Latest news with #bigcat
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Yahoo
It's been 10 years since the 'Milwaukee lion' mystery. Social media says there was a big cat sighting this week
"Don't tell me there's another lion running around." That's what Karen Sparapani, executive director of the Milwaukee Area Domestic Animal Control Commission, had to say when informed that a user on the Nextdoor app reported seeing a big cat at Milwaukee's Riverside Park on July 25. Sparapani worked for MADACC when reports of a lion in Milwaukee in 2015, 10 years to the week, prompted a feline-hunt with officials using long guns, setting meat traps, and even utilizing a helicopter after former Milwaukee Police Chief Ed Flynn said he reviewed cellphone video of a "lion-ish creature" in the city. Numerous callers reported seeing the creature. Every time, police would respond, investigate and turn up nothing, until a Milwaukee police officer said he spotted a "lion-like animal" near North 30th Street and West Fairmount Avenue. Authorities believed they had the big cat cornered on the city's north side and in came the TV cameras, national media outlets and photographers. Of course, the lion slipped away and forever lives in our thoughts. The first report of the "Milwaukee lion" came on July 20, 2015, when a woman said she saw the big cat in the 200 block of East Garfield Avenue, in Brewer's Hill. Others reported sightings near Washington Park. Former Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett joked at the time maybe the lion wanted to return to the location of the city's first zoo at Washington Park. The Milwaukee County Zoo maintained that no lions had escaped. The search took a sinister turn when a stray pit bull was shot by a man who believed the dog was the lion, officials said. That dog survived the shooting and was eventually adopted by MADACC staff. "It's very dangerous to think you're a big game hunter in the city of Milwaukee," Sparapani said. "Go back in your house or stay in your car and call the police." Nowadays, some people turn to social media before authorities. On July 25, a user of reported a "big cat" at Riverside Park, on Milwaukee's east side. "Potential big cat sighting," the post said. "Ran off before i could really get a good look at it. Tawny colored relatively long tail compared to its body. It was about 2.5 feet in height at the shoulder. It definitely wasn't a dog of any sort." The Milwaukee County Sheriff's Office, which handles public safety of county parks, hasn't responded to a request for comment. Sparapani said MADACC hasn't received any calls of a big cat in Milwaukee, but cougar sightings have happened in the area and will likely continue to grow. In 2018, a cougar was spotted peering through the front window of a Brookfield home. Reports of sightings of a lion – or "lion-like creature" – in Milwaukee aren't new. Big cat sightings were also front-page news in The Milwaukee Journal in 1961 following sightings in Mequon and Fox Point. The Department of Natural Resources said 37 cougars sightings were reported across the state in 2024. DNR officials have said cougars are sometimes confused with other animals, including house cats, fishers, bobcats, dogs, red foxes, coyotes and wolves. The cougar, also known as a puma, mountain lion or panther, used to roam Wisconsin. Not as prevalent in the state now, they sometimes travel to the state in search of a new mate or new territory and quickly keep traveling out of urban areas after not finding a suitable situation. The DNR said bobcats are the only big cat known to breed in Wisconsin. A bobcat was spotted in Whitefish Bay along Lake Michigan in 2018 and ended up traveling to Illinois. "I mean, these animals do exist in the wild," Sparapani said. "They travel down rivers and train tracks and that's how they get here." Wild animals, like big cats, bears and wolves, will continue to be spotted, Sparapani said. In 2022, a black bear was spotted in Franklin and in 2005, a bear that had been frequenting backyards and a commercial area in Wauwatosa was tranquilized and relocated. Sparapani added exotic animals will continue to get loose from owners who possess them illegally. Big cats continue to travel through urban areas "These things are going to keep happening," Sparapani said because wild animals lose natural space to humans throughout time. For instance, if more national forests get cut down, then that will affect where wild animals go, she said. "Believe me, they won't like it down here, they have to keep going right through," Sparapani said. "But it's also happening all over the country," she added, pointing to Rochester, New York, earlier this month, where a large animal was spotted on Ring doorbell camera, prompting a shelter-in-place order. Some wild animals pose a threat to humans, some don't for the most part, but nearly all are a threat to a human's pet. "Don't leave your pet outside alone," Sparapani said. Sparapani said too many times have occurred where owners have left their pet in the yard, even within a fenced in area or with a leash, only to return and see that a wild animal took their pet. 'Milwaukee lion' remains a mystery Although nothing ever came of the "Milwaukee lion" in 2015, Sparapani said she still remembers needing to leave the annual Brady Street Festival after receiving a call to go help police capture the big cat on the city's north side. She said there's a few possible reasons the lion was never captured. It could have been a lost large dog all along, or it could have been a pet big cat, or it was a wild animal that quickly left the area. "One theory is someone bought a mountain lion, because you can buy a mountain lion," Sparapani said. "They're not as common as bobcats, but you can buy them, and the animal escaped. And then whoever owned it was able to track it down ... because they'll find their way home. They know where they're fed. They want to get back to resources." Sparapani said there was never an increase in domestic pets being injured or killed by a wild animal throughout that summer. "So it wasn't preying on people's pets," she said. But the sighting of a cougar in Brookfield, a Milwaukee area suburb, in 2018, could be a sign that maybe the "Milwaukee lion" was not just an urban tale, Sparapani said. "It hard to say, but anything is possible," she said. This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: It's been 10 years since the 'Milwaukee lion' mystery Solve the daily Crossword
News.com.au
20-07-2025
- General
- News.com.au
Big cat expert reveals truth behind viral ‘panther' footage
An Australian big cat expert has revealed the truth after a clip of a supposed 'panther' went viral on social media early last week. The footage, which has amassed over 2.5 million views, shows a large, jet black cat prowling along a road in Victoria's bushland. Viewers were quick to brand it 'irrefutable proof' of the folklore that has long gripped the nation. However, former Australian Zoo big cat keeper and expert Vaughan King has now revealed the truth behind the hugely popular video. 'It's almost certainly just a healthy looking black feral cat with its winter coat,' Mr King told For years, people have believed that Australia's vast, untamed bushland could be hiding more than just kangaroos and kookaburras. In late April 2024, prospector Angus James filmed what appears to be a large, jetâ€'black feline near Ballarat, Victoria. At the time, he told that he spotted the jet black shaped animal in his paddock when he was driving past. 'I pulled up and went to zoom in on it with my camera. And then it sort of took off and just sort of panned with it.' 'It was obviously a big cat – massive – bigger than your average house cat, that's for sure,' he said. There are numerous sophisticated online databases that track 'big cat' sightings across Australia. Perhaps the most common descriptions include large, black or tan-coloured cats resembling panthers or pumas. And big cat origin theories are almost as plentiful as the sightings themselves. Some theories suggest that the so-called big cats are escapees from private zoos, circuses, or exotic pet owners. Historian David Waldron of Federation University's Ballarat campus left the door slightly ajar for the possibility of big cats roaming the nation. 'If you actually think about it, it's not particularly absurd — adding another introduced species to the pile,' he told ABC RN in 2018. Dr Waldron canvassed government and media archives to uncover evidence of the early exotic animal trade in Australia, including instances of escaped circus animals. 'I came across one case in NSW where disgruntled performers let three tigers lose when they quit,' he said. Another well-known theory is that today's cats might be descendants of abandoned mascots from World War II American soldiers. 'There definitely have been individual big cats in the bush out there from time to time, even quite recently. That's documented. 'Particularly in the 19th century where you didn't have quarantine regulations, like we have today.' Indeed, reports of big cats span back to the 1800s, with a more recent, 2001 Deakin University study concluding that evidence of big cats in the Grampians was 'beyond reasonable doubt.' In Vaughan King's documentary ' The Hunt: In Search of Australia's Big Cats ', the big cat expert teamed up with veteran researchers John Turner and Simon Townsend to investigate the sightings that have gripped Australians. The film investigated multiple reports across the Otways in Victoria, the Hunter Valley in New South Wales and southâ€'west Western Australia. Mr King — who moved his family to Victoria to lead the project — used longâ€'range camera traps, thermal drones, DNA sampling and intensive field investigations. The team received hundreds of reports of sightings in the lead up to filming, some of which ranged from strange growls in the night and barbarous livestock killings. In Victoria's Yarra and Dandenong Ranges, Mr King declared a big cat could '100 per cent' survive — despite the absence of sightings during filming. Over in NSW in the Blue Mountains region, there have been over 560 reports of big cat sightings in the Hawkesbury, Blue Mountains and Lithgow area since 1998. In response, the Department of Primary Industries commissioned four inquiries during the years 1999, 2003, 2008 and 2013. In a 1999 letter to then National Parks and Wildlife Service director-general Brian Gilligan, Department of Agriculture head Kevin Sheridan warned: ''The reports are becoming too frequent for us to ignore the possibility. To … do so could bring into question government's duty of care.'' Wildlife ecologist Johannes Bauer was later commissioned to provide expert opinion. 'Difficult as it seems to accept, the most likely explanation of the evidence is the presence of a large, feline predator,'' he said. 'In this area, [it is] most likely a leopard, less likely a jaguar.'' In 2008, the report concluded: 'There is no scientific evidence found during this review that conclusively proves the presence of free-ranging exotic large cats in NSW, but a presence cannot be discounted, and it seems more likely than not on available evidence that such animals do exist in NSW.' However, the 2013 inquiry returned bad news for lovers of the lore with invasive species expert John Parkes labelling the 500 eyewitness accounts as 'at best prima facie evidence'', saying 'large dogs, large feral cats or swamp wallabies'' were the likely candidates. But eyewitnesses continue to disagree. In 2020, professional photographer Amber Noseda captured a series of photos of a large, sleek black cat sauntering into the bush in southwest Victoria in 2020. That same year, TV host Grant Denyer revealed he had seen what he believes to be 'sheep-sized' panthers on his Bathurst property. 'I'll give you an exclusive, and don't think I'm crazy, but I am on the panther bandwagon right now,' Denyer told at the time. 'I'm talking about the famous panthers that roam the Australian bush,' he said. 'I've seen the panther twice on the bottom of my farm and I have video to prove it — although blurry and zoomed 10 times on my iPhone,' he said. Whether stories of panthers quietly stalking the Australian bush are true or not remains unknown, but witnesses and investigators are not giving up anytime soon.
Yahoo
06-07-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Woman injured in ‘big cat' zoo bite
A woman in her 50s has been rushed to hospital after sustaining significant injuries from a 'big cat' at a zoo in Queensland. Emergency services were called to the Darling Downs Zoo, a popular wildlife park near Toowoomba, about 8.30am on Sunday morning following reports a woman had been bitten by a 'big cat'. The woman, reportedly an employee of the zoo, was flown to Brisbane's Princess Alexandra Hospital in a stable condition. In a brief Facebook post published on Sunday morning, the Zoo said it would be 'closed all day today' due to 'unforeseen circumstances.'
ABC News
06-07-2025
- Health
- ABC News
Woman taken to hospital after being bitten by animal at Darling Downs Zoo
A woman in her 50s has been airlifted to hospital with significant arm injuries after being bitten by an animal at a Queensland zoo. It's understood the woman was bitten by a big cat. Emergency services said they were called to the Darling Downs Zoo in Pilton, south of Toowoomba, around 8:30am this morning. The woman was assessed at the scene and subsequently transported to Brisbane's Princess Alexandra Hospital in a stable condition. A post on the zoo's Facebook page confirmed it would be closed all day due to "unforeseen circumstances". Darling Downs Zoo has been contacted for comment.
Times
10-05-2025
- General
- Times
New popular fiction for May — beastliness in Sevenoaks
Something is lurking in the parkland around the exclusive Briar Heart estate in Sevenoaks. Adam catches a glimpse of it first — swearing he saw a big cat sitting on his car while he and his neighbours were enjoying a garden party. Soon the group chats are buzzing with sightings, pets are turning up dead, hysteria is mounting and three couples are about to have the shiny veneer ripped off their seemingly comfortable lives. But the main characters also have reasons for fanning the panic. Emma, married to the officious Matt, sees the furore as a good way to divert the neighbourhood chatter away from outrage at the couple's extravagant planning application. For Twig it's a way to draw attention to her and her wife's
