the panther sightings in australia

78

By salt

My panther experience

I'd heard the rumour, we all had, that there were large feral panthers in the Australian countryside or outback. Thinking about them, I wondered if they were just feral cats that had strayed and grown as they had lived in the wild.

I got to see one. I didnt really think it was a story worth sharing, but I did see one. It was bigger than a kelpie and a real feline.

I had a boyfriend who lived on a farm in the North East of Western Australia. He and his friend were at football training and I was sitting in bed with the 2 farm dogs curled up on the bed next to me. They were called Bony and Clyde. Clyde was a big happy blue healer and Bonnie, a small strong Kelpie. Bonny was a bit jealous of me at times, but we got on OK.

Anyway, they were on the bed. They werent supposed to be. They suddenly went racing out and out through the screen door. I heard the farm cat making a noise and the dogs came screaming back in and onto the bed. The cat was still making a noise.

I went outside, the dogs with me and we looked up into an old eucalypt tree and there was the farm cat, fighting with something. The dogs were next to me and dogs dont climb trees. Something suddenly fell. I thought it was the farm cat. It landed upside down in the wheelbarrow and stood up and ran away. It really was a big black cat AND the farm tabby had beaten it. Or maybe it had decided to go with a humans presence, but the farm cat was all in one piece

I told the others when they came home and it wasnt such a big deal. But I do know, from personal experience there are cats there of that size.

It is said that these cats came with the American military in the 1940's to 1950's. They were said to be mascots for the Americans.

There is a film clip on youtube, that I will link to this page that was discussed recently by the ABC about a large cat being seen in Apollo Bay in Victoria. It does look a bit like a kelpie running, .. yet when you see it really stride, it looks like a big cat.  I know what I saw in outback Australia. This maybe one too.

Have a look and decide for yourself.


Leopard or Panther?

From a little reading, it may well be that these cats are leopards not panthers. The panthers are said to still have the prints of a panther, yet in darker tones, whilst the leopards are a different animal all together, with shades of blue, grey and black. The panthers may be part of a normal litter, just darker, whilst the leopards are definitively dark in their natural coating.


Is it a panther?

  • panther
  • leopard
  • something else
See results without voting
The Black Panther
Amazon Price: $13.08
List Price: $25.00
Seize the Time: The Story of the Black Panther Party and Huey P. Newton
Amazon Price: $12.93
List Price: $18.95
The Black Panther Party: Service to the People Programs
Amazon Price: $13.63
List Price: $21.95
The Black Panther Black Communities' Economics Handbook.
Amazon Price: $2.99

Comments

Dolores Monet profile image

Dolores Monet Level 7 Commenter 2 years ago

I love stories of big cat sightings or sightings of any animal that is unexpected. My son saw some kind of weird creature out in the country one night. It sounded like a small bear, but there are no bears around here and haven't been for ages and ages. But, you never know!

horsecrazyheidi profile image

horsecrazyheidi 2 years ago

You live were I have always dreamed of Visiting I so want to some day go to the out back and see the wild brumbys. Thanks to the movie Man from snowy river nice hub also. we have big cats here also but if you ask Fish and Game they say there arn't any

Faybe Bay profile image

Faybe Bay Level 1 Commenter 2 years ago

I must say shaky video played with my eyes. I went full screen and thought I saw a shade of brown underneath like a doberman pinser. You're big cat sighting however I am sure was a big cat, possibly a panther. I saw two big cats, the size of dogs actually, that were eighteen years old, the owners told me. I have never seen domestic cats that big again, but they seemed to think it was normal.

salt profile image

salt Hub Author 2 years ago

I agree, the video is shaky - and I suppose that is what makes it interesting. And yes, I did really see a big cat and it did land upside down in the wheel barrow before running away from a farm cat in the tree. It was bigger than a kelpie and both dogs ran inside yelping after they had first gone outside to see what was upsetting the farm cat.

johny 2 years ago

Oh comon, get real, the small photo shows nothing but something like a cat, you need to improve your photo and make it bigger, and the video footage is rubbish, could be a house cat, you need better evidence than that, you people should join the bigfoot club, they have the same sort of crappy evidence and that hoax Bigfoot really doesnt exist, however big cats especially the cougar are definitely in Australia, western australia as well as on the east coast inland, I know people have seen them around Bathurst and Orange while on fishing trips, and a friend saw a tan colour one walking across her property on dusk with 3 cubs following the mother, this is not surprising as farmers were shooting them nearly 100 years ago, so they are probably native to Australia or were bought out 150 years ago by Americans, It took the Americans 2 to 3 hundred years to discover the existance and proof that these cats roamed North America, so little wonder they can't find evidence by sending a small team out from the goverment departments, also there was a video getting around on you tube showing some chinese Tourists all excited filming the old railway museum and stumbled by mistake while filming a big cat as clear as day it was without any mistake a Spotted Leopard, walking past them, the evidence was so clear it was a wonder the video wasnt used to prove the fact they exist in Australia, funny the video has since vanished,and the only ones that get any tv play are crappy versions like this one that shows nothing, [the only ones who believe its a panther are the people who just want to believe it without proper evidence because it fills there life with some form of excitement!!!] also the black cougars or Leopards have been seen in victoria around the dandenongs, a friend saw one walk through a property and couldnt believe there eyes, they thought it was an urban myth, but there it was as confident as anything strolling out of the bush with its tale wriggling behind it, then disappeared into the thicket just on the otherside of the clearing, and they said it definitly was a leopard, Just thought I would let you know,the only people that will experiance them are those that stumble on them by accident like the rangers, but the creature usually disapears before they can even think of a photograph, and rangers dont carry cameras, and if they did they probaly wouldnt be quick enough, as time goes on though as the cat population gets bigger then you'll probably see some real evidence, However due to all these Earthquacks were getting they want to be quick as time for this old system is running out! Regards.

salt profile image

salt Hub Author 2 years ago

I didnt say the video footage was real or not real, just what someone put up there and its up to you..I know what I saw jump or fall out of a tree and it was pretty amazing.. the farm moggy beat a big black cat in a tree fight.

These panthers apparently appeared in Australia in the 1950s when the US military lost a couple of mascots.

shauno 2 years ago

was driving from melbourne to echuca nearly 10 to this day with my girlfriend at the time and we saw a big black on the side of the road. coming out of kilmore we noticed a large animal on the side of the road eating what we think was roadkill, as we got closer it turned and looked at us and we both freaked. it had the scariest eyes and was the size of a big labrador and black as all black. we got within 10 20 metres and it ran to the other side of the road and dissapeared. we pulled over as quick as possible to look but the animal was gone. we know what we saw and it was no ordinary house or stray cat. it still sends a shiver down my neck thinking about it.

salt profile image

salt Hub Author 2 years ago

theres people who have written a book on this topic who emailed me. I will add their website address to this site.

Naomi 6 weeks ago

It looks like a dark coated fox

Jim 12 days ago

Watch the YouTube video "Big Cats in Australia - Mystery Black Panthers." It's a composite of two clips from the news show "Today Tonight." If you freeze several of the frames and look carefully at the faces of these creatures, you will readily discern that they are not faces of big cats; rather, they are more dog-like in appearance as reported in a number of sightings dating back to 1866. The evidence is clear and unambiguous, in my humble opinion. Cryptozoologist Rex Gilroy is right. These animals are native to Australia and are most probably a type of carnivorous marsupial.

salt profile image

salt Hub Author 8 days ago

I can understand what you say regarding the video clip, it is ambiguous. I am sure of what I saw the night the 2 farm dogs ran inside whilst the moggy farm cat took ownership of the eucalypt branch it was on. I did see a large cat, larger than a kelpie fall into the wheelbarrow and then run away. I was stunned.

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