Photo of Animal Track Posted to Social Media Prompts Debate about Big Cats in Australia

An image of the purported big cat paw print posted to Facebook. (Blue Mountains Explore / Facebook) — An image of the purported big cat paw print posted to Facebook. *(Blue Mountains Explore / Facebook)*

A series of images posted to the Blue Mountains Explore Facebook page has renewed a decades-long debate regarding the existence of big cats in Australia.

The photos, posted February 15th, show what appears to be a large animal print in sand.

According to the accompanying caption, “a few of the [lost mountains] team headed out (into the middle of nowhere) and found this.”

The track was reportedly found at an undisclosed location in the Blue Mountains National Park in Australia’s New South Wales.

The group claimed to have had the animal print confirmed as “a sizable cat print” by the “Hunting Association of Australia,” although the Singular Fortean Society was unable to confirm the existence of any organization going by that name.

Those skeptical of the print were quick to point out that its asymmetrical nature and the prominent ridge bisecting it are indicative of the impression left by two feet next to each other, rather than a single large print. The likeliest suspect in this particular instance being an indigenous macropod, probably a wallaby, based on the print’s size.

But not everyone necessarily agreed with that assessment, and it didn’t stop those commenting on the photos from sharing their own sightings of large, black cats in Australia.

"Not very rounded like most cat prints but no visible claw marks," Dale Evans noted. "Cool. I seen some a bit bigger at Scott river south of Augusta in [Western Australia]. It walked all around us in our swags without us knowing. My dad and brother also seen a puma in Dederang, Victoria. They definitely exist."

“I’ve seen a black panther-looking thing in [the] bush near Glenbrook, near the old mushroom tunnel,” Adam Thomas commented. “The animal I saw was too large to be a cat and [when] it saw me it bolted off into the bush. I don’t care [what] anyone says, I know [what] I saw.”

Controversy surrounding the existence of cryptid big cats on the continent has existed for over a century, with some believing that witnesses are misidentifying feral house cats, while others think the sightings could be explained by escaped exotic pets or even an undiscovered species of big cat native to Australia. The sightings are taken seriously enough that, in 2003, a New South Wales State Government inquiry found it "more likely than not" that a colony of "big cats" exists in the wilderness outside of Sydney.

To report your own encounter with the impossible, reach out to us directly at the Singular Fortean Society through our contact page.

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