Case file · Cryptid
Waitoreke, Cook's 'cat-sized animal'
In 1772 at Dusky Sound, crew of James Cook's second voyage reported a small four-footed animal 'of a mouse colour'; later settlers called an otter-like creature of South Island rivers the waitoreke.
1772 CE · -45.75, 166.55 · status: claim
The account
Walter Mantell recorded accounts near Temuka in the 1840s, and Julius von Haast reported tracks in the upper Ashburton River in 1861 and said he obtained a pelt in 1868. Searches in Otago lakes in the 1980s found nothing.
The sceptical view
New Zealand had no native land mammals apart from bats; suggestions include seals, feral dogs, escaped pets or a misremembered sighting. No specimen has ever been confirmed.