By NOEL MURPHY
REPORTS of big cats in the Otways could possibly be linked to black Asian leopards brought to Australia in the 19th Century, researchers say.
John Turner and Simon Townsend, whose big cats Victoria website has drawn hundreds of reported sightings across Australia, told the Independent melanistic Asian leopards imported from Malaya by acclimatisation societies in the 1800s could still be stalking the region.
Their big-cat claims follow recent reports of Tasmanian tigers along the Surf Coast from Apollo Bay to Freshwater Creek.
“We think the leopoards were brought out, but can’t verify, by the Acclimatisation Society but certainly private agents from Asia brought out animals,” Mr Turner said.
“There were a lot of private imports by old British boys for sport and also to keep the kangaroo population in control a bit.
“Asian leopards are not as aggressive as Indian and African leopards. They’re intelligent, very people-savvy but not people-aggressive.
“People say they’ve seen them crossing roads where water or rain has gathered on the side, also at roadkill.”
Mr Townsend, who co-authored 2012 book Snarls in the Tea-Tree, said investigators only became aware last few years of the Asian leopard answer to the ongoing big-cat mystery.
“Some leopards on the Malayan peninsula are all black, which they breed,” he said.
A scat found near Wensleydale had been DNA tested and conclusively shown to have come from a leopard.
Co-author Dr David Waldron, an anthropology researcher, contends in the book that wealthy squatters set up menageries with lions, tigers and other large cats.
Mr Turner said his website received far more reports of big cats than Tasmanian tigers.
“We get about three sightings a week and probably 50 per cent of them in Victoria. These cats are top food chain, they’re very difficult to spotlight, their night vision is so good – as soon as people put a light on them they shut eyes and slink away.”
Three girls holidaying at Apollo Bay reported a striped, wolf-like creature earlier this year.
An Ocean Grove couple claimed they saw a large animal with a hyena gait, wolfish head and strange colouring on Anglesea Road close to Blackgate Road last month.
Melbourne woman Amanda Ketteridge has since reported a similar animal near Anglesea .
A Mount Moriac couple has reported strange sheep killings, telling big-cat hunter Michael Moss they saw a panther twice, three and five years apart, in the district.
Freshwater Creek farmer Harry Cook has also reported a Tasmanian tiger several times, including in the last month.
