From Borderwatch. com 11 Nov. 2008
Big cat sightings pour in
Chris Oldfield
Emails are still pouring in about big cats on the prowl.
From the other side of Melbourne to Port MacDonnell and throughout the Grampians to Wattle Range, more people have reported seeing these creatures.
Their occupations range from city based IT specialists to truck drivers, forestry workers and farmers to lawyers and school teachers.
They describe either a black animal with a long tail and a large pug cat like face, or a tan animal with a cat like face, about the size of a large dog.
They do not report seeing a dog, fish or elephant, nor a 10 legged octopus, just a massive cat like creature.
"Up until two weeks ago I was a total sceptic and no-one could convince me these things existed," a person from near Millicent said.
"We think car accidents always affect someone else.
"It's the same thing, we think people who see these things are a bit loopy, not quite right up top and wild dogs are killing the stock - until we see it ourselves.
"I think people with small kids should be careful."
He had seen a large cat like creature in a parking bay between Mount Gambier and Heywood.
An IT specialist from Melbourne has similar concerns about the safety of children.
He too was a sceptic until about a month ago when he saw a large cat like creature in the Blind Blight - Pearcedale area.
"Being a father of two, I would hate to see something happen to a child because I didn't speak up to what I experienced, " the gentleman said.
Ironically, a person from the same large Melbourne based company had sent an email a month or two ago - she had grown up in Portland and once seen a big cat with a cub.
Oddly enough, a person from the Victorian Government has also seen a large tan cat like animal in the Pearcedale area.
With a relative in Mount Gambier who sighted a black one, he said: "It is up to journalists like you to warn the public.
"And it is up to journalists like you to pressure governments - we should be allowed to properly research these things - the faeces and fur ought to be at least DNA tested," he said.
A DNA test costs many thousands of dollars.
When trying to contact SA Environment Minister Jay Weatherill about these sightings, the Premier's media unit fobbed me off to the SE Natural Resources Management Board.
The board didn't appear to want to investigate.
Some farmers are fond of the animal believed to be killing their stock.
"I don't want to see it shot," said a farmer from near Mount Gambier.
Nor did he want people roaming around his property with guns.
"Has anyone trapped one yet?" he asked.
A farmer near Wattle Range is trying. Like other farmers, he has better things to do. But even if he does trap it, what then?
Private researchers like Simon Townsend, John Turner and Mike Williams will be interested.
But will taxpayer funds to officially DNA test the animal be spent? And once caught, what happens to the trapped animal?
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