Post by youcantry on May 5, 2008 10:22:46 GMT 10
Okay - well sort of a hat trick. I've mentioned before that when I was a kid in the early 80s I recalled a wildlife park near my dad's property out towards Tamworth which had supposedly let loose its big cats.
I saw my dad last night, so I asked further about it all. The wildlife park was at Moonbi, just north of Tamworth on the New England Highway. I remember visiting there as a kid once, and I'm pretty sure I remember correctly that the animal that impressed me most was a large black cat. I think I only remember seeing a single one. Again, if my memory's right it was in a cage up on top of the hillside. (The whole park was on the side of a hill).
At any rate, my dad's property is further north and our neighbour there, who'd been farming his whole life, was probably in his 60s at that time (he passed on about 3 or 4 years ago). My dad says that he saw a big black cat near Kingston, which is about 35km north of where the animal park was.
Can anyone tell me - there was supposed to be a period when licencing got stricter for wildlife parks, and many had to shut down. This is why some people think big cats were released by small operations like this one. How's the timing for this one though, if we assume it shut down in the early to mid 1980s?
Anyhow, my dad said that our neighbour wasn't the only one to have seen it then.
Chris.
I saw my dad last night, so I asked further about it all. The wildlife park was at Moonbi, just north of Tamworth on the New England Highway. I remember visiting there as a kid once, and I'm pretty sure I remember correctly that the animal that impressed me most was a large black cat. I think I only remember seeing a single one. Again, if my memory's right it was in a cage up on top of the hillside. (The whole park was on the side of a hill).
At any rate, my dad's property is further north and our neighbour there, who'd been farming his whole life, was probably in his 60s at that time (he passed on about 3 or 4 years ago). My dad says that he saw a big black cat near Kingston, which is about 35km north of where the animal park was.
Can anyone tell me - there was supposed to be a period when licencing got stricter for wildlife parks, and many had to shut down. This is why some people think big cats were released by small operations like this one. How's the timing for this one though, if we assume it shut down in the early to mid 1980s?
Anyhow, my dad said that our neighbour wasn't the only one to have seen it then.
Chris.
