Is a black panther stalking Broulee?

Is it an April Fool's Day prank? Have we been punked? Or does Broulee really have a black panther?

Today's Bay Post featured a story about a black panther sighting on a bush track that occurred south of Broulee early last month.

It should be noted black panther sightings are not unknown on the NSW south coast.

Wadonga resident Mark Nuggin, 21, was holidaying at Tomakin and was taking a walk with his mother and brother south of South Broulee Beach at about 3.30pm on March 3 when the incident occurred.

“We were walking across a sand motocross track when I saw it,” Mr Nuggin said.

“It was massive, like a black panther. I was terrified.”

He said the animal jumped onto the track and then ran off, and that he saw the side of its face, and it looked cat-like.

“It was solid and had ridiculously big back legs.”

They had a camera and, although they didn’t get the chance to photograph the animal, they got a photo purporting to be one of its paw prints.

Mr Nuggin said he had always been cynical when hearing about big cat sightings in the past.

“I would never have believed this before,” he said. “I have thought about what else it could have been, like a dog or kangaroo, and it wasn’t either of them. I have walked in this area many times before, and I have seen eagles and other wildlife, but nothing like this.”

However, upon seeing the paw print photo, Mogo Zoo head keeper Annalie Van Der Merwe believes it is simply a case of mistaken identity.

“I am nearly 100 per cent sure the paw print has been made by a large dog,” she said.

“It is definitely not a big cat.”

So did Mark see a big cat and photograph a dog track (not unreasonable given where he and his family were walking)? Or did he mistake one animal for another - a large black dog for a large black cat?

Or are we chewing the fat over a fake story? We'll leave it to you to decide...

Panther story resurfaces in new book - South Coast Register, July 21, 2010

Panther story resurfaces in new book
by Frances Rand
South Coast Register
July 21, 2010

FOR over a hundred years big cats have stalked Kangaroo Valley.

They scare people, kill stock and leave big paw prints.

However, when it comes to being photographed, they are very shy.

A new book, Australian Big Cats – An Unnatural History of Panthers, looks into the phenomena of panther sightings.

The authors, researcher Michael Williams and journalist Rebecca Lang, have collected stories about big cat sightings for over a decade.

They theorise that the cats could be the descendants of escaped zoo animals or World War II American military mascots. They could also be mutant monstrous moggies or perhaps marsupial lions never died out.

Various scat and fur samples sent off for analysis have come back as felis catus – domestic cat. The authors weren’t impressed and decided to test the experts with some genuine leopard fur. The result – felis catus – proved science could fail.

Other experts have taken panther sightings seriously and various government departments, including the NSW Department of Primary Industries, have compiled reports. They concluded that more evidence needed to be collected.

Former Kangaroo Valley resident Doris Blinman was responsible for reporting panther sightings in the early 1980s.

During the period her yard was visited up to three times a week by one or two huge black cats for a period of a few months.

According to Mrs Blinman, the cats came both at night and in daylight and delighted in eating the fruit from her grapevine as well as eating local wildlife, including a fruit bat.

Ms Lang said there were some interesting aspects to Mrs Blinman’s story, including a “smell of sulphur” associated with the sightings.

Another local, Clarry Hansen, also sighted big cats and paw prints with a 13 to 14cm diameter.

In 1981 the two shared their stories with a Channel 9 news crew.

“It’s a reasonably well-forested area, with plentiful food sources and also being well populated could account for more people seeing panthers,” said Ms Lang.

The last local panther sighting may have been the last forever.

On New Year’s Eve 2008, a local resident reported driving past a “deceased large feline” on the side of Forest Road.

A Sydney man also saw the deceased animal by the side of the road on the same day.

In a hurry he did not stop, but returned the next day where he could find no trace of the feline.

http://www.southcoastregister.com.au/news/local/news/general/panther-story-resurfaces-in-a-new-book/1890860.aspx