Reality or Fiction? Beast Puzzles Big Cat on the Prowl

Reality or Fiction? Beast Puzzles Big Cat on the Prowl
Aleks Devic
ROAMING black panthers in the Otways reality or just figments of a wild imagination? The argument has been going on since World War II, when American soldiers were allegedly spotted walking with the beast.
Big cat researcher John Turner, who is also a World War II veteran said he became interested in big cats when he saw his first one at Beechworth in 1972.
``It's not easily forgotten because when you see something that is unexpected it stays in your mind it's like a car accident, you will never forget it,'' Mr Turner said.
Strategically placed cameras in the Otways have failed to deliver proof but dead carcasses on farms, with only skeleton remains, makes suspicions grow that a panther or puma-like creature exists.
Another big cat researcher and former Surf Coast Shire councillor Simon Townsend said a foal was found last September mutilated at a Modewarre farm with all its insides and skin eaten. ``About 50kg of meat was eaten out in a quite effective way and my suspicion is there was more than one,'' Mr Townsend said.
``It did not fit the pattern of a dog attack because dogs are messy eaters and this was a pretty neat job.
``Also the foal's eyeball was forced out and being spring time it's unlikely it was pulled out by a predatory bird like a crow. It's much more likely it was knocked out by whatever grabbed it.'' He said this case was similar to other stock killings, where the beast enters through their chest, eating the heart, lungs and liver and then attacks the meat between the legs and thighs.
Mr Turner said the big cats were most likely lurking in the Otways, Central Highlands and Wilsons Promontory.
``In Africa they need 100km per animal and they can do that whole perimeter in one night,'' he said.
``Transcend that to the Otways and there could be 40 of them.''
Mr Townsend, who set eyes on his first big cat in 1973 in Warburton, said they had put cameras in the Otways in their attempt to snap the creature but had not been successful in capturing an image.
He said some descriptions of sightings could not be mistaken for a feral cat.
``They lope when they walk, their head is low and their shoulder blades move up and down. The tail is long and turns up at the end, even cylindrical at times. This is no ordinary animal,'' he said.
The Echo: 31st January 2008