Thursday, 25 September 2008
Premier's panther interest welcomed
Premier's panther interest welcomed
24/09/2008 10:58:00 AM
THE Centre for Fortean Zoology Australia has welcomed the news NSW Premier Nathan Rees is considering a serious investigation into big cat sightings in the Sydney basin and beyond.
Mike Williams, who has been investigating reports of ‘panthers’ around Australia since 2001, said the staggering volume of reports – many accompanied by compelling photographic and physical evidence – warranted closer attention from biologists and government authorities.
“There’s something going on in the Australian bush. We don’t know if the source of these reports is some kind of introduced exotic cat species or a feral cat mutation, but what we do know is that hundreds of people have seen these animals. It’s not just a case of mistaken identity,” Mr Williams said.
“It’s important that the close-minded sceptics don’t derail future efforts to investigate the growing volume of ‘panther’ reports.
“The Hawkesbury City Council has rallied behind concerned locals and several scientists have thrown their weight behind the notion that there could be large felids living in the bush... The interest of the Premier is a welcome addition to the ranks.”
The Centre for Fortean Zoology (CFZ) has worked closely with residents in the Hawkesbury and Blue Mountains region, and has contributed to a privately held database of 360-plus sightings created by Grose Vale resident Chris Coffey.
Mr Williams, who is co-writing a book on ‘panther’ sightings across Australia, is interested to hear from readers who have had a sighting or taken any interesting photographs, video or casts of the animal.
He can be contacted via email at australianbigcats@gmail.com or directly on 0416 303 371. Visit his website at www.australianbigcats.com
Saturday, 20 September 2008
Premier sinks claws into big cat mystery
NSW Premier Nathan Rees believes something big and furry is roaming Sydney's west.
And he wants to find out what it is.
Despite a lack of firm evidence, Mr Rees no longer thinks stories of big cats such as a black panther stalking western Sydney are just an urban myth.
He said he has been in contact with a local woman who has compiled a database of some 600 alleged big cat sightings.
"I don't think it's necessarily an urban myth," Mr Rees told reporters in Penrith on Friday.
"There are too many people reporting sightings."
It is a turnaround for Mr Rees, who as water minister in August said the "black panther is an urban myth".
The black cat sightings have already been subject of a three-year NSW Agriculture-led investigation, which was wrapped up in January 2002.
But Mr Rees said a recent spate of new sightings could warrant a new investigation.
"Of particular concern is if there are little kids out there, and there actually is one of these things," Mr Rees said.
"It is easy for all of us to dismiss these things ... but if we're actually wrong then there is an altogether different set of scenarios."
Sighting of big cats - dubbed either the Penrith Panther or Lithgow Panther - have been part of local folklore in Sydney's west and the Blue Mountains for decades.
Rumours persist the big cats escaped from private zoos or a circus in the area years ago, and even the local NRL club is called the Penrith Panthers.
While many people believe it is some type of exotic cat, possibly a panther, cougar or leopard, myth busters say they are nothing but large feral cats with thick winter coats.
The creatures are said to roam from Penrith to the Hawkesbury region in Sydney's north-west, along the Nepean River and across the Blue Mountain to Lithgow.
Believers say the big cats have been able to survive by roaming the three large national parks - Kanangra-Boyd, Blue Mountains and Wollemi - which connect across the mountains.
"This is Nathan Rees' 'beef stroganoff moment and demonstrates how out of touch Labor has become," said Deputy Liberal leader Jillian Skinner, referring to the uproar caused after federal Labor MP John Murphy complained earlier this week about the size of meal servings at the parliament house canteen in Canberra.
"Nathan Rees needs to get his priorities right.
"Looking into the so-called black panther, but not into the budget crisis, says a lot about this bloke and it's not good for the people of NSW."
Thursday, 4 September 2008
Local quoll search
CFZer Paul Clacher dug up this great snippet - thanks Paul!
(And yes, this particular quoll is stuffed, in both meanings of the word!)
Thylacine on show in Sydney
The specimen will be on show Sunday at the Macleay Museum between noon and 4pm. There will also be a free expert talk and Q+A about endangered species.
Ruby
CFZ Australia
http://cfzaustralia.blogspot.com/
Monday, 1 September 2008
Report a sighting to CFZ Oz
We're busy compiling an Australian-New Zealand database of mystery animal sightings, so no matter if your experience is old or new, we're keen to hear about it. We're especially keen to see photographs, video footage and plaster casts.
CFZ Oz Team
'Extinct' marsupial may be alive, well, and local
REBECCA LANG
1/11/2006 2:13:10 PM
A HAWKESBURY resident may have stumbled upon one of the most exciting zoological finds of the decade – a small marsupial previously thought to be extinct on Australia's mainland.
East Kurrajong resident and Gazette employee Nicole Palmer was driving along Roberts Creek Road when she spotted a couple of unusual-looking animals last Wednesday night about 7.30pm.
"There was two of them. One was smaller. I pulled up and the larger one kept hopping towards the car," she said.
"They were both dark brown with white spots around its jowl and neck area, 3-4 inches of the tip of its tail was white and it didn't look like a tiger quoll, it was much smaller and less heavy."
From her description, NPWS ranger Vickii Lett and University of Western Sydney biologist Professor Rob Close believe Ms Palmer may have spotted two eastern quolls.
Eastern quolls are about the size of domestic cats with pointed noses and soft fawn, brown or black-coloured fur broken up by white spots, and a bushy, white-tipped tail.
They are much smaller than their cousins, the endangered Spotted-tail or 'Tiger' quoll, which has a coarse, reddy-brown coat with white spots and is half as big again as the eastern quoll.
The eastern quoll was last seen on the mainland in the 1960s in the Sydney suburb of Vaucluse.
Since that time dogs, cats, foxes and people have encroached on the small marsupial's habitat to the extent that they are now believed to be extinct on the mainland.
However, eastern quolls remain prolific in Tasmania, preferring to live in dry grassland and forest bordering farm paddocks.
Ms Lett said National Parks would be acting on the sighting of the protected species.
"In the meantime, we'd like residents to keep an eye out and if they see something unusual, take a picture of it with their camera or mobile phone," she said.
"We'd also like people in the area to be careful about letting their dogs and cats roam around."
Dr Close, who recently urged residents to keep an eye out for signs of rare wildlife, said he was thrilled about the sighting.
"If it is in fact a true sighting, it's very exciting," Dr Close said.
"There's been a few sightings over the past few years, unverified, so it raises hopes that they are still around."
Keep a sharp eye out for this critter
29/05/2008 9:47:00 AM
Residents in the North Macksville area have been urged to keep their eyes out for a carnivorous visitor, in the shape of the endangered spotted-tailed quoll.
A resident was recently alarmed by shrieks from his chook pen and found an unwanted visitor – Australia’s largest remaining carnivorous marsupial.
The spotted-tailed quoll was captured and released into the wild by residents, who were intrigued to see the rare species in land that has been identified as the favoured site of the Macksville bypass through North Macksville and Old Coast Road.
World Wildlife Fund spokesperson Samantha Vine said the spotted-tailed quoll had become vulnerable due to land clearing (the spotted-tailed quoll ranged in a home habitat of up to 500 hectares), introduced competitors and 1080 baits.
She urged residents who saw the rare nocturnal creatures to call WWF to report them, and treat them gently.
“Unfortunately, quolls have a great love of chickens and can track the smell of them for 6km,” she said.
“In the past they have been killed by people who have found them in with their chooks, but we ask that they be released back into the wild, because they are protected.”
Once a spotted-tailed quoll had found a chook pen, Ms Vine said it was likely they would continue to visit it.
She urged people who had problems with chook attacks to contact WWF to get guidelines on how to ‘quoll-proof’ their property.
Bid to save spotted quoll
16/08/2008 4:00:00 AMIT may be the Tasmanian devil's spotted relation, but this cute creature is one of a handful of native endangered species to call Sutherland Shire home.
Known as a spotted-tail quoll, the Foundation for National Parks and Wildlife hopes drawings of this carnivorous Australian marsupial in the Dymocks Golden Paw Awards 2008 will help with its conservation.
"Most threatened species are so rare that we often don't know what they look like,'' said Leonie Gale, CEO of the Foundation for National Parks and Wildlife.
Golden Paw is an annual drawing competition for NSW and ACT primary school children to help raise money and awareness to protect native endangered wildlife.
"[The children's] drawings show everyone what our threatened animals look like, and people will recognise them when they see them,'' Ms Gale said. "They can help find our threatened species so we can protect them and their homes.''
Other endangered species found in the shire include grey-headed flying-foxes, red-crowned toadlets, Rosenberg's goannas, little terns, powerful owls and osprey.
Ms Gale said although the loss of these species in one local community such as the shire may not seem significant, if there were few other places where these animals were found, the loss from one community could have a major impact on the survival of an entire species.
Dan Grover, CEO of Dymocks, said that for every drawing entered, Dymocks would donate $1 to the Foundation for National Parks and Wildlife. The money raised will go towards conservation projects for little penguins.
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