Mutant cats down under

"Australian Big Cats" is a Fortean book about the strange phenomenon known as ABCs, Alien Big Cats. (Note that the book title also spells ABC if abbreviated.) There are no native big cat species in Britain, Australia, New Zealand or the eastern United States. Yet, people in these regions keep seeing mysterious feline creatures on a semi-regular basis, sometimes connected to predation of livestock or attacks on guard dogs and pets. Often, the mystery cats are black, and hence referred to as "black panthers". In Britain, the phenomenon seems to be a straightforward ghost story, inviting folkloristic or even paranormal explanations. Are we to believe Michael Williams and Rebecca Lang, the explanations for ABC sightings "down under" might be more complex. But then, the colonies always are wilder than the mother country...

Sightings of big cats are relatively common all across Australia. The book features reports from Western Australia, Queensland, Victoria and New South Wales, including the suburbs of Sydney. The authorities consider the cat sightings an urban legend, but sometimes a scared public has forced at least token action from reluctant federal bureaucrats or the odd state premier. Williams and Lang consider the ABCs to be real, flesh-and-blood creatures, but if so, where do the big cats come from?

One popular explanation is that escapees from zoos, private menageries or circuses have established themselves in the wild. Real life exotic cats *do* escape from confinement on a semi-regular basis - the book reports several such cases, two of them in the same small town, Broken Hill (both lions). There is also the curious case of an African pygmy hippo (!!) shot in the jungles of the Northern Territory, a confirmed escapee from a private menagerie. It's certainly theoretically possible for big cats to establish themselves in Australia, but the problem with the phantom cats goes deeper, since they are spotted all across the continent.

Another popular theory is that the elusive felines are descendants of mascots brought by U.S. troops during World War II. When the troops moved on to Japan or elsewhere, they supposedly released their pet cougars into the wild, rather than shooting them. A touchy-feely story, and although the book shows a few photos of soldiers with lion cubs, there is no real evidence for a massive introduction of big cats during the mid-1940's. In fact, people spotted ABCs already before the war. It's almost as if one urban legend is being used to explain another. This particular story is common all across Australia, and also in New Zealand.

The authors of "Australian Big Cats" have come up with some intriguing suggestions of their own. They discuss the possible survival of the Queensland Tiger and the Thylacine. They also believe that feral domestic cats (of which there are millions in Australia) might have evolved into out-sized creatures. The idea of a feral tomcat being the size of a cougar or leopard sounds bizarre, but the authors have dug up three jumbo-sized cats shot by hunters. The Larry Beppington cat was 117 cm, the Alpine Man cat was 123 cm and the monstrous Kurt Engel cat was a whooping 170 cm and weighed 30 kg. The last catch is particularly hard to believe, especially since Engel threw away the carcass, but he kept a very long tail to back up his story. There are also some photos. I suppose it's *possible* that EVIL-ution might favour mutant ninja cats down under, but why haven't more been killed by hunters?

While Williams and Lang shy away from overtly paranormal explanations, some of their stories reflect the paranoia typical of UFO research. Witnesses have been threatened by mysterious agents, entire boxes of documents have disappeared, and the authors had to use the Freedom of Information Act to secure the release of some key documents, including letters to the proper authorities from wildlife inspectors supporting the existence of big cats.

There, the book ends, somewhat inconclusively. That being said, "Australian Big Cats" is nevertheless a good addition to the private libraries of Forteans or mystery buffs...