Big black cats ( panther) Australia

[Ramsayi]

*giggles inside*

If you giggled outside there may be a chance of spotting a panther.

 

[lynchette85]

Funny how many of us think we are experts on what "doesn't exist".. Just because you haven't seen something with your own eyes does not necessarily mean it doesn't exist! How old are we seriously?? You go on about photographic evidence.. How many people walk around in remote bush land with a camera at the ready just in case they happen to see a panther-like creature??!! It's not like these sightings have been planned or expected at the time they occurred! When you get up in the morning do you think to yourself "gee I'd better make sure I have the camera ready today cos I'm gonna see a panther out in the bush and it's my duty to get indisputable evidence for all those non-believers out there"??!!

Now that I've had my rant.. I grew up on 600acres of very remote bushland. When I was about 9 my mum and older (teenage) brother came home looking like they had seen a ghost.. Inside the tree line they had thought they'd seen a "razorback", but bigger than they would have ever imagined.. Intrigued they had ran up the hill after it, and as it ran they couldn't beleive what they were looking at.. A feline the size and build of a lion, only very dark and thickset, slipped away into the bush near our house. Not an overgrown feral! In the months that followed we found claw marks gouged out of trees well above head height, sheep and cow carcasses that had been partially skun and torn apart, and pawprints.. My uncle made a plaster cast of one of these prints which was found along the creek bank only 50m from our house.. It was bigger than his fully outstretched hand.. We found the same prints on a dirt track following emu prints.. My mum used to walk to our back paddock every morning, and after all this was obviously always on the lookout.. She saw it clearly once, she said it was so surreal, there was no doubt whatsoever, it was sitting on a rock watching her only about 50m away.. She stopped and just watched it, it sat there staring at her for a minute then turned and ran off.. It's something she will never ever forget..
Much to my disappointment I never saw it, but I HEARD it once, and that's something I will never forget.. I was outside with just my dog right on dark, when all of a sudden the dog started freaking out and whimpering and ran off to the house with its hackles up, and at the same time this noise I will never forget echoed up from the creek, so loud.. The only way I could think to describe it was a mixture of a lions roar and the sound corrugated iron makes when you shake it (weird I know but that's the best way to describe it).. Needless to say it instantly chilled me to the bone and for a minute I was frozen in terror (I was a kid), the distance between myself in the dark and the safe house seemed impossibly long, I knew without a doubt what had made that noise and it sounded sooo close.. Still gives me goosebumps thinking about it.. I spent years in remote bush land and had never heard anything like it, still haven't to this day, and I doubt many have..
Some of the locals also had sightings and similar signs with trees and stock torn apart.. One of our neighbours even had a 2 page article in a magazine about his experiences, in which there was speculation about the possibility of this being a Thylocoleo (extinct native marsupial lion).
Myself, my family and neighbours have absolutely no reason to lie about any of this or make up stories. We were always aware and on the lookout for this creature because it both frightened and fascinated us, and we felt slightly protective of our "Thylocoleo" (if that's what it was of course) because it was obviously something very special. No we never got a photo or found its body, and we never tried to shoot it, but that doesn't mean it didn't exist, because quite simply, no matter what anybody says, it did!
So there's my story.. And if you think you saw a panther then you probably did and of course it's possible that these things exist out there and don't let anyone tell you otherwise!

 

[Ramsayi]

So they saw something as big and scary as that and decided to run after it? Most people including me would be running the other way. :shock:

 

[lynchette85]

We all know the saying curiosity killed the cat

 

[waruikazi]

Funny how many of us think we are experts on what "doesn't exist".. Just because you haven't seen something with your own eyes does not necessarily mean it doesn't exist! How old are we seriously?? You go on about photographic evidence.. How many people walk around in remote bush land with a camera at the ready just in case they happen to see a panther-like creature??!! It's not like these sightings have been planned or expected at the time they occurred! When you get up in the morning do you think to yourself "gee I'd better make sure I have the camera ready today cos I'm gonna see a panther out in the bush and it's my duty to get indisputable evidence for all those non-believers out there"??!!

I go everywhere with atleast my phone in my pocket, which has a camera. Seriously who doesn't go everywhere without a camera?

 

[lynchette85]

Yes me too.. This was 15yrs ago, we didn't carry our phones around our property because there was no mobile service and phones didn't have cameras then

 

[cement]

I went for walk a couple of k's around the point at Garadjugan (Java NP surf camp) one arvo and found cat prints on the beach. They were big (there are tigers there) and a heap of little kitten ones. BUT they were not bigger then my outstretched hand. I could see that they had spent the night on the beach there and probably moved into the jungle as I approached. The jungle is so thick a bloke with a full white surfboard can be standing 15 feet away and you cannot see him or the board through the bush.

Maybe you could show us a photo of the plaster cast your uncle made?? I mean surely with so much evidence there would be at least one photo...

 

[sunny_girl]

I'm pretty sure if your trying to take a photo of an animal 50 + metres away in the bush with a camera phone someone will be quick to tell you you took the photo with a toaster and that the quality is ****. And so around we go again...

 

[waruikazi]

I'm pretty sure if your trying to take a photo of an animal 50 + metres away in the bush with a camera phone someone will be quick to tell you you took the photo with a toaster and that the quality is ****. And so around we go again...

It's a moot point.

 

[sunny_girl]

It's a moot point.

Sorry...It's a what??

 

[MathewB]

I go everywhere with atleast my phone in my pocket, which has a camera. Seriously who doesn't go everywhere without a camera?

Hobos

 

[Nighthawk]

It's a moot point.

Most definitely. There are people out there who, with a panther posing perfectly still on a rock 5m away and with top of the range equipment, still manage to take a photo that looks like it came out of a $20 servo Nokia cameraphone from 2003. Not unlike myself...

 

[The_Dreaded_Pets]

a maine coon for those to lazy to google is the largest domestic cat kept in as a pet males gro as big as a med dog and weigh aprox 20kg fem only weigh in at 10kg. google male maine coons n look at the pix ull be supprised just how big a house cat can get and you can get them in pretty much any colour aswell as they come in pollydactal form (extra toes )

 

[Nighthawk]

Sorry...It's a what??

Moot = debateable.

 

[lynchette85]

Cement I'm not sure exactly what you're getting at.. Because your tiger prints on the beach weren't as big as your hand my prints can't possibly be that size?? And what relevance does not being able to see a tiger through thick jungle have to the Australian bush?? And no there aren't any photos of the cast as we had the cast itself, I don't know where it is now I assume my uncle still has it.. We have never been out to prove anything so haven't felt the need to collect "evidence"

 

[SamNabz]

Yes me too.. This was 15yrs ago, we didn't carry our phones around our property because there was no mobile service and phones didn't have cameras then

Mate, I'm talking about sightings in recent times, not 15+ years ago. Even iPod's have decent enough cameras these days.

Like I said, there's always a camera handy when some big game is caught, but when it comes to spotting something elusive (or as I like to call it, non-existant), there's not a camera in sight.

And yes, if people have been seeing these 'panthers' since the 60s, and I am yet to see ONE decent photo, to me, that means they don't exist...

50+ years to get and still not 1 decent image - the only one that keeps getting referred to is the one of Kurt and a headless corpse.

Sorry, but it's going to take a bit more than that to get me to believe mate.

 

[lynchette85]

To be honest I don't really care whether u beleive or not mate you can live in your narrow minded little delusion if you so choose, I'm not here to debate or try to prove what I know to be true, I'm simply telling my story as was requested in the original post and supporting the FACT that it is entirely possible big cats and god knows what else exist in remote parts of our country.

 

[Ramsayi]

Non believers are delusional eh? Talk about the pot calling the kettle...........

 

[lynchette85]

Not being open to the POSSIBILITY of things being true simply because you haven't seen them with your own eyes is delusional

 

[Globe]

Once such a big i suppose you could say "myth" (not to say it is, but currently seems like it) becomes well known i'd say many people would just jump on the ban wagon so there's no real wonder as to why there's been so many sightings... i'm very skeptical when it comes to things such as this. In OP's YouTube video at 4:20 there's a bloke claiming to have "foot prints", "hair" & even "scats" now i think he's a perfect example for someone who's just looking for his 15 minutes... Would he not have had these things compared with other DNA samples?

Mate, I'm talking about sightings in recent times, not 15+ years ago. Even iPod's have decent enough cameras these days.

Like I said, there's always a camera handy when some big game is caught, but when it comes to spotting something elusive (or as I like to call it, non-existant), there's not a camera in sight.

And yes, if people have been seeing these 'panthers' since the 60s, and I am yet to see ONE decent photo, to me, that means they don't exist...

50+ years to get and still not 1 decent image - the only one that keeps getting referred to is the one of Kurt and a headless corpse.

Sorry, but it's going to take a bit more than that to get me to believe mate.

+1, agreed.

Hobos

Lol...

Back around 1996-2003 I was invloved in a secret project to breed and release black panthers in various locations in Australia.
We also had to then either trap or shoot and remove the panthers once they had been "sighted" enough times (generally around 10-20 sightings).
The non-disclosure agreement I signed expired recently so I am now able to talk about it.
I'm pretty sure it was a ploy by the Liberal government, but I'm not sure what their aims were.

Really? Would you consider an interview? Please contact me on 1300-7268437 (1300-PANTHER)