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By Eamonn Duff
Big Cats Not a Tall Tale
Witnesses credible, existence
likey, says official 'panther 'report.
A STATE Government inquiry has found it is "more likely than not" a colony of "big cats" is roaming Sydney's outskirts and beyond.
The revelations are the result of a fresh four-month investigation into the "black panther phenomenon" which for years has plagued residents across Sydney's west, north-west, Richmond, the Blue Mountains' and Lithgow.
While National Parks and Wildlife officials are yet to implement a positive course of action, a senior source confirmed last night a big cat expert had been contacted with a view to future work.
He said: " While we still haven't got conclusive evidence that the creature exists, compiled evidence points strongly to the fact that it does."
The source added: "If and when an expert is commissioned, the first aim would be to identify exactly what sort of animal it is. The second would be to ascertain how many there might be."
Although big cat sightings across NSW date back more than 100 years, speculation intensified in May 2001 when a successful Freedom of Information request revealed the NSW Government had been maintaining a secret file on the creature.
It also revealed wildlife hierarchy were so concerned, about the potential threat to humans that they commissioned big cat expert Dr Johannes Bauer to evaluate what 'had previously been deemed unthinkable. He concluded: "Difficult as it seems to accept, the most likely explanation of the evidence. . .is the presence of a large feline predator."
While conclusive proof has failed to materialise since, sightings have continued to flow in from bushwalkers, tourists and local residents, including a NSW police officer and a Qantas pilot.
When Kenthurst teenager Luke Walker suffered deep cuts in March this year and said they were the result of a terrifying struggle with a panther-like cat, the NSW Government reopened the case.
The latest report, compiled by NSW Agriculture and obtained exclusively by The Sun-Herald, included a review of sightings and extensive interviews with residents of Grose Vale, where the creature has frequently been sighted.
It found that recent witnesses to big cat activity in NSW were highly credible.
Also taken into consideration was a previous report by Dr Keith Hart, district veterinarian of the Moss Vale Rural Lands Protection Board, who, after testing scat samples, concluded a large cat was living in the GroseVale area.
The report said: "Nothing found in this review conclusively proves the presence of free-ranging exotic large cats in NSW, but this cannot be discounted and seems more likely than not on available evidence."
One theory the report refused to dismiss was that "historically, sightings in Eastern Australia occur on old gold mining areas and that anecdotal evidence suggests pumas [Felis concolor] were brought to Australia by American goldminers in the 1850's.
The report added: "These animals may have subsequently escaped or were released, causing numerous sightings over many years."
Even as the Government was preparing to go public with its latest findings, a Central Coast family approached NSW Agriculture last month with claims that a huge blackcat was "openly roaming" their newly purchased Mudgee weekend holiday home.
Speaking to The Sun-Herald, Chris, who refused to reveal her surname through fear of would-be hunters overrunning her property, said: "We've watched it stalk wallabies, we've seen it sitting high up in a tree. It roams around like a huge family dog that thinks it owns the place."
She added: "There is absolutely no disputing what it is. The kids are terrified and, to be perfectly honest, so are we!'
The
Sunday Herald 2/11/2003
By
Eamonn Duff