20080502 - Lake Eildon (VIC) Sighting Date around 1994 - Reported 02/05/2008

Subject:- Big Cat?

Gday Paul Great site,

In around 1994 i was driving down from a lookout that overlooks Lake Eildon just a few clicks out of Eildon. I was with a friend at the time driving back down from the lookout on a road which is around a car and a half wide. I was travelling at around 45kph. On the left there is a steep bank. All of a sudden there was a black cat shaped object that dashed down the bank and hit the side of my car (VW BAJA BUG). It was long and couldn't have been anything else but a large cat or large dog. I spend alot of time in the bush 4WDriving and bushwalking and Mountain bike riding and have never seen anything like it before. I quickly stopped and reversed up but there was nothing there. The car was dusty at the time and where it hit the car it had cleaned off a distinctive animal mark down the side. You could see a tail shape down over the rear mud gaurd on the VW. There was two small dents on the back edge of the door (below the handle) that looked like it was a male animal....

I never thought to take pics of the car at the time and I have since sold that car. I'm always wondering when I'm going to come across another one.

Cheers Richard Warburton Vic

Author / Witness - Richard ......... - Reported 02/05/2008

20080428 - Mt. Dandenong (VIC) Sighting Date About - 28/01/08 - Reported 28/04/2008

Subject:- Big Cat

Hi Around 4 months ago I had been strolling along a popular track a few hundred metres from the row of Japanese Trees BELOW the lookout on Mount Dandenong (Chalet Road). An American couple (man & woman with child in pram) met myself walking on the same track that is parallel with the Big Rock. (about 200 metres from/below the lookout)

The couple were walking quickly away from a spot where they said they had seen a huge cat in the bushes moments earlier.

I thought nothing of this until recently reading of many other sightings in various parts of Victoria over the years.

Regards, Leon - S.........

Author / Witness - Leon S......... - Reported 28/04/2008

20080412 - Wee Jasper (NSW) Sighting Date - 12/04/08 - Reported 12/04/2008

Subject:- Sighting at Wee Jasper NSW

My husband and I were travelling from Wee Jasper to Yass this afternoon. At about 4.30pm we were about 41km from Yass, when I saw what appeared to be a very large black cat sitting outside a hole in the side of the hill. I got my husband to stop the car. He and I and our 10 year old passenger all got out and could clearly see that it was a cat (sic), and that it was probably about the size of a very large dog. It sat outside the hole for about 1 minutes, and then ran up the hill, before disappearing into another hole further up the hill (the hill is honeycombed with holes), and Wee Jasper has very large Caves that are open to the public. We waited for a few more minutes, but it did not reappear.

It was still daylight and the cat would have been about 25 metres away from us so we could see it very clearly. It was definitely a cat and very very large.

Diane L......., Chisholm ACT

Author / Witness - Diane L....... - Reported 12/04/2008

20080407 - Lower Glenelg NP (Vic) Sighting Date - 06/04/08 - Reported 07/04/2008

Subject:- Untitled

G'day Paul

I was riding the great South West Walk in the Lower Glenelg National Park yesterday and I saw a large black mammal on all fours running and appeared very fluid (unlike a dog). I freaked out, told my riding companion who missed the sighting and searched your site today to find other sightings in the area. The one of particular interest was Tim SA who saw prints between Moleside and Post and Rail camps. This is exactly where we were.

So glad I'm not the only one!!

Cheers Jeff Warrnambool VIC

Author / Witness - Jeff. - Reported 07/04/2008

20080405 - You Yangs at Lara (Vic) Sighting Date 05/04/08 & 05/04/07 (approx) - Reported 05/04/2008

Subject:- Big Cat Sightings

Hi

I have 2 big cat sightings to report.

1st approx 12 months ago my wife spotted a big black cat at the You Yangs at Lara - near Geelong Victoria. It was about ½ hour before dusk down behind a popular attraction called big rock , she watched it eating something off the ground for about 2 mins before it noticed her and took off. She described it as about as big as a Labrador dog and jet black.

2nd was today 5/4/2008 at Anglesea Victoria. We were 4WD ing behind Anglesea when we seen a big black cat about the size of a Labrador dog. We had just turned off Dusty Miller track and headed down the Alcoa powerline track when we spotted it. It spotted us and took off through the bush so we were unable to follow it any further. This was about 3.30pm. Cheers Matt O....

Author / Witness - Matt O.... - Reported 05/04/2008

20080325a - Tolmie Mansfield (Vic) Sighting Date 23/02/08 - Reported 25/03/2008

Subject:- Black Panther sighting Victoria

My name is Dean T.... I am 16 and on the 23 of march 2008, easter sunday, I was riding my motorbike up in Tolmie which is near Mansfield in Victoria. I was riding along a tight track in the bush which looked like it hadn't been riden on for years, when a huge black cat darted across the track about 5 metres ahead of me. It fits the desription of a black panther perfectly, it was around 1 metre tall and probably about 2 metres long from head to tail, it was shiny black with short hair and ran very smooth and fast with long strides. It ran off into the bush and i couldn't find any trace of it after that.

Author / Witness - Dean T..... - Reported 25/03/2008

20080325 - Warbuton (Vic) Sighting Date 24/03/08 at 10:45 am- Reported 25/03/2008

Subject:- Black Cat

Yesterday about 10.45am I was travelling alone from Warburton Victoria on the back road which takes you to Narbethong and Marysville. As I approached about 16k into the 27k of the journey I saw on the left hand side of the road going up the the steep side of the embankment what looked like to me a black cat. I only saw its body from the front legs to the back tail. It was shiny and jet black it was lean and very agyle as it climbed up the embankment in the brush, It was about 3 ft high I remember noticing how fluid its body was and its tail was about a ft long. It was a very quite and a clear morning driving along the road I also saw a lyre bird running across the rd in front of me. I searched the web site mainly to see if there were anything recent about any sightings and got on to your page.I remember my brother told me about 25 years ago he saw a cat up in the mountains of Mansfield and he sounded convincing to me, It does,nt matter wether people think I,m mad I know what I saw and that's all that matters. Thanks Coral

Author / Witness - Coral ...... - Reported 25/03/2008

20080319a - Heathcote (Vic) Sighting Date Unspecified 2008 - Reported 19/03/2008

Subject:- Big Cat Foot Prints

on a recent trip out to mount disappointment North of melbourne i found some foot prints, a cat like creature similar to the cat i saw up near heathcote. (central Vic) its foot prints are about double the length of a 308 winchester bullet. 1 bullet measures 70mm. so give or take 140mm long. people at work have also said its a foot print of a big cat not a dog because there is no nail marks in the dirt. just thought you might like to see it.

Chris

Author / Witness - Chris ...... - Reported 19/03/2008

20080319 - Upper Nerang (SE QLD) Sighting Date 14/03/08 at 5:30 pm - Reported 19/03/2008

Subject:- No Sighting Just Prints and Noise

Hi paul

these sighting took place on the 14/3/2008 in the upper Nerang river in scrub land at 5.30 in the morning just after flood waters had recieded also i hear a very throaty growl several times i had been walking in the scrub on the river bank for 1 and half hours walking back on the same path and the prints were not there as i came into the river area but were there on my way home it seemed almost like what ever it was was tracking me can you identify these prints please...stuart ... ..........@bigpond.net.au ps this in the back of the gold coast....

Author / Witness - Stuart ...... - Reported 19/03/2008

20080311 - Grafton (NSW) Sighting Date 29/02/08 at 10:15 pm- Reported 11/03/2008

Hi Paul

Firstly, very interesting website!

I'd just like to share a very brief encounter with, what I believe to be, a 'black panther'. My boyfriend and I were driving from Brisbane to Coffs Harbour late one Friday night recently (about 10.15 pm 29/02/08). We were about 15 minutes past Grafton. I turned to speak to my boyfriend and out the driver's side window I saw what looked like a black panther in the wash of the headlights. It was moving along the side of the road very quickly, parallel to the car and quite close to the scrub. I guess the thing that struck me first was it's size. It was black and I would estimate it to be about the height of a German Shepherd but much longer. It's gait was fast but really 'fluid' and graceful. It definitely wasn't how a dog would run. It was heading for the scrub as it went out of sight so we didn't bother doing a U-turn to try and spot it again.

I was utterly dumbfounded! I had heard stories of big cat sightings further south near Lithgow but had no idea that sightings were so widespread until I read the reports on your website. I have no doubt that what I saw matches the description of a big black cat (panther) type creature. Nothing else fits.

Anyway, I hope you find this interesting. Keep up the great work on your website.

Cheers, Dani

Author / Witness - Dani ...... - Reported 11/03/2008

20080225 - Tarwin (Vic) Sighting Date Not disclosed - Reported 25/02/2008

Subject:- Big Feral Feline

hey paul, the pictures i have sent you basically show how fast the feral cat can adapt to our aussie bush, and of course to adapt they grow larger. The biggest cat in the photos is only about 3rd or 4th generation feral, it is burmese/moggie, cats have never been a problem around our land in Tarwin up until a couple of years ago when they seemed to be getting larger, i'm not certain but at that point they may have grown to a size that they were capable of overpowering foxes. I haven't seen alot of them in action in the bush, but i have seen them chase the odd work dog away. These Cats aren't huge, the biggest one in the photo is about the size of a koala, but it just shows how fast they can adapt and grow.

Cheers, Ben

Author / Witness - Ben...... - Reported 25/02/2008

20080206 - Kenthurst (NSW) Sighting Date Not disclosed - Reported 06/02/2008

Subject:- Big Cats

Hi there...

I was just looking at your website about big cats and panthers in Australia.

In regards to the photo of the largest domestic cat that holds the world record (i think it was under section 20060330)....he is a maine coon cat. I have one too...and they are much larger than any domestic cat, growing up to 15kg.

My boy weighs nearly 10kgs and is a metre long when he stretches (out from tail to ears.) Mind you, they are the gentlest cat, despite their large size.

As for sightings...I used to live in the kenthurst, Dural, Roundcorner area in NSW...and there are constantly sightlngs of a large black panther in the bush in that area. I think people have taken pictures...I don't personally have any, but I've certainly seen some in the paper, and heard many stories of sightings. interesting webpage.

Cheers Ally

Author / Witness - Ally ...... - Reported 06/02/2008

20080130 - Tamworth (NSW) Sighting Date around 1970's - Reported 30/01/2008

Subject:- Big Black Cats

Hi Paul

Was sent a link to your site and am very interested in it as l have seen a few strange things over the years in the area from west of Tamworth and also the north of here as well. The one that really got me was about 1970 myself along with a few of my farmer mates were out to get a few rabbits for dogs meat in the Bithramere area to the west of Tamworth, at about 9:30 at night in winter, very dark no moon, we only had a couple of .22lr rifles and my .222 rimmed and were out in the hills far from any buildings following a creek in an old LandRover ute potting the occasional rabbit when about 100 yards away alongside a wire fence we spotted 2 BIG black CATS , BLOODY BIG CATS.

They were standing nose to nose and from their tip of tail to tip of tail they took the entire panel of fence from post to post, adistance later measured at some 12 feet at the shoulder they came to the third wire also measured at about 18 to 20 inches, we watched them for some time possibly as much as 5 minutes, then as they were showing a bit of interest in our direction all 4 of us got into the front of the old Landrover ute, as we decieded early in the confrontation to take on a cat of that size we needed something a lot larger caliber that a .222 or a 22 rimfire. The farmer mates of mine were as l was were all a bit interested in getting the hell out of there while we could. The landowner later mentioned the big cats had been in the area for a lot of years but not many people knew of their existance. Even now while typing this l have shivers running up and down my spine and the hairs on my arms are standing on end.

A couple of years earlier l was spending a couple of weeks on our next door neighbours [Athur & Kitty B....., ] farm again shooting a few rabbits, clearing a bit of scrub for him, and just being a bit of company for Arthur as he lived at the farm by himself for a couple of weeks then came to town for supplies, see Kitty for a day or so and then back to the farm. Kitty was in town with her kids putting them through school. One night we were sitting up playing cards with the aid of a kero light, when the dogs locked in the shed, started to make a ferocious din.

I remember saying to Arthur whats got the dogs so upset I am going out to see, he said not to as it might not be a good idea and to leave it untill the morning, then a horrible smell came into the house, l was told not to worry and go to bed as it would be all OK.

Next morning, the dirt at the bottom of the steps had footprints in the dust about as big as a small saucer, and there were lots of them, Arthur showed them to me and said it was something like the Emmaville panther and it came around every few months or so, set off the dogs who were safe in the shed and locked in and could not either get out nor could anything get in to them.

Way back in the early 1960's I was in the company of Kevin M....... coming back from Wauchope to Tamworth at about 7pm in winter when about half way between Wauchope and Walcha we stopped on the side of the road for a nature call, when in front, some 40 yards away a BIG Cat black, walked across the road in full glare of the headlights, took no notice of us, and continued into the scrub on the other side of the road. There have been a few other unexplained things bit they are the best as l have seen these with my own eyes and have had the hairs stand up and they still do when l think about them Good luck with your project as l am a firm believer that there is a lot of things in the bush still to be identified.

Author / Witness - Geoff H...... - Reported 30/01/2008

20080101 - Walcha (NSW) Sighting Date around 1982 - Reported 01/01/2008

Subject:- Thylacine

Good Day,

About 25 yrs.ago I was travelling eastward on the Oxley H,way about 1/2 way between Walcha & Port Macquarie in the early hours of the morning.This particular area was very windy & heavy scrub grew up to the edge of the gravel by the roadside.Came around a bend & 2!! animals ran across into the scrub,they were definitely Thylacines.

Being sensible about this I found it very hard to believe,I dont drink,was not overly tired & 3 driving lights in use(100 watt Cibies).My wife also saw them.

I have mentioned this to very few people & mostly the reply is(if they know what a Thylacine is)"Could,nt be.They are extinct".My reply is "No,they are thought to be extinct". This area is very steep & heavily timbered,if there were ay about this is the sort of place I would imagine they would be.

Hope you find this of interest, I find your website very much so. Michael (Mick) A....., Pottsville, NSW, 2489.

Author / Witness - Michael (Mick) A..... - Reported 01/01/08

20071227 - Darwin Area (NT) Sighting Date Unknown - Reported 30/12/2007

Subject:- Panther Sighting

dear paul

i so glad i fond your website. In my local aria i have for several years seen these large mistirius creature i beleave it be some kind of panter. I have a few shots of them butt ar unable to send them as they are film potos. the cat wes jet black and about 1.9 to 2.3 meters long as soon as the catt saw me it bolted from the branch next to me it was lying on and sprang several meters through a crisp night air off into the darkness. it was orsum yours soncoreliy wazzy darwin N.T

Author / Witness - Jack B - Reported 30/12/07

20071227 - Cuttagee Beach (NSW) Sighting 1988 - 1989 - Reported 27/12/2007

Subject:- Big Cat Sighting

Hi,

I was about 12 or 13, which would be 1988 - 1989 when I saw a large black cat at the North side of the bridge at Cuttagee beach, NSW... near Bermagui (map link follows).

I grew up in the area (about 2km or less from the sighting) knew the place well and got around on my BMX bike. I was riding down to Cuttagee beach when I saw the Cat.... about 50m ahead of me. I stopped... as quickly as I could, it took me a second or two to realise I was looking at something really out of place.

The cat must have heard my tire skid along the road... it stopped right in the middle of the road and looked up at me. For about 3 seconds it looked at me and then trotted off the road and into the bush.

After about 20 seconds I decided to ride down to the place where I saw it go into the bush... my heart was beating (and it does seem like a silly thing to have done, now I have a more adult fear of these things)... but I couldn't see anything and I was not for the life of me going to walk into the bush to have a closer look!

I then quickly rode home to tell everyone... and got the "oh that's interesting" response... ha ha, but I've never forgotten about it and have always been interested when I occasionally hear about other sightings. I had no prior knowledge about big cats in Australia before that day.

Aside from the fact that I was looking at a jet black animal that was significantly larger than a house cat, the thing that really nailed it for me was the bob on it's tail... I had a perfect side on view as it finished crossing the road and saw the long black tail with the bob on the end of it.

I estimate about 60 - 70cm to the top of the head... and maybe 1.5m - 2m long with the tail.... though that is very rough (it was a while ago!)

Here's a link (below) to the location on Google Maps. I saw the cat on the middle of the road at the north end of that bridge... just about where the white car is. The Cat seems to have been crossing from the East (right hand side on that map link) to the West.

http://maps.google.com.au/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&time=&date=&ttype=&q=bermagui&ie=UTF8&ll=-36.487561,150.053539&spn=0.002937,0.004989&t=h&z=18&iwloc=addr&om=1

Cheers,
Helgi R...

Author / Witness - Helgi R... - Reported 27/12/07

20071214 - Whittlesea (Vic) Sighting 14/12/2007 - Reported 14/12/2007

Hi there my name is Lolita Hemara of Whittlesea

I found outside my front door this morning some cat like prints but these prints where not like a small cat they where about the size of my hand maybe alittle bigger so I am not sure what it is they where rounded at the toe part and very fat rounded at the back part at first I though it was a huge dog but because I live in the countryside I know all the dogs around us and this was not a dog print either because I know dog prints and this was a lot bigger than a dog print ... Now I have heard stories about a black panther that comes down from the mountians and there has been some documented sightings as well so I think that is the foot prints of the blackpanther anyway I thought I would let someone know of this thanks from Lolita

Author / Witness - Lolita - Reported 14/12/07

20070917b - Labertouche (Vic) Various Sightings - Reported 17/09/2007

Gday Paul This morning I listened to Simon Townsend on the ABC talking about a suspected cat attack on a Foal ? in the Otway Ranges. We have watched these creatures quite frequently on my Father in Laws property at Labertouche (near Longwarry Gippsland) They are definitely pumas / panthers,one was a fawn colour and the other was jet black,our children surprised the black one in daylight but were not attacked, instead it ran off, the fawn one drank every day at our neighbours dam and also was very quiet. These cats were big, sadly we have no photos or even footprints but the animals are there, we kept quiet as they posed no threat to humans. My Father in Law died some years ago and the property has been sold but I believe the cats are still there.

Hope this helps in your investigations Ron Gough

Author / Witness' - Ron Gough - Reported 17/09/07

20070917a - Emmaville (Northern NSW) Sighting Around September 2007 - Reported 17/09/2007

Subject:- Big Cat Sighting

Hey Paul,

my name is Kerrin Wallis and I was recently out fishing the Severn River in the Emmaville District. My friend Craig (an ex army Sargent and avid hunter in both Northern Australia and NZ) and I were heading along a stretch of creek when he stopped and commented there must be a huge boar in the vicinity. I too could smell it (as I have also hunted pigs plenty) and it was incredibly strong.

We began to snoop around to see if we could find it when I noticed some very large and unusual prints. I immediately thought they looked cat like but didn't say anything as I didn't want to appear dumb. He however was shocked and stated quickly that the only thing they could be were huge cat prints. They were very clear and right where this strong scent was. All the way up the creek we would find patches with this strong scent and what we could only conceive as large cat prints.

We spent the night there but were very concerned. In the morning we found some fresh prints (on a trail we had been just the afternoon before and they weren't there then) not far from camp and about 3.00 in the morning although I slept through it Craig said he had heard something very big running through the bush and pointed out where it had come from and gone. Although we didn't see it Craig said it was definately not a roo as he was familar with the noise a roo makes with a thump, thump, and said this was a constant movement. It is possibly that this was a dog but it would have had to have been very heavy as the print was as big as our hand/ fist and deeply pressed into some quite hard clay/ dirt.

These prints also were only about a third of the size of the ones we saw down the creek. We can't say we sighted it but with the incredible strong smell (which we concluded was possibly a cat marking it's territory) and those prints had us both very concerned. The other thing that makes it quite strange is that we had no idea of the Emmaville Panther until this moring when for some interest I thought I would google Big Cats Australia and was absoluetly shocked to see Emmaville as an evidence. It really shocked me. I had heard bits about cats in Australia but never really took it seriously. Then when seeing those prints, the scent and now that exact area as a place of sightings I have no doubts at all we were very close to whatever it is.

Loved the sight and would love to hear any comments you might have about our sighting.

Thanks Paul Kerrin W..... and Craig B......

Author / Witness' - Kerrin W & Craig B - Reported 17/09/07

20070914 - Various Sightings - Reported 14/09/2007

Subject:- My Investigation of the Mallee Dog.

Hi Paul

I obtained skull specimens a year ago and find that the canine is really the New Guinea Singing dog, no doubt about it. I have sent a skull to USA for confirmation. Another critter has surfaced in WA. It has to be a cousin to the Emmerville Panther. I have some video of the critter, has long lanky legs and a long thin tail with brush on end. Marsupiaaaaaaaaal like rump and fore end like a kangaroo. I obtained a fragment of skin from the skin of an emmerville panther juvenile shot 100 odd years ago. Skin tanned and preserved in a glass case. Specimen at a museum for analysis.

Cheers Wally

Author / Witness - Wally Davies - Reported 14/09/07

20070822 - Upper Lodden (Vic) - Sighting Early 1990's - Reported 22/08/2007

Subject:- sighting the black panther.

Hello Paul.

I come origionally from india ,where like my father, i did a lot of hunting ., and have hunted leapord and bear as well as wild boar and deer. well,I was hunting in the upper lodden state forest in western victoria, back in the early 90's .

we had heard of a great area for goats down a place called scheisers gully in the glenluce area and after parking the car , took a walk over this low hill, my friends lagging behind me, as i came over the top, i was amazed to see a full grown black panther sniffing the ground, facing my right ,withen a few seconds it realised i was watching it , i was no more than 40 metres from it, it spun around and took off at full speed to my left, it was fast and bounded away, long thick black tail unmistakable,as i disappeared into the edge of the forest, i was stunned, i, at that time, had not heard of panther in australia but knew what i had seen from experience, i told my friends what i had seen, and they suggested i probibly saw a wallaby, which i hotly contested, we debated it for a while, and than i gave up trying to convince them, while they dismissed my story with the fact that australia does not have black panther,

It was a few years before sightings came to light, and of late i have come across and took photos etc of a kill, with classic fang marks on the neck, the face partly eaten and the belly opened up and the internal organs eaten, it was a wallaby killed, i also did a search of the area and found a dropping full of hair,

I have since discovered this web site and i am hooked on the amazing number of encounters and sightings. I had stopped hunting for a few years having got pulled the other way with the rod, but guess what, that ol' feeling has surfaced again, and i am going to be doing a lot less snapper fishing this year!

regards.
Peter D'costa

Author / Witness - Peter - Reported 22/08/07

20070819 - Lakes Entrance (Vic) - Sighting 9 August 2007 - Reported 19/08/2007

Subject:- feral cat sighting Thursday 9th of August 2007 - Lakes Entrance VIC

Hi my name is Chris Neville I live in Sydney and love camping I've camped all around NSW and VIC and can honestly say what I saw was absolutely the most frightening thing I've ever seen in my life. Me and my girlfriend Jayne pulled up at Eastern Beach Tourist Park at Lakes Entrance to set up camp for the night as we travelled the New South Wales coast line down to Victoria, I can remember the night well because it was so windy we just about got blown away it was so bad that I could not sleep so I went outside to have a smoke when I noticed a police car was patrolling around the campsite and thought that was strange as there was only four campers in the park anyway. I went back into the tent and put on a movie and watched until it finished then thought I will have one more smoke before trying to go to sleep because of the wind was so gusty who could sleep in those conditions. As I opened the tent door and walked outside and I was enjoying my smoke and thinking how much I've enjoyed my holiday when I looked up and noticed a animal of some nature that looked at first glance like a dog so I continued smoking my smoke and had been watching this animal for some minutes and thought it being very strange that it didn't notice me so I whistled to get the dogs attentions. I think the distance between me and this so called dog was about 15 metres away. It had its head low to the ground as if it may have been smelling something on the ground near a tree when it finally looked around at me I noted that it didn't have a long snout like a dog so I got a LED 12v light from the tent and pointed it towards the animal and I could not believe what I saw - it was a cat because the eyes were that big and the nose was exactly like a cat - I shit myself. I also noticed the tail was very long as long as its back legs it just stared at me and I tried to move the light towards the cat to get a better look it made no threatening sound no gesture it was going to attack me or anything. It just stared at me. I tell you I was so scared and didn't wake Jayne until I rushed thru the tent door and said I cant believe what I just saw mind you with swear words Jayne woke up and said go to bed so I did and told Jayne the next morning about it all and the first thing she said it may have been a feral cat I only wish I took a photo didn't think at the time but never the less I saw a wild cat to think the height of this cat would have been around one metre that's what scared me if some one told me about this story I would have said bullshit I guess you don't believe it until you see it for yourself

Author / Witness - Chris - Reported 19/08/07

20070610 - Trentham (Vic) - Sighting 18 June 1988 Reported 29/06/2007

Subject:- Large Cat Sighting

Mid eighties near trentham.

Hi,

I am Anthony and wish to include one of my sightings.

I turned left at woodend and heading west.

I turned left at some point onto a bitumen road that became a dirt track.

On the bitumen part there was a clearing and a gully to my left.

There were transmission lines running parallel to the road separated by half a kilometer of forest

The lines ran uphill from the gully and it was clear under I saw cows on the ridge and in the gully

I saw a dark shape glide over a farm fence and head up the hill along the cleared path of the transmission lines.

I drove about a kilometer to the crest of the hill parked and ran as fast as I could through the forest thinking I would arrive ahead of the animal.

I came to the last tree on the edge of the transmission line clearing and hid behind it.

I looked down the hill and saw nothing, took a breath and felt relieved that I did not encounter the animal because I felt scared.

I stepped out into the clearing and this is what I saw three meters away.

It was a cat dark with an auburn tinge to its coat.

It was trotting its neck was straight up at ninety degrees to its body.

It had a feint white coloring patch on its jaw. - Its head was alternating very rapidly from side to side 180 degrees

Apart from leg and head movement its body remained rigid.

It moved fluently and appeared mangy and thin.

It was puma size

It stopped completely when adjacent to me.

Turned looked down the hill.

I saw the same white marking on the other side of its head.

It turned toward me and crouched

I thought it would pounce

I turned and ran back as fast as I could.

Author / Witness - Anthony - Reported 29/06/07

Response to above sighting:-

Hi Paul

In response to your request for some details of my sighting The cat was three meters from me at midday. The date was 18 June 1988 The head movement and the way it trotted was extraordinary.

Thursday 5th July 9.30 pm I was at the Tarago river at Nerim south with Robert lam and was lucky again to experience a sighting. Every year we drive up to pick the water cress and watch the fish coming up to spawn. There are large paw prints there, cat like in appearance with round toe pads easily found if you are keen. There and also large human like bare foot prints on the bank where the water cress is. though I have not seen what they belong to and not sure if I want to. But to observe these you can see obvious depressions in the grass which would pass for any one having stood there till you get down and feel the depression and lift the grass back. They are very clear.

I am extremely wary in any forest situation but Robert had not seen any thing unusual before and is always brazen and goes off on his own despite my warnings. We walked to the stone megalith in the adjacent farm and on the way back picked the water cress. Just as we left in the car, a large cat bounded across the road in front of the headlights. It ran into the fence and had trouble getting through the wire. It paused momentarily on the other side and it was dark had a longish coat and solid and I thought it was a wombat till it took off in long bounds keeping low. It was very muscular. Robert and I experience the sighting together and it has been a talking point all week. I think he will be a little wary too now. We are going to take the day off this week and go there again. I will make some casts of unusual tracks and have hair samples off the fence that you are welcome to.

Thanks Paul

20070610 - Texas (Qld) - Sighting early 1980's Reported 10/06/2007

Subject:- Texas Panther

dear paul,

while rabbit shooting in the early eighties near texas qld. i saw a black panther. it made its way down a hillside 90mtrs away from me. rabbits were on the same hill so i could easilly see the size of the animal. it was 1.8 mtrs long and about 80centimetres tall. it made its way into a gully between us and i didn't see it again. yours sincerely,

bill

Author / Witness - Bill - Reported 10/06/07

20070605 - Blackwood (Vic) - Sighting 02/06/2006 Reported 05/06/2007

Subject:- Sighting Blackwood / Wombat State Forest

I have attached a note about my sighting on Saturday night.

I looked at your site to see if there were any other sightings in the area, but none seemed to be recorded. I have since spoken to someone I know from the area and there is a story of a big cat in the Blackwood / Trentham area.

Regards, Leonie B......

Author / Witness - Leonie B...... - Reported 05/06/07

20070530 - The Great Oceon Road (Vic) & (SA) - Sighting 27/12/2006 Reported 30/05/2007

Subject:- Big Cat Prints

Hi Paul,

I've been reading up about the storys of big cats in the Australian bush for a couple of weeks now after trying to find information on some 3 toed prints I photographed in the riverland near Swan Reach 2 weeks ago, though these are not cat prints, searching for a discription has made me aware of the presence of these big cats in the wild here.

My story goes, last Christmas / Newyear period 27th Dec 2006 I went on holiday in southern Victoria and Sth Australia, the first night was spent in Mt Gambier then on to the Vic coast the next day, I was heading for the Great Ocean Road and had just entered it's western end, I though I'd turn off on to one of the many 4wheel drive tracks to getaway from the hoards of visiters to the region, anyway as you would expect I didn't have a 4wheel drive just a normal car so it turned out that I could only go about 5kms down this particular track before it became in accessable to me, which annoyed me as I could see the ocean about 1 km ahead and heard the voices of people carried on the wind. I had been travelling for sometime with my last stop actually being at Portland, so nature was calling and like any aussie bloke a quick look around then do the buisness. I looked down to my shock I saw fresh tracks in the sandy dirt of the track I was on, they were as big as my hand about 5 inches across and wandered up the track a little before entering scrubland. I nearly shit myself mate, I instantly recognised them as belonging to a feline as I have owned cats all my life and know the distinct difference between a cats and dogs prints, besides there were no claw marks at the front of each toeprint common to a dog, though I had camera equipment with me I never took any photos as a big cat was all these could belong to I thought, and I could see they were pretty fresh no more than a few hours old so I wasn't sticking around to become lunch and I was travelling alone. Unfortunately the name of the National Park I was in eludes me at this time, but It had a steel scaffolding type structure erected as a public lookout about 2kms in off the western end of The Great Ocean Road.

BTW I too though of a wombat but the retracted claws and the size of them and stride was too great to be a wombat, as for the prints I photographed in the Riverland 2 weeks ago, I emailed them to a professor at the Adelaide Zoo, but haven't heard back from him yet, like I said they are definately not cat prints almost human like except with 3 big toes about the length of a finger each and all inline with each other, they wander long the side of the dirt road I was on and off towards a deserted but full sheep watering troff, the area was clearly a deserted and a farm at some stage as even with a 500mm telephoto lense attached to my SLR I couldn't see any animals or farm houses about, just a windmill powered borepump and the troff on the opposite side of the road, I took closeups and another shot which shows them as belonging to something that must walk upright, I also swear I never made them and can't see any reason for anyone else to have, as the chances of someone stumbling across them was almost infinite. I still can't identify them as the more I look at the pictures the more puzzling it becomes.

Three Toed Print (right of screen)	Three Toed Print	Three Toed Print (Straight On)

My own discovery of unidentified Three Toed Footprints in a trackline. These prints gave the distinct impression that whatever made them did so either on the ball of their foot or that was the actual shape of the foot. It is interesting to note now, that another similar foot print has been discovered in Southeastern SA. The above print was located in the Jimboomba / Beaudesert region of Southeastern Queensland.

My own discovery of unidentified Three Toed Footprints in a trackline. These prints gave the distinct impression that whatever made them did so either on the ball of their foot or that was the actual shape of the foot. It is interesting to note now, that another similar foot print has been discovered in Southeastern SA. The above print was located in the Jimboomba / Beaudesert region of Southeastern Queensland.

Received Monday 04/06/2007 - "I have gone on Google Earth and tried to find the location that I was at when I saw the paw prints but the details over that part of Victoria are less than adequate for finding anything smaller than a mountain, However that said I believe I was in what is called Port Campbell National Park, though without actually travelling back there I cannot confirm this as being 100% correct, but it was definately a NatPark! the only other one that it could have been was the Glenelg River Nat Park but I very much doubt that as this seems too far to the west.

Supplied photos of surrounding area	Supplied photos of surrounding area	Supplied photos of surrounding area

I can remember getting to the town of Port Campbell around 2:30- 3:00pm that afternoon, I rarely drive at the 100kph limit as I find you miss too much when your touring and do this, I have a mate that often travels from Adelaide to Melbourne and he says his best time is 6.5 hours, but when I ask him what he saw along the way, he shrugs his shoulders and says "nothing it was a blurr!".

After reading more on your website I realised that another couple had witnesses what they believed to be a panther in the Ottway Ranges also around the same time of the year that I saw the big cat prints, the interesting part of this is, both where I saw the prints and the place where they had witnessed their sighting is not an unreasonable distance for a cat to travel seeking food or a mate even though there is without a doubt more than one cat being seen. A vet once told me that it's not unusual for a domestic TomCat to travel 5 miles in a night looking for a female as this is roughly the range at which he can smell them, Imagine that, being able to sniff out a sheila at 5 miles away :) .

Anyway the time I put at around 12:30-1:00pm when I saw these prints on Thursday 28/12/2006, I just wish I didn't panic and took photos, but I remembered reports of sightings of wild african lions in the Port Parham area during the 80's, Port Parham is about 50kms from Adelaide on the Gulf St.Vincent though the authorities say it was just a big dog, most people do know the difference between dogs and cats and there were several sightings, and besides there used to be a Lion Park within 20 kms of that area in the 70's untill it was closed due to silly people getting out of their cars and being mawlled, it was quite possible for one of these cats to have escaped and lived quite comfortably on sheep or horses in the area. So like I said I wasn't going to be a pork chop lunch.

What interests me more now is the location I was at is not unrealisticly far from McAurther where those mascots were supossedly released in the 40's, something most South Australian had never heard about in fact until I visited your website I never knew about any big cat sightings elsewhere in Oz other than the one a Port Parham I mentioned above."

Received Tuesday 05/06/2007 - "How uncanny, they do seem to be made by the same creature, though the pictures of your 3-toed mystery looks as though they were made when the area was rather muddy or wet, what I didn't mention to you was that if you look at my photo of the prints taken from side on you'll see my shoe print crossing a tyre track, now whats interesting about this is I'm over 100kgs in weight and I barely left a indentation on the road yet look at how deep the 3 toed prints are in the imediate area, this must be one very heavy creature what ever it is, the same seems true for your prints where the ground appears sort of squashed. Besides it would take one powerful animal to lift a full grown male roo into a tree like that, I doubt that any cat smaller that a tiger or lion could do this, just because of the body weight ratios.

Could we have a new creature? Well yes, or maybe just a very old nocturnal one that keeps out of sight! I find that kangaroo up a tree very interesting as a fox or dog simply couldn't do this, yet a panther would, it's natural for them to drag their kill into trees to protect it from other plains scavengers but is it strong enough, however your three twoed prints found in that area are hardly from a cat of anykind so what exactly is it we both seem to have stumbled across? I don't want to yell Yowie or Bunyip just yet but it's beginning to look like it, must see if I can find a "Black Tracker" they might know :) Howmany of these things are out there? I mean its a bloody long way from Queensland to the lower riverland here in SA, and I can't imagine something travelling that far on foot and to never have been spotted. (Paul - Johnno, I cannot be certain how the roo got up the tree at all. And I can't know if the hind quarters of the roo were either cut off or torn off as the level of decomposition made it difficult to tell, but those strange three (3)-toed prints were very close. And, yes the ground there was quite compacted, so whatever made those indents, must have had considerable mass.)-

One other theory mate I know you'll like this one! Look up "cattle mutilations" around the world and you'll find a simularity between them and your roo up a tree, that being so called UFO mutilations where the only parts missing are the Tougnes, Testicles, Eyes and Lips of the dead cattle and all seem to have surgical like cuts with little or no blood in these areas. So if a bigcat didn't kill your roo and the prints inthe area are belonging to what is responsible, could we have a close enconter of the second kind here? it's Just a thought! but one that occurred to me the day I shot the photos. Is the creature dangerous to humans? who knows!" (Paul - "This may be worth a read "Kelleher Colm A. Ph.D., Knapp George, "Hunt for the Skinwalker", Paraview Pocket Books, Sydney, 2005, ISBN 978-1-4165-0521-1; & ISBN 1-4165-0521-0.")

Cheers, Johnno.

Author / Witness - Johnno - Reported 30/05/07

20070518 - The Grampians (Vic) - Sighting Unknown Reported 18/05/2007

G'day Paul!

I had a look @ your website and was really impressed! I am a very curios and interested person when the word puma, panther or big cat are brought up.... I was one who didnt really believe and was one to make a joke until I experienced an event in the Grampians with my whole family... Cheers, Wayne S......

Author / Witness - Wayne S...... - Reported 18/05/07

20070517 - The Grampians (Vic) - Sighting Unknown Reported 17/05/2007

Subject:- Big Cat Sightings

Hi Paul,

Ive just been reading your info on big cat sightings etc. I'm from western victoria and know of many people who have seen big cats around the grampians. One farmer ( a good friend of mine) has told about a nite when his father rang him (he lives approx 200m down the road) and told him to go outside and listen to the noise. They couldnt identify it so jumped in the ute and went to investigate. They saw nothing unusual, untill the next morning when they came across several sheep carcases. They were both killed in the same way, with throats bitten and the internal organs eaten via a hole torn in the rib cage. They also had flesh missing from the inside of the rear legs.

I have also seen kangaroos killed eaten in the same way. Some of which have been shot initially, but on return the next morning have holes in the rib cage and all organs missing as well as brains. Some have even been dragged from where they lay, usually only a few metres. This took place less than 20km from my friends farm.

I hope this information is of some use to you. If I can be of any further assistance please let me know. Also my friend looked for prints on the morning of the discovery but found none, it was in a grassy paddock which made it difficult. I havent paid much attention when i've seen the kangaroos as its fairly common knowledge that they (big cats) are in the area. I will next time. Regards Dan

Author / Witness - Dan - Reported 17/05/07

20070514 - Putty near Singleton (NSW) - Sighting about 1999 Reported 14/05/2007

Subject:- Black Panther

yes beleave me or not i have definatly SEEN A PATHER in the forest at putti or putty which backs onto the blue mountains just befor Singleton which isn't far from Mudgee, and had 2 witnesses with me at the time when a panther (black cat) ran across the road infront of us, i was only about 15 years old at the time (now 23 ) in a truck with my step father hauling a load of logs out of the forest as my step father was contracted to the state forestry and stays in a caravan in putty or (putti) 60 or 70 kilometres off the highway just before Singleton and he has seen them several times but i know what i saw and what encouraged me to tell this was the article i saw on TODAY TNIGHT on rougthly the 5th of may 2007 with the Mudgee footage of the cat and that was enougth to beleave what i saw. SOMEONE PLEASE WRITE BACK FROM THE SAME AREA OR WHO EVER WANTS TO CHAT ABOUT THE BELEIFS OF THE PANTER thanks Tom...

Author / Witness - Tom - Reported 14/05/07

20070511 - Armidale (NSW) - Sighting 1984 onwards Reported 11/05/2007

Subject:- panther sighting Armidale NSW

Paul

I was recently listening to a talkback show that had brought up the discussion of panthers in aust. I was surprised how many people rang in their sightings. but also annoyed by the skeptics sarcasm.

As a kid about 10 yr old, around 1984 at a guess, my sister and I just hopped off the school bus and mum was on the verandah about 100m away going ballistic. when we got home mum took us to the kitchen window and asked us what we saw in our neighbors back yard.

There was a large black cat as big as the neighbors Doberman it had a long tail drooping to the ground. as we watched mum rang the neighbor.

We watched as it jumped the fence and slowly and so gracefully bounded across the paddock we watched as it jumped fence after fence it appeared to be following Ben who had hoped off the bus with us.

As he started to run the cat turned and just disappeared into the scrub. that week there were many sightings. a farmer went to get his water bottle from a tree and found a panther on the limb the bottle was hung on. a lady opened the curtains one morning to find a panther looking in the window at her.

Many years later about 1996 I was privileged to have a glimpse of another panther. This time I was at Toppers mountain Tingha.

Each morning as I drove through the forest to go to town there was a wallaby and its Joey sunning themselves on the road. this morning they were not there. disappointed I looked into the clearing to see if they were there. I saw a huge black cat sitting there. as I stopped the car and reversed to have another look there was nothing there. No black object no black tree stump or anything that could have looked like a cat. I then realized I had just had my second sighting.

In 2006 a friend was on his property in Bingara he and his brother heard a screaming noise and saw a large black cat disappearing. that same week there were other sightings in the Bingara area. I have no doubt they are there but I don't believe that they need to be proven to exist so the government eradicates them. Africa has lions and we love to watch them there would be an uproar if someone decided to make them extinct due to the risk to people. aust has a panther so what. we have many national parks that no one goes deeply into. there is plenty of room for them to exist and as long as we know they are there we can behave with knowledge.

Every other country has its dangerous animals and we have plenty of our own. there are more snakebite victims than panther attacks so why seek them out just to kill them, they are a beautiful creature that deserves our respect.

Tanya

Author / Witness - Tanya - Reported 11/05/07

200705082 - Warren River / Nannup (WA) - Sighting Unknown Reported 08/05/2007

Hi Paul, Last night on Today Tonight they ran a story with footage of large black cats. One can conclude that they do exist but at the same time remain very elusive. Just out of interest Nannup in Western Australia has reported the same sightings over the years however not much over the past few years. However my family ( wife and 6 children ) travelled to this area to camp at a place called the Warren River which is about 15 Klm north of Nannup. While driving along a bush track myself and 2 sons saw a large black cat come onto the track in front of the 4wd, run along the track in front of the car and the turn off back into the bush. The animal was absolutely a panther looking cat about the height of a large German Shepherd dog. Black, thick legs and tail and definitely a feline. So my account is 100% accurate and no chance it was something else. I don't know that it would still be alive today but they certainly do exist. Cheers Andrew

Author / Witness - Andrew - Reported 08/05/07

200705081 - South Coast? (NSW) - Sighting Unknown Reported 08/05/2007

In march 2006 I spotterd what looked like a “big cat” walking into the bush off the road on sunrise the cat looked uninfluenced ,not affected by us as we drove towards the cat it stood as tall as the reflector pole on the side of the road…aprox 80-110 cm ……south coast nsw

Author / Witness - Pia - Reported 08/05/07

200705073 - Geraldton (WA) - Sighting Unknown Reported 07/05/2007

Subject:- big cat sighting in western australia

I don’t know if this is the sight to go to but I was just watching today tonight 7th may 2007 and they had a report of big cat sightings.

It was exciting to watch and made me realize that what I have seen my self was very real.

We live on a 100acre property in a small rural area called Chapman Valley situated 20km north east of Geraldton Western Australia we were sitting out side of the house it was about 4 in the afternoon and we were looking out over our neighbors property, at the time they were growing rockmeleons I was looking at the paddock which would have been about 500m away and I could see this black animal of sort walking through the paddock of rock melons I tapped mum on the shoulder and pointed out and she too was quiet taken aback, even though we were quiet a distance away what ever we could see was moving slowly and was very big. I quickly raced inside and grabbed the binoculars and to my horror it was a bloody cat. It was huge it would have been about the height of our blue heeler dog and was long. And its tail was very distinct we all had a turn looking through the binoculars and couldn’t believe what we were seeing. The cat walked through the paddock and in to the swamp that resides between the two properties. And with much disappointment I have never seen the cat again.

Author / Witness - Yetna - Reported 07/05/07

200705072 - Georgetown (FNQ) - Sighting June 2002 Reported 07/05/2007

Subject:- Black Cats North Queensland

Hi Paul,

Travelling west from Georgetown (in northern Queensland) during the end of June 2002, we saw a black cat cross the road.

It was after lunch and a kangaroo jumped across the road in front of us at a good speed. We (my wife and I) thought it was strange to see a kangaroo at this time of day. That was until a few moments later a black cat jumped across the road after the roo. The rood had cleared the road in one bound as did the cat.

As the cat was stretched out in front of us it took up the whole width of one lane of the road.

Have there being cat reports from others in this part of Australia?

Regards, Tony

Author / Witness - Tony I - Reported 07/05/07

200705071 - Wodonga (Vic) - Sighting Some Years Ago Reported 07/05/2007

Hi my name is toby i live in far north-easton victoria, about 20km out of a town called wodonga. a couple of years ago my mate and i went for a hunt into the mountains in my region, the name Mt.murramuranbong, we just call it Mt.Murra, backt to the hunt..... we were walking along an old fire track when we saw a big black panther lurking in the distance, it was very low to the ground, but its legs were long, it was low to the ground, kind of like it was stalking something, it crept behind a tree, and onto the track we were walking on, we had a .222 but did not want to mess witht his big boy. it was about 85-90cm tall, about 2-2 1/2m long with tail, and was quite a scary encounter, for we were going for pigs. after seeing this cat we called off the hunt and went home for a beer or two.

Author / Witness - Toby - Reported 07/05/07

20070422 - Apollo Bay (Vic) - Sighting January 2005 Reported 22/04/2007

Subject:- Possible Panther Sighting Apollo Bay area

Hi Paul

Around January 2005 i was holidaying in Apollo Bay with my then girlfriend....We decided to spend a day visiting the many waterfalls that litter the Otways surrounding Apollo Bay most of them only accessible via dirt tracks.

Whilst driving along these dirt tracks we saw at least 3 "feral" cats ...2 black and one fawn in colour along the side of the road ...These were in no way possible to be mistaken for anything other then ..feral cats..

Whilst returning to our car up some very roughly made steep steps (girlfriend tired lagging behind) i had stopped to wait for her when i had the feeling of being watched..

Looking out into the surrounding bushland i spotted a rather large tabby cat sitting on a log not more then 25 metres from me ..... As i have always been very intrigued and fascinated by ..ufos.. cryptozoology..and other related topics i was kinda spooked by this as i started recalling stories i had read about big cats etc...

It was getting a little late in the evening but we decided we would visit one more waterfall before returning to Apollo bay I do not recall the name of this waterfall but it was located in a gully surrounded by heavily logged pine forest with a public camp ground located at the end of a dirt track On leaving you come of this dirt trackand turn onto a sealed road..as we did this and i started accelerating i got a glimpse of the rear end of a very large black cat as it leaped of the roadside and up an embankment which was about 3.5 metres high My girlfriend saw it before me and said "did you see that" so i guess my mind was not playing tricks on me..

we stopped and reversed back to where we had seen it ..there were shrubs on top of the embankment behind these there was forest....we could not see it and we were to scared to leave the vehicle and venture up the embankment It would have been at least a little taller then a german shepard ..jet black ..but what really got my attention was the long black curved tail which stayed curved and rigid as it leapt....

There is no way it could have been a feral cat in our opinion we both have had pet cats and this was not your everyday pussycat You wouldn't get me camping out at that waterfall......in fact i don't think id walk down that way again either I find it interesting that most people cannot believe/accept the idea of bigcats living in the aussie bush....fair enough when it comes to yowies etc when you take into account there is no confirmed species matching them anywhere in the world..but bigcats of allsorts shapes and colours are known to exist in many countries...why not here??

What effect would proof of this have on tourism etc....like i said it has put me off camping and bushwalking too not to mention the political nightmare it would be in regards to how/what to deal with it...

It will be interesting to see if current issues like drought bushfires bring these creatures out of hiding and into more contact with humans Once again great site ..hope i haven't bored you with my story .....Kevin b

Author / Witness - Kevin B - Reported 22/04/07

20070416 - Glenelg River Forest (Vic) Sighting Easter 2007 Reported 16/04/07

Subject: Footprints in Glenelg River forest.

Hi Paul,

Ive just come back from spending a week hiking from Portland to Nelson with a mate,while hiking through the Glenelg River forest between the Moleside and Post and Rail camps we noticed some large prints on one of the sandy tracks after much debate between my friend and I we concluded they must be large Cat prints.When we got back to Portland we mentioned this to some locals expecting to be ridiculed,but they mentioned about the Puma sightings we were quite suprised.I am glad I found your website as now I am quite intrigued and need to know more,I would be interested to know your thoughts on our Glenelg River footprints.By the way we did see some feral cats but they were very small.

Regards Tim S.A

Author / Witness - Tim - Reported 16/04/07

20070314 - Kembla (NSW) Sighting Sunday 11th March 2007 Reported (14/03/07)

paul

my two sons, my mum and I were hiking along the ring track at the base of mount kembla on sunday 11th march 2007 (nsw, wollongong) when I had an eerie feeling that we were being watched. About 100 metres further up the track we heard a noise in the undergrowth about 5 metres in from the track. It was a heavy pounding movement as the animal moved quickly away from us. I caught just a quick glimpse of the rear end of the animal and it was a beautiful jet black colour I did not see anything to distinguish what sort of animal it was though, until...... We waited a moment to see if it moved again and the second time I saw a definite long black tail like a cats. The animal was approximately the size of a medium sized dog and was very heavy on its feet. what disturbed me about this encounter was that my youngest son, who is 5 and the smallest in the group, was trailing quite a way behind us and I couldn't help but think that this animal had been stalking us or him!

Rebecca

Author / Witness - Rebecca - Reported 14/03/07

20070303 - Woodburn (NSW) Sighting (When - Unknown) Reported (03/03/07)

hi paul,

my girlfriend and i where driving from Woodburn to Myrtle Creek, nsw,and saw what we both beleive to be a hyena,we got an approx 5 min look at this critter,it was daylight and niether of us were drinking,before blurting out what i thought it was i asked kristy to tell me what she was looking at and she said without hesitation "hyena" ,we are both curious as to any other similar sightings in the grafton or casino areas,npws has listings of recorded species in different nat parks which include numerous un id canines, any info would be appreciated,

regards steve

Author / Witness - Steve - Reported 03/03/07

(Paul - Steve later sent me a web link of an African Wild Dog, advising that this was the closest description to the sighting that he and his girlfriend had.)

20070222 - Mt. Buller (Vic) Sighting (When - Unknown) Reported (22/02/07)

My friend and I were on a school bike-riding camp up near Mt. Bulla. Deep in the forest a black panther flew across the path ahead. There were three witnesses. A riding instructor had seen one an hour before as well. I had seen a paw print a year earlier, just before I found out about the whole big cat phenomenon. My friend saw it too. The same friend saw one in Strathbogie and a friend of hers lives in Strathbogie and they claim to have seen one also. We’ve had a few trickles of encounters but I really want a photo of one! All we usually get are wallabies and foxes.

Karen

Author / Witness - Karen - Reported 22/02/07

20061228 - Fryerstown (Vic) Sighting 2005 (Including Alice Springs) (Reported 28/12/06)

Back in October 2005 my wife and I were holidaying in Victoria, one Sunday afternoon we stopped by the roadside to take a photo of the old beehive site,this area is located between Fryerstown and Chewton,( not far from Vaughan Springs). We were setting up to take the picture when we noticed a big black animal near the side of the road,my wife the remarked " thats a big black cat" the animal moved into a gully then into a huge briar or prickle bush area.

You could see that the animal was cat like by its movement,"like a crouched creeping movement" then vanished into the briars. We could not believe what we had just seen.

On that particular day there had been a press release in the "herald sun" showing some guy who cliamed he had shot a large cat in the Gippsland area,and we thought that if we had reported the sighting we may have been deemed as "crack pots" trying to muscle in on the media junket. which was all about big cat siding.

I find it interesting though that a previus sighting had been reported from the Vaughan Springs area,which is only a few Ks from our sighting.

My wife and I live in Alice Springs where there have been several reports of large cats living in this arid area,general consensus is that these cats have been feral and have mutated into larger species over the years,sometime ago I found the remains of a cat which had been electrocuted at a Transformer site and its skeletal remains were quite large especially its head and at that time I thought the remains were too large to be a feral cat.

Graeme

Author / Witness - Graeme - Reported 28/12/06

20061224 - Anakie - West of Melbourne (Vic) Sighting 1990 & 1 (Reported 24/12/06)

Hi,

Approx 1990 a friend and I was out hunting approx 40 klms West of Melbourne we had been going to this property for about 2 years shooting rabbits, hares and the odd fox. There were a couple of other properties we use to shoot on about 1 klm away as well. There was one property that was very cliffy and had a lot of gum trees on it next to the property we had always been going to. On the way home I said to Alex my friend if he wanted to take a quick look. We never had permission to go on we were just curious what it looked like deeper in. We both had guns 22 magnums loaded and ready to shoot. About 5 minutes of walking into the property we both nearly stood on a panther.

This was no feral cat as we have shot cats the size of a fox. The tail on the cat stood out the most, it was so long. We both seen the whole thing perfectly for about 5 seconds. We both froze and stood there scared stiff for about 5 minutes looking at each other talking about what we just saw and listening out. There was no way I could of had a shot as I was in shock. On the way home we were talking about it so excited we were but feeling stupid at the same time. We both were experienced hunters knowing panthers didn't exist in Australia, but we told all our mates and parents who laughed at us.

The very next night on a current affair there were black panther sightings approx 40 klms north from where we had seen it, even a retired police man saw it, and someone took a shot and blew his mirror off his door. And I must say it was on a current affair that whole week including nine news. (That many people seen it) I looked into panther sightings and found out about the mascots from us army. I still see all my mates including the guy I was with and still talk about it.

There was another occasion about 1 year later in the same area where we were hunting, we had walky talkies I was walking on the bottom of this dried up creek and Alex walking above me. I could here Alex screaming and heard 3 shots from his shot gun. When he did answer my call on the walky talky he said lets get out of here.

This was a man who was nearly crying, so scared he told me he seen a fawn cat the size of the panther. This guy has shot feral cats one the size of a bull terrier. I just wanted you to know my experience I had and believe me when I hear a story I'm all ears now. Before this I would of laughed to my son who is 13 wants to go looking for one with me, and found your sight and love it.

Thanks, Adrian

Author / Witness - Adrian - Reported 24/12/06

20061208 - Barwon River (Vic) Footprint Sighting Late October 2006 (Reported 08/12/06)

I found a foot print along the Barwon River, just above Geelong. It was at the end of October this year 2006. I'm not sure if it is a dog or cat, it is large. I have 2 photos of it 1 with a stubby next 2 it and the other with my left hand. I have a couple of mates that have seen the cat near Meredith. I havent shown them yet 2 ask what they think.

Photo of prints supplied - 11/12/06.

Print 1	Print 2

Author / Witness - Joel & Kim - Reported 08/12/06

20061113 - Sale (Vic) Several Sightings (Big Cats & Thylacine) (Reported 13/11/06)

saw large black cat size of labrador dog near reeves beach aprox 35ks from sale 2 years ago also 1 near golf course on longford rd near sale int article in loc paper some 15 trs ago about large skelotons of kittens found when building new freeway through morwell in local paper called express large cat sighted near yinnar tip 15yr ago lrg mountain lion spotted near middle creek lots of sigtins near englishes cnr top of middle crk rd documented since the fifties in tralgon history book deer hunter sees large tasmanian tiger ner woodside beach tracks also leading from water in direction of snake island origanal owner said to have imported many species of strange animals happy huntin ray

Author / Witness - Ray - Reported 13/11/06

20061029 - 1 Hour from Apollo Bay (Vic) Several Sightings (Reported 29/10/06)

yes i have seen the puma,about 3yrs ago it walked across the front of me when i was driving,only 15meters away in the middle of the day turned arouned at the top of a hill and it walked across me again, clearly i would say a puma or hugh cat a light brown colour with black rings only on the tail. i have revisited the place i saw it each year and i took some photos of footprints even to day sat11/11/06that would say it does hang around this area which is about 1hr from apollo bay. tommy

Author / Witness - Tommy - Reported 29/10/06

20061027 - Neilborough (Vic) Various Sightings (Reported 27/10/06)

hey i came across ur website today n thought id tell ya what i'v seen aswell

i used to live in victoria in a little place called neilborough which is around 30-40 mins outta bendigo. we had cattle and sheep killed in the ways i have read described on your website one a bull worth alot of money, i was younger at the time this happened but me, my dad n the rest of the family knew that our stock were not killed by some wild dog or plain old feral cat, well i guess i better start at the first sighting it was on eaglehawk neilborough road, around half a km from where we used to live me and my father were coming back from bendigo one late afternoon(first time i seen this big cat in the daylight) where we lived was surronded by the whipstick forest, n quite near to the malley it was thick bushland that most people wouldnt venture in as they had heard the storys and it was to easy to get lost in. anyway me n my father heading home from town were in the ol wb bout a km from home when a pack a kangaroo's came boudin over the road from a mate's property so slammed on the breaks n then seen it the big cat, looked like a panther easy was level or even a bit taller then the big 5 poster bullbar on the ute it had a pugged sort of face, it was black with a big long tail on it i couldnt get over the size of it and the shoulder blades were absoultly massive. this was the first time i seen the black one when it neally ended up in our laps. it chased the kangaroo's off into the whispstick me and my father not thinking looked at one another and jumped outta the ute leaving it running in the middle of the the dirt road and tryed to chase this thing into the whipstick we lost it of course and were around 200metres into the whipstick looked at one another again and went no go back to the ute, we had no way to defend ourselves if this cat showed up. after we got home my father called a mate of his saying about this cat his mate said yeh iv seen it before there a black one and the brown we call em the Neilborough Cats, said we've seen many of them but no one can manage to catch one. the second sighting of this black cat was in the same property we seen it chase the kangaroo's out of, we were over there one night for a BBQ, when someone first heard it, making really horrid noises like something in pain n then a sort of hissing growling thing, we turned off the music got out the torches n started looking around it was on the dam bank, this property used to be full of old mine shafts but had gradullay been filled in over the years, the cat seemed to jus disapear almost shrinking into the dark and it was gone. We saw the black one a few times after that on the same property. The brown one, We only seen it the one time, slightly smaller then the black but still huge. This one was spotted on the other side of the road in another mate's property (as the town was so small not even a pub or general store everyone knew everyone) this is the same property the black one chased the kangaroo's into. The bloke who owned the property we saw the brown cat in used to make euky oil so my dad used to help him put it in the boilers and make it i was friends with this bloke's son's so i was always there with dad to. The night we saw it was the night before easter sunday as i recall. we had our swags all rolled out around the fire except for the two boys they were in a little tent, i was laying down listening to the talk n looking up at the stars once again we heard the noise the same as we heard the black one making, this cat was louder though but it was much closer it was at the edge of the boiler tank which was around 9 metres from the fire and us, it looking at us as though it was sizing us all up. My dads mate's ute was parked rite next to us his mate leaned over to the ute opened the door and got the shotgun out from beside the seat, as with these story's and us seeing these big cats he always kept the shotgun near by incase he had to defend himself,us or his children. he shot as the big cat (this bloke was an excellent shot) but the cat was to quick it leapted away in the blink of an eye my dad and his mate put all us kids in the ute, and went looking for it taking the hand help spotlight but they didnt have a chance of finding it out in the whipstick. Thats the only time i have sighted the brown cat but the black one if have seen a few times where i lived as did most others who lived in the area. people reported seeing these cats around epsom and huntly to which were about half and hour from where i lived in neilborough, and bendigo which was a big mining area. we found many of big foot prints we cant explain also my uncle who was camped at the cockatoo resevoir which is about 12 kms from the places we seen these cats my uncle also seen a black one on the bank of the dam, it jus stood there and stared at him for ages him and his father in law seen it they both said they have never seen anything like it in their lives.

i just though id put my 2 cents in on where iv seen these big cats and i hope someday soon we can prove the people wrong who refuse to believe these cat's exist as some unlucky person may one day soon end up taking the place of a kangaroo or sheep.

cheers Sharni B.....

Author / Witness - Sharni B - Reported 27/10/06

20061025 - Dartmoor (Vic) Sighting 11/01/2004 around 2:00 am (Reported 25/10/06)

Hi Paul, Just came across your site after putting together a bit of a photo-book together on me and my mate's journey from Perth to Melbourne in 2004.

Our second last leg of the journey included driving from Ceduna to Mt Gamber. However, when we got to Gambier we thought we could go on a little further so we did until we saw the sign to Dartmoor. We drove up the main drag and parked right outside the local store (where the soldier's statues are).

IN the middle of the night (laying down across the front and back of the car sleeping) we awoke to hear what sounded like a deep-toned throaty cat not very happy with my black Saab. Purring and moaning about something. I heard footsteps around the car which confirmed my fears that something was outside. Quietly confident it was a homegrown tabby, I was about to lift up my face outside the window which was pitch black with night anyhow.

Our fears were realised, and we froze with fear, when this animal (whatever it was) started banging into the car. Now it could've been anything, but when tabbycats hit the car, the car isn't meant to move. You could feel the suspension of the car moving with every hit.

I nearly died of a heart-attack! (and I'm young and healthy!)

I turned the car on without moving above the window pane, put it into Drive and jumped up and drove off not seeing anything in the darkness.

Dat's my story and I'm sticking to it!!!!

Thanks - Michael B

Author / Witness - Michael B - Reported 27/10/06

20060925 - Flowerdale (Vic) Sighting 20 October 2006 (Reported 20/10/06)

Paul

Well I just found your site after coming in the door and logging on. I just rang my girlfriend about 10 mins ago to tell her what I just saw. I live in flowerdale and was coming home from my girlfriends place in reservoir. It was about 40 minutes ago {midnight} whilst driving along with my high beams and driving lights on, that I saw what looked to (be) big, black and pounce across the road up ahead.....it was in the area just before the climb up the mountain. My face froze as I thought to myself, gee that looked and ran like a CAT....but it was huge...its back would have been as high as my kitchen table, easy. I felt scared at the time, it has certainly freaked me out. I have (been) doing this run at midnight, for 2 years now and seen all sorts of animals, even large deer....but nothing has had a pouncing/running style like this. It was all black and was extremely fast, even though it wasnt running flatout......Im sold. I dont need proof thanks. I just got it. Peter.

Author / Witness - Peter - Reported 20/10/06

20060925 - Tarnagulla (Vic) Sighting February 1992 (Reported 25/09/06)

Paul

Myself and 3 other fellows were visiting a local Tarnagulla sports masseur in February 1992.

Driving back to Bendigo about 5 km out of Tarnagulla, approx, 10.00pm we spotted the Panther on the side of the road.

The mate driving chased the Panther into the bush. It appeared to be momentarily stunned by the headlights of the car and boxed in to some thick scrub a mere 10 foot from the front of the car.

It snarled, darted from side to side then bolted through the bush.

Happy to share.

Regards Bill B..........

Author / Witness - Bill - Reported 25/09/06

20060722 - Karana Downs (QLD) Sighting week commencing 17/07/06 - (Reported 26/07/06)

Hi Paul,

I live at Karana Downs. The property is located right on the Brisbane River. During the week beginning Monday 17 July ( can't remember which day ) I walked out of the back door of our house, along the rear path towards our garden shed. As I approached the shed there was a hell of a noise in the shrubbery & leaf litter behind the shed & I saw a large jet black animal of cat like appearence rush very fast across the end of the path & disappear into the shrubbery in my neighbours place. Even though I saw only it's hindquarters & tail, there is no doubt in my mind that it was a very large cat with a long tail, thick legs & jet black in colour.

The following day, I was a passenger in my wife's car as she reversed out of a carport at the front of the house. I looked across the river ; there was a large jet black cat crossing the headland of the cultivation on the other side of the river. My wife moved her car to get a better view of the animal & there is no doubt in my mind it was definately a very large cat.

I have seen many large ferals over the years but not one that was as large as this & jet black in colour. It disappeared into the lantana & other undergrowth. I have not seen it since. Unfortunately, I had no time to get either a camera or binoculars.

My initial enquiry was with the Queensland Museum. It was greeted with skepticism & derision. My daughter alerted me to your website. Your comments would be appreciated.

Regards, Allan

Author / Witness - Allan - Reported 26/07/06

20060722 - Maroota (NSW) Sighting 22/07/06 - (Reported 22/07/06)

At 3.50pm (22/7/06) our 3 horses and two sheep returned to their night paddock early - they normally come up closer to feed time at 4.20 or later, even have to be caught to get them in. The old mare was galloping around the yard and neighing non-stop for about 5 minutes - we thought maybe the colt was annoying her, but she normally just gives him a quick bite or boot and no fuss, so we were surprised at her odd behaviour.

We were on the back veranday h about 130 metres away and had visitors, so left them alone. At about 4.30-40pm, we went to feed the horses and put on their blankets again. While I was putting on the colts blanket in his yard, Bruce went down to shut the gate to the back paddocks and check for any trees brought down on the track with the rain over the past few days. He was halfway down the hill towards the gully when he saw something moving at right angles to him about 12-15 metres in front- at first he thought a kangaroo, but then he saw it - a big black cat like animal. As soon as it became aware of him it took off and crashed through the bush into the gully - but became silent as soon as it was out of sight.

It was much bigger than our dogs (Dalmatians) and had a long thickish tail about a 1/3 of its lenth, with its head held out forward (not up or right down) and at the height of its back. It ran with a level topline on all fours, not like a kangaroo. My husband comes from Africa and has seen leopards and lions and cheetahs in the wild at close quarters, and he is convinced it was a cat of at least 75cm shoulder height and body length about 120cm long, tail another 60cm long approx. the head was away and never turned to face him, so he did not see its frontal head shape, eyes or ear shape, but it moved like a surprised cat, not a Kangaroo or dog. However, the tail seemed a little thicker than he expected - again, not like a kangaroo though.

We back on to Maroota State Forest - it is all bush and wild gullies behind our property. We found some fresh tracks with four toes and claws in some sand about where Bruce saw the animal - not sure what sort of footprints they are, or even if the same animal made them , simply that they were made today after the rain and by an animal in a hurry,as the claw marks were indented

Author / Witness - Margaret and Bruce - Reported 22/07/06

20060708 - The Grampians (Vic) Sighting Mid & Late 2005- (Reported 08/07/06)

Hi Paul

I have lived in the grampians region all my life and became quite interested in the stories that used to fly around about the pumas, so used to go out hiking looking for caves with friends and always had an eye peeled for anything else that I saw which was nothing for many years. That is until Iventured a bit more off the beaten track!

Now bear in mind this all happened the winter before the fires swept thru the gramps so I dont know how lively it would be up there now, but my partner and i had just climbed up n around some of the arses ears mountian rang when we came across a whole heap roo prints and broken bushes, what followed the roo prints were extremly large cat like prints. There had obviously been a chase.The claw holes that were left behind were square shaped at the top and about an inch wide but I was unable to reach the bottom of the hole with my finger to judge how deep it was. We also found a tree that had 1 side of the base kind of disturbed and a really strong scent of animal wee coming from it. It was rank! But that was only the first one!

This time it was closer to Xmas and really hot. If you were to enter the asses ears from the Henty highway via the Glenisla crossing and follow that road till u come to a T intersectionand look straight up you would see where the mountian range kind of overlap each othe and make what looks to be a hollow, that's were we were hoping to head this day. It was very open for the first few hundred metres then slowly the srub changed to crappy tall green weedy plants that was preety thick and over our heads we pushed through this for a while, then it started thining out again, this is about when we started seeing depressions in the dirt, like a cat makes but heaps bigger. We know this was not from pis as the person Iwas with is origionaly from Swanhill and has spent a lot of time hunting pigs on foot so knows thier hibbits. Then just as we were about to reach the base of the mount. There was a big crunch in front of us and my walking partner saw a big black mass and Ia black tail curved up which made us come to the conclusion that it was a panther not pumas but this thing jumped from side to side about 10 metres infront of us clearing about 4m every jump!

WE shit, seriously! My walking partner asked if I wanted to keep going, definatly no, but started to wonder how were we supposed to get back to the car without getting eaten so back to back and talking loudly we started walking back the way we came all the while this thing followed us from about 20m away, we couldn't see it but the bushes were steadily moving and u could c it was following our exact path, and we could hear it! There was a dull thump from its footsteps so it must have been heavy, there was a noise kind of like a horse makes when its really spooked but it was very, very quiet, and at times a low rumbeling all this continued till we got back to where the scrub started to thin out.

Worthwhile going for a look but dont go on ur own take a couple of people and I reccomend taking a couple of guns just in case! Ow and just in case ur wondering, im not a townie thats been spooked by a roo Ispend a lot of time out there but this was something different, and the Woortook genral store might be worth a look I've heard they've got a stuffed panther that they found at the back of thier property.

Author / Witness - Christine J - Reported 08/07/06

20060428 - Harold's Cross ACT Region Sighting 0730 hrs 28/04/06 - (Reported 28/04/06)

Paul,

I'm not sure if this is still your area of interest (I visited a web-page and your email details came up):

I'm interested to know if there have been any 'Puma' sightings in the Harold's Cross / Rossi / Captain's Flat / Ballalaba / Wyanbene region of the Southern Tablelands in NSW. The reason? I had a close encounter of the 'Big Black Cat' kind this morning at 0730h, travelling through the Pine forest plantation at Harold's Cross, on my way to Canberra for work.

I know and can easily recognise most Australian fauna - the animal in question leaped in front of my 4wd as I entered a short bend in the road. I was travelling at about 60kmh; the 'animal' was jet black, fur covered, just under 1m high (going from its relative height to the Bull-Bar of my Discovery), spanned the length of my bonnet from head to hindquarters, had an extended 'thick' tail almost as long as its body and a sizeable head. It was definitely NOT a wallaby / kangaroo /fox / dog / pig or anything like that which I usually encounter travelling the back-roads to and from canberra each day. This animal was also easily three times the length, height and breadth of any 'feral' domestic cat I have ever encountered. The sun was not in my eyes and there were no shadows cast on the road to deceive me.

Just as we crossed paths, and I thought I couldn't believe what I'd seen, the animal's tail hit my Bull-Bar / Bonnet with a solid 'thud'. I immediately stopped and got out of my vehicle to investigate, but alas found no sign of either an injured animal nor any tracks on the gravel road surface. This animal had managed to leap across the roadway, in one bound, in front of my vehicle and escape relatively unscathed whilst I was also travelling at reasonable speed.

All this was a bit unsettling, as I tried to rationalise what I had seen, against what I could give credit to; and of course what my sense of reason told me would be believed were I to tell any-one of this encounter! Any enlightenment or info you can provide would be appreciated.

Author / Witness - Anon - Reported 28/04/06

20060330 - Well this Proves that there ARE Big Cats (Reported 30/03/06)

Paul

When I tell people there are big cats In Australia I am often laughed at, however, I have heard stories from people who work with Australian wildlife everyday who are convinced they saw a panther.

I do not know weather to believe if these cats are "panthers" a lot of evidence points to this indeed, and when I look at some of the photos they really do look like Panthers.

I really think that it is possible, that in the many remote regions of Australian there are panthers (or pumas) the remote country explains the lack of sightings and evidence.

However, even if there aren't Panthers or Puma's roaming the outback, there are big cats in Australia.

Just look at the photo I have attached-this domestic cat currently holds the world record for largest cat in the world-he is huge! If a domestic cat can get to such a size, I am convinced Feral cats could do the same. This would explain for a lot of sightings.

Current record for the World's Largest Cat

As we know, Australia has a huge feral cat problem. I have seen photos of these cats, as well as stuffed one