For more than a century people have reported seeing huge cat-like creatures roaming the Australian bush. Sightings have come from every state on the mainland, as well as Tasmania, and date back at least to the 19th century. These reports, if genuine, predate the supposed release of mountain lions by US serviceman by many decades, and possibly a century or more. And also in the fact that most reports are of black felines, not tan. Anybody who has come across one of these beasts will swear that it was not a feral cat, but a black panther or mountain lion, depending on its colour, or perhaps a new species of large cat of the genus Panthera, or a marsupial equivalent.
Some of the reports describe huge cats that are 60 or even 80cm tall at the shoulders, and over 2m in length. However, the colour of the animals varies too much for all of the witnesses to be seeing a single species, unless they are only giant feral cats, in which case the colour variation fits. However, if there are one or more exotic species of cat roaming wild in Australia, it is hard to see how they could setup a viable breeding population. And also to have remained hidden for so long without a carcass or roadkill of a mountain lion or black panther being produced. However, given the sheer number of sightings, and insistence of the witness who swear they didn't just see an overgrown feral, perhaps there is something to this mystery...
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