Exotic Animals Register: The 2009 Gympie "Big Cat" Tracks (Australia)

It was a rather odd event. I was used to doing radio programmes in the UK as a guest talking about UK "big cat"

sightings.

In one year I did 40 of these guest spots. I was also once interviewed by a radio station in Eire and one in Germany

-in English, as well as on British Forces Radio.

At about 0200 hrs I was trying to rest and the phone rang. Who rings at 0200 hrs? A strong Australian accent said "hello"

then asked if I was the "UK Police Service wildlife advisor?" I pointed out I was a UK Police Forces Consultant but not an

actual police officer. Didn't matter apparently. I was asked to hold on and then another man spoke and asked whether I was

"aware of Gympie?" To be honest I had no idea what he was talking about and I suspected a hoax but asked for a few details.

An alleged "big cat" sighting in Australia. Right. I was told a photograph of some plaster casts would be sent and asked to not

be "over zealous" by going to the Press which hurt somewhat. The scan arrived within a few minutes and I looked the casts over

and it was quite obvious what they were casts of.

Why ask a naturalist in the UK? But they were happy with what I told them. Who the caller was I cannot say -that would be

a real breach of confidentiality but let's say a Government official.

Then out of the blue a Dr Scott Burnett sends me the same photograph and account. He was interested in what I made

of them?

I cannot release the actual email exchange but I sent Dr. Burnett the same report I'd emailed the earlier Government official.

I also pointed out that, since Dr. Burnett said he was unaware of Big Cat sightings in Australia, that he look at specific cases for

which there were very good and clear plaster casts of paw prints.

That was it.

I'd had similar before with Dublin but it was all private. But now, a chance to see what I made of the infamous Gympiue Tracks and I have deleted the name of the organisation Dr. Burnett worked for.

Notes On Gympie [Australia] Plaster Casts Of Alleged Large Cat Spoor

Terry Hooper

Exotic Animals Register [EAR] UK

Based on scans of photographs of casts forwarded by:

Dr Scott Burnett

Lecturer - Wildlife Ecology

Notes

Having seen a recording of the ABC News item on the Gympie, Queensland, alleged big cat sighting I approached several Australian groups who had reported on the incident to see whether they could furnish me with photographs of the casts shown. The only two who responded were quite negative.

I then read a number of online stories stating that Dr Scott Burnett of the University of the Sunshine Coast had been provided with casts from the area. I contacted Dr Burnett by email and he speedily sent along a photograph of the casts alongside a 6 cm long plastic case.

Initially, the casts look messy and are obviously taken from a dirt/stone covered location. As cats can, in certain circumstances, leave behind a trace of claw my first move was to enlarge the scanned image as much as possible without losing detail. This was not of great benefit as in several places there were deep indentations where the animals pads had stepped on stones.

The very important rear paw lobe was unclear to a degree that no three back lobes were visible.

I then drew around the enlarged scan images so that any prominent features could be seen. The drawings were then negatised to make them solid black. The features then became easily recognised.

The following is based on these drawings and constantly cross-checking with the scanned images.

Cast A had one very prominent ID Marker [001] which is consistent with a claw on a dogs pad. Nothing else of this nature could be seen on Cast A and this looks as though stones prevented them making an imprint at that spot of ground.

Cast B has four very clear ID Markers -002,003,004 and 005.

Cast C had two very clear ID Markers [006 and 008] while 007 is quite clearly giving the pad a smooth pointed look.

ID Markers 009 and 010 are noted as “possible” because the detail was not perfect. That said, the shape that can be seen is consistent with a canid pad.

Looking then at the entire spoor the spread of pads [toes] and rear pad placement are very canid. The measurement can be assessed as between 6-8 cms and, although Cast B looks a little larger this is consistent with the poor quality of casting and the terrain conditions at the time are unknown.

Conclusion

The press photographs and TV images of Mr. Colin Rossow all show the cast he has being held away from himself and close to the camera which gives a false impression of great size. That said, the cast is very clearly showing ID Marker claws and the spoor is without doubt that of a dog.

The Gympie casts I have looked at are clearly canid and I would say a medium sized dog created the spoor.

I have been involved in cases in the UK where casts were taken at the point a clearly identified leopard was sighted walking. The persons involved in the close proximity sightings were what we would classify as High Quality witnesses including safari park keepers and a zoologist. The spoor casts, however, were from a single or several canids: the cats had left no real tracks as they had all been close to hard, dry ground near hedgerows and a later search revealed only one partial large felid spoor. It could well be the case with these casts but to remain neutral I have asked for no case history, etc., just spoor images.

Although I have seen some very compelling spoor photographs/casts from Australia in the past that were without doubt from large non-native felids, there is no evidence of any such animal based on these spoor.

For comparison I have included Mr.Colin Rossow in a photograph with his cast, the image I used for my analysis herein and the ID Marker sheet, as well as Leopard, Puma and Dog track guides.

I would be very interested to hear/see any future evidence forwarded and claiming to belong to large non-native cats.