Phantom cat
Sightings, tracks, and predation have been reported in a number of countries including Australia, Canada, China, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, India, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, New Zealand, Spain, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
The New South Wales State Government reported in 2003 that "more likely than not" there was a number of exotic big cats living deep in the bushlands near Sydney.
[2] In the Gippsland region of southeastern Victoria, American World War II airmen brought cougars with them as mascots and allegedly released them in the Australian bush.
[3] A study by Deakin University concluded that the existence of big cats in the Grampian Mountains area could not be definitively demonstrated based on available evidence.
On 25 August 1895, an animal believed to be the Tantanoola tiger was shot by Tom Donovian and identified as an Assyrian wolf; although no such species appears to exist.
[16] In 2005, a black cougar was allegedly spotted on several occasions in a wildlife preserve,[17] but the animal, nicknamed Winnie, was later identified as an unusually large crossbreed between a domestic cat and a wildcat.
[18] Since the late 1990s, big cat sightings have been reported in widely separated parts of New Zealand, in both the North[19] and South Islands.
[citation needed] There have been several unverified panther sightings in Mid-Canterbury near Ashburton and in the nearby foothills of the Southern Alps,[20][21] but searches conducted there in 2003 by the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry found no corroborating physical evidence.
[29] In December 2002, sightings of a big cat increased in numbers 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 that the cat was probably a large feline, such as a leopard, jaguar, or cougar.
[32] Utah State University professor and wildlife biologist Robert Schmidt expressed strong doubts about the cat's existence,[33] likening it to the Loch Ness monster.
[34] In the Shawnee National Forest of Alexander County, there have been encounters of large black panthers reported sporadically since the 1860s.
[37][38] Black panthers and other large non-indigenous cats have been sighted for many years in the vicinity of Oriental, North Carolina.
