Australian Lion

But intriguingly, on the same day, Sunday, November 6, 2011, of reports of a sighting of a “lion” reported in Yorkshire, UK, half-a-world away, similar encounters was taking place in Oz.

Authorities in Darwin, Australia, are on the lookout for a feral lioness, after three reports of a big cat being spotted crossing the Stuart Highway.

The sightings about 9pm on Sunday (6 November 2011) sparked a quick police search and a check at Crocodylus, a local wildlife park just a few minutes away.

According to the Northern Territory News, three cars pulled over while the animal crossed the highway in front of them at Pinelands, a small suburb about 20 kilometres from Darwin.

”I often get reports of dingoes in the area, which are a similar colour but a completely different size,” a police spokeswoman said. Police found no trace of the creature.

Crocodylus chief scientist Charlie Manolis said he took the sightings seriously, but both lions at the park were found to be secure.

He said that ”not in a gazillion years” could a lion have escaped its enclosure, then voluntarily returned and been present when checked. He said because three people had reported seeing a lion, it was likely something was roaming around.

”Whether there is a large dog or a beastie out there that looks like a lion, we would like to find out any information about what it really is,” he said.

Crocodylus is the only wildlife park in the Northern Territory that houses lions.

Loren Coleman About Loren Coleman
Loren Coleman is one of the world’s leading cryptozoologists, some say “the” leading living cryptozoologist. Certainly, he is acknowledged as the current living American researcher and writer who has most popularized cryptozoology in the late 20th and early 21st centuries. Starting his fieldwork and investigations in 1960, after traveling and trekking extensively in pursuit of cryptozoological mysteries, Coleman began writing to share his experiences in 1969. An honorary member of Ivan T. Sanderson’s Society for the Investigation of the Unexplained in the 1970s, Coleman has been bestowed with similar honorary memberships of the North Idaho College Cryptozoology Club in 1983, and in subsequent years, that of the British Columbia Scientific Cryptozoology Club, CryptoSafari International, and other international organizations. He was also a Life Member and Benefactor of the International Society of Cryptozoology (now-defunct). Loren Coleman’s daily blog, as a member of the Cryptomundo Team, served as an ongoing avenue of communication for the ever-growing body of cryptozoo news from 2005 through 2013. He returned as an infrequent contributor beginning Halloween week of 2015. Coleman is the founder in 2003, and current director of the International Cryptozoology Museum in Portland, Maine.

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