cougars in Western Australia
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The premise that there were cougars in Western Australia was widely believed during the 1970s. There are several theories as to how they were introduced. The most popular theory was that
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servicemen brought four
cougar The cougar (''Puma concolor'') is a large Felidae, cat native to the Americas. Its Species distribution, range spans from the Canadian Yukon to the southern Andes in South America and is the most widespread of any large wild terrestrial mamm ...
kittens to
Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...
during
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; they eventually grew too big for captivity and were released—two at
Fremantle Fremantle () () is a port city in Western Australia, located at the mouth of the Swan River in the metropolitan area of Perth, the state capital. Fremantle Harbour serves as the port of Perth. The Western Australian vernacular diminutive for ...
and two at Bunbury. Another theory is that cougars escaped from a traveling
circus A circus is a company of performers who put on diverse entertainment shows that may include clowns, acrobats, trained animals, trapeze acts, musicians, dancers, hoopers, tightrope walkers, jugglers, magicians, ventriloquists, and unicyclist ...
that was involved in an accident between
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and Nannup around 1961. The circus theory has often been referenced to support the allegation that cougars were responsible for the deaths of around 2000 sheep in the Duranillin area in the late 1970s. The
State Library of Western Australia The State Library of Western Australia is a research, education, reference and public lending library located in the Perth Cultural Centre in Perth, Western Australia. It is a portfolio agency of the Western Australia Department of Culture and t ...
's catalogue refers to the cougar story as the ''Cordering cougar'', while the oral history record has a summary with the spelling ''Coedering Cougars''.Interview with Arnold Meredith, cousin of John Meredith and farmer in the Lake Grace and Boyup Brook regions, W.A. ''Meredith speaks of pioneering at Lake Grace, W.A. in a low rainfall district, settling and shearing activities, stories about the mysterious Coedering Cougars;'' Recorded on Sept. 9, 1991.http://trove.nla.gov.au/work/9153126 These theories received significant attention in 1979, including numerous media mentions, and during a debate on the issue in the
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. That year, the Agricultural Protection Board of Western Australia declared that a two-year investigation had failed to find any evidence to suggest that cougars had ever been introduced into
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Western Australia. Nonetheless, in 1981 an A$20,000 reward was offered for the capture of a cougar in Western Australia, dead or alive. The reward was never claimed. In 2018 further sightings were reported at Chidlow in the Perth Hills, and near Morangup on Toodyay Road.


See also

*
British big cats In British folklore, British big cats, also referred to as ABCs (Alien, or Anomalous, Big Cats), phantom cats and mystery cats, feature in reported sightings of large felids feral in the British Isles. Many of these creatures have been describe ...
*
Phantom cat Phantom cats, also known as Alien Big Cats (ABCs), are large felids such as leopards, jaguars and cougars which allegedly appear in regions outside their indigenous range. Sightings, tracks and predation have been reported in a number of countrie ...
*
Cats in Australia Cats are an invasive species in Australia. Because they are not native to Australia and were only introduced by colonisers as pets in the early 1800s, native Australian animals did not co-evolve with them. , some 3.8 million domestic cats and ...


References


Further reading

* * * * * O'Reilly, David (1981, republished 2011) ''Savage Shadow: The search for the Australian Cougar'' Sydney, NSW. Strange Nation Publishing, 2011. * Williams, M and Lang, R (2010) "Australian Big Cats: An Unnatural History of Panthers" Sydney, NSW. Strange Nation Publishing, 2010. {{ISBN, 978-0-646-53007-9 Purported mammals Western Australia