

New Zealand

Since the late 1990s, big cat sightings have been reported in widely separated parts of New Zealand, in both the North and South Islands. There have been several unverified panther sightings in Mid-Canterbury near Ashburton and in the nearby foothills of the Southern Alps, but searches conducted there in 2003 by the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry found no corroborating physical evidence.

Hawaii

Stories of "mystery big cats" on the island of Maui have been circulating since the late 1980s. In December 2002, sightings of a big cat increased in number in the Kula (upcountry) area, and the Division of Forestry and Wildlife requested the help of big cat wildlife biologists William Van Pelt and Stan Cunningham of the Arizona Game and Fish Department. Van Pelt and Cunningham believed the cat was probably a large feline, such as a Jaguar, Leopard or Mountain Lion. It may have been illegally brought into Hawaii as a pet and released or allowed to wander in the wild. No big cat was detected by traps, infrared cameras, and professional trackers. A fur sample was obtained in 2003 but DNA analysis was inconclusive. The state's hunt for the cat was suspended in late November 2003, after three weeks without sightings. Utah State University professor and wildlife biologist Robert Schmidt expressed strong doubts about the cat's existence, likening it to the Loch Ness monster.

See also

• Cryptozoology
• Introduced species
• North American Cougar

References

1. Sjögren, Bengt, Berömda vidunder, Settern, 1980, ISBN 91-7586-023-6
2. More big cats recorded, BBC News, 28 January, 2002.
3. Big Cat evidence gets stronger, as society calls for government study, News, British Big Cats Society.
4. Big cats not a tall tale. The Sun-Herald, November 2, 2003.
5. Bill Atkinson (2003). Report on information available on the reported large black cat in the Blue Mountains. NSW Agriculture. Reproduced on Rex & Heather Gilroy's Mysterious Australia website: [1]
6. John Henry, "Pumas in the Grampians Mountains: A Compelling Case? An Up-dated Report of the Deakin Puma Study", Deakin University Press, Melbourne, May 2001. Conclusion quoted in Atkinson (2003).[2]
7. Is something out there? (Map of sightings near Sydney.) Sydney Morning Herald.
8. Massale belangstelling voor poemajacht ("Massive interest in cougar hunting")
9. 'Poema' Winnie ontmaskerd ("'Puma' Winnie unmasked")
10. Ashburton Guardian: An unsolved mystery
11. Fantastic Feline - Hunting the Big Black Cat, Report by Jendy Harper, Close Up at Seven, Television New Zealand, 3rd May 2005. Transcript.
12. Status Report on the Olinda, Maui Mystery Cat, Division of Forestry and Wildlife, Hawaii, 2003.
13. Expert thinks big cat is dangerous, Honolulu Star-Bulletin, October 25, 2003. Retrieved December 10, 2008.
14. State suspends hunt for Maui cat, Honolulu Advertiser, November 22, 2003. Retrieved December 10, 2008.
15. For Maui, it was year of the cat, Honolulu Advertiser, November 30, 2003. Retrieved December 10, 2008.

External links

• Australian Big Cats
• British Big Cats Society