Australian Big Cats facelift

The Australian Big Cats website has received a long overdue facelift, and now incorporates elements from the original book promotion website, which went the way of the Dodo (albeit temporarily) when its website host folded.

The site now incorporates the blog of big cat researcher Mike Williams and information about Australian Big Cats: An Unnatural History of Panthers and the reprinted Savage Shadow: The Search for the Australian Cougar by David O'Reilly.

Pop on over and check it out!

Doon Doon panther stalks the Kimberley

The ABC's Rural Report has been receiving reports of a 'panther-like' creature roaming the rangelands near Doon Doon in the East Kimberley.

This week the show heard from 'Ben' who says he saw the creature last year, and spoke to the manager of the Doon Doon roadhouse who says truckies have been reporting seeing a big cat near the Dunham River.

Ben saw a large slender black cat slinking through the bush, and later a 17cm paw print, some 150km from Kununurra in the East Kimberley.

Have you seen the Doon Doon panther? Let us know.

The book Savage Shadow: The Hunt for the Australian Cougar recounts the wave of big cat sightings in Western Australia during the 1970s and 1980s.

Following in its tracks is Australian Big Cats: An Unnatural History of Panthers, which documents big cat sightings all over Australia including across Western Australia.

Watch the Savage Shadow book trailer...

Before Australian Big Cats: An Unnatural History of Panthers there was Savage Shadow: The Search for the Australian Cougar by David O'Reilly.

It has been a long time coming, but the re-print of this cryptozoological cult classic is finally here - just in time for Christmas! - from Strange Nation Publishing.

Part of the proceeds from this book will be directed to the charity created by the O'Reilly family in David's name - Fighting Chance Australia.

In the meantime watch the new book trailer to give you a taste of Savage Shadow. 

Cat or dog? A WA conundrum...

What is it? Felis or canid?

Aussie Ira Fehlberg, who shot the footage above, writes:

"A coupla years ago I was driving down a remote bush track doing some fishing exploring. Now I do a bit of travelling all round WA & Aus and much of it in pretty remote areas, like everyone I've heard the stories of big cat sightings and its something that I've always taken an interest in, its always in the back of your mind anyway...

So here I am early one morning, just after sunrise, driving down this bush track in the middle of now where. We hit some pretty goods corrugations and I happened to ask the mate (who shall remain nameless to protect his gumbyness) I was travelling with if he would mind getting my video camera out and getting a few shots of the corrugations for the home video I usually make of my fishing trips.

He got the camera out, took a bit of video and I said to him just leave the camera on for a bit in case there are some more good ones. The track was sorta random, okay in some spots but rough as in others, anyway the track came into a hard packed sand section and there is my mate with the camera in his lap switched on and rolling. We cruised on for a bit, I was prolly sitting on about 40ish and then all of a sudden bang there it was!

The first time it came into our view it was actually in the air, a metre and a half off the ground in mid air, halfway through a leap! It hit the ground halfway across the road, took a bound and it was off into the bush quicker than you could say what the hell was that! It crossed the road directly in front of us maybe 20-30 metres away.

Now I'll be totally honest and say that it all happened so fast that all I really saw was a big tan animal bound across in front of me! I didn't see the head or the tail, there was enough time to sorta see the main body and that was it, it was gone.

We both looked at each other and said what the %$#@ was that?! I braked hard and stopped right where it went off the track and we could see it running through the scrub to our left, "get out & get it on cam I yelled at my mate" as I was braking. The scrub was pretty high and before we even stopped I knew that the best chance I had of a clean shot was from an elevated position so as we stopped my mate got out and shot some video which looks like someone having a fit falling off a building, basically he tried to zoom right in and this bit of the footage is so shaky you cant see anything.

So I've done the whole stop the car, jumped out and in one motion (yes I can still move when I wanna) I've jumped straight up onto the bonnet and onto the roof of the 4WD. My mate threw the camera up to me and I quickly zoomed out and managed to get a few seconds of it running off. I was hoping it would stop and turn around of course but it never did. The footage you see of it running off is from this elevated position.

My gut feel initially was big cat, probably more just hope than anything but it was the right size and colour and the way it ran looked like a big cat but we both agreed we couldn't be sure positive as it never stopped or turned around and neither of us saw the tail or head.

We easily found the spot where it jumped across the road and I got some good shots of the prints it left.

To have any idea what it was I knew I'd have to show the tape to someone who knew about such things and I have a mate who has done a lifetime of hunting all around WA and he really knows his stuff. I showed him the tapes and he and his shooting buddy basically came to this conclusion. They say it was most likely a wild dog mainly because of the tracks it left, cats don't run with their claws out apparently. Do they come out when they jump but? I don't know...

However they both did concede that they couldn't say wild dog 100% for sure and that there was a small amount of doubt from two things that were a bit unusual about it. They said in all their hunting days in WA (100 years experience) neither of them had ever seen a wild dog that colour and they had never seen a wild dog yet that was all one colour like that, they reckon normally they are blotched or mixed colours sort of thing. They are pretty sure from the tracks that it was a dog but. I'm not expert but I think they are probably right.

Still it was a cool experience and it made me realise that even with a camera turned on in the car it happens so fast you've got to be so lucky to get it on video, if it did happen and the camera was turned off you'd be virtually no chance of getting it."

So readers, what do you think? Cat or dog?

Savage Shadow is in print once more

The new edition of the iconic ABC book Savage Shadow: The Search for the Australian Cougar is out now! Another Strange Nation Publishing special - from the folk who brought you Australian Big Cats: An Unnatural History of Panthers - this has to rate as one of the most hotly anticipated cryptozoological publishing events of the past 30 years (in fact, it is three decades since this book was first published).

For decades farmers in the southwest of Australia have been convinced that there are cougars at large in the Australian bush, devastating wildlife and livestock. Hundreds of sightings have been documented in Western Australia, from as far north as Geraldton, south to Esperance and inland to Norseman.

Australian journalist David O'Reilly became fascinated with what is known as perhaps Australia's greatest wildlife mystery during his time as the bureau chief of The Australian's Perth office.

He interviewed scores of witnesses - farmers, wildlife experts, academics and bureaucrats - and wrote many stories about the hunt for the 'Cordering Cougar', as it became known, during the late 1970s and early 1980s. His book Savage Shadow, now back in print for the first time in 30 years, is the culmination of that work.

You can buy the book at most online bookstores, but particularly Fishpond.com.au, Amazon.com and very soon (just working out the kinks) Amazon.co.uk.

Readers and fans of the cult classic will be pleased to know some of the proceeds from sales of the book will be directed to Fighting Chance Australia, a charity set up to provide age-appropriate, choice-driven services to young Australian adults with a physical disability.

So what's the connection?

Fighting Chance Australia was set up by David's widow Sue O'Reilly in his memory, and is run by two of his children, Laura and Jordan. The family's connection to disability advocacy came about through son and sibling Shane O'Reilly, who had cerebral palsy and died earlier this year. As you can see, it is a very special charity indeed, and one very special family, so we urge you to spread the word about their great work and/or donate if you can.