Author Topic: The outback tiger  (Read 5425 times)

Offline lotsakids

  • Super Sleuth
  • Team Researcher
  • Senior Contributor
  • *****
  • Posts: 9981
    • Poppets Place
The outback tiger
« on: July 28, 2010, 10:27:44 AM »
http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/is-this-proof-of-the-nt-tiger/story-e6freuy9-1225897811648

FORGET UFOs and the Yowie - the biggest Outback mystery is the NT tiger

The grainy still above was taken from footage filmed in the 1990s by Territorian Jan Donovan.

Author Rebecca Lang said the large, sandy cat appeared to be of "considerable size", and could be the descendant of escaped circus cats.

Territory tiger, or just a large moggy? - leave your comment below

Ms Lang and co-author Mike Williams have spent the past five years compiling reports of sighting and collecting photos and video of large cats that resemble leopards and pumas for their book Australian Big Cats: An Unnatural History of Panthers.

The earliest account was from 1883 by SA explorer Charles Winnecke. The journal of his exploration on the WA-NT border says Winnecke came across a "wild cat of an extraordinary size".
.
"The brute was nearly as large as a leopard," he told the NT News.

Ms Lang said these cats had a lifespan of 20 years - but the sightings have continued for 150 years.

"We know the earliest circus menageries started up around 1850, so it's conceivable that the odd circus cat could have ended up in the bush," she said.

"Transport arrangements were notoriously dodgy back then and escapes happened all the time."


One day my light went out, but was blown again into flame by an encounter with some wonderful people I call friends. I owe the deepest thanks to those who have rekindled this inner light...
[inspired by Albert Schweitzer]

Offline Salt Breeze

  • Sea Mystic
  • Senior Contributor
  • *****
  • Posts: 7886
Re: The outback tiger
« Reply #1 on: July 28, 2010, 01:08:13 PM »
I just read a story on Google news, where a tiger called Panjo was on a trip to the vet in South Africa, and it escaped by somehow opening the enclosure on the back of the ute.  So these things do happen. 

They don't have tigers in Africa or in South Africa (except in zoos) so it should be easy to spot.  The locals have been warned to watch out for it.

Unfortunately, people like to keep non-natives animals, and non-native animals can escape into the wild.   

With the photo of the NT tiger, I can't find anything to accurately judge its size by so I don't really see any difference between it and a normal cat, because its hard to tell if its even large, or not.   

Offline alira

  • Newcomer
  • *
  • Posts: 6
Re: The outback tiger
« Reply #2 on: July 28, 2010, 07:45:30 PM »
I read about the tiger escapee today.  I thought that because tigers are an endangered species, they were not allowed to be kept as pets. 
The phoenix hope, can wing her way through the desert skies, and still defying fortune's spite; revive from ashes and rise.

Offline Christine

  • Administrator
  • Senior Contributor
  • *****
  • Posts: 28912
    • http://www.spookspotters.com.au
Re: The outback tiger
« Reply #3 on: July 28, 2010, 08:41:53 PM »
It doesn't have to have been a pet though.
If it looks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, we have at least to consider the possibility that we have a small aquatic bird of the family anatidae on our hands.
Douglas Adams


Offline Salt Breeze

  • Sea Mystic
  • Senior Contributor
  • *****
  • Posts: 7886
Re: The outback tiger
« Reply #4 on: July 29, 2010, 08:18:27 AM »
It's been recaptured now. I just skimmed over the news headlines on google and saw that news.   Some guy called Fernandez has a private game reserve at his home and the tiger was being taken to the vet when it escaped.  Nothing unusual about such places there.  They can basically keep what ever they like.

This tiger was in South Africa.  Different set of rules altogether about animals, I'm afraid.  They might have a hope of being improved if people would stop buying animal products like ivory, skins, fur, teeth, and various other sick things that were once attached to beautiful living creatures.   

When I was in South Africa once, there was a small coffee table in one hotel room and it was a complete elephants foot, flattened at the top with a sheet of glass sitting on it.  I picked it up and put it outside the door of the room.  (Don't get me started!!)     

Offline Alien88

  • UFO Whiz
  • Senior Contributor
  • *****
  • Posts: 3185
  • Consider all possibilities
Re: The outback tiger
« Reply #5 on: July 29, 2010, 09:24:56 AM »
Quote
When I was in South Africa once, there was a small coffee table in one hotel room and it was a complete elephants foot, flattened at the top with a sheet of glass sitting on it.  I picked it up and put it outside the door of the room.  (Don't get me started!!)

Would have done the same thing SB.

Light, Love and wisdom

 


SMF 2.0.18 | SMF © 2021, Simple Machines | Terms & Conditions | Privacy Policy
SimplePortal 2.3.3 © 2008-2010, SimplePortal