Hi Darren . In 1971 I was working at the Wollongong branch of the Sydney Water Board (MWS&DB) and we were surveying the high water mark for the Tallawa Dam which was built on the Junction of the Shoslhaven and Kangaroo Valley Rivers. We drove in and out each day on the gravel track that lead down to the western junction of the rivers. On 3 different occasions late in the afternoons we sighted a very large black cat that was definitely the size of a panther. The first time it leapped out of the bush to the middle of the track and in one enormous stride went over the higher bank. Both 2nd & 3rd times it stood still in our highbeam for enough time to prove it was what we thought. A PANTHER
those rumors are apearing everywhere around the world.....and when seeing the works of people in South America working for years to rewild yaguars which where born in captivity and those who try to do it with lions, tigers and leopards in africa and asia., even our rewilding of lynx in europe needs to be feeded for some time, till it is fit for nature....than find a way to not having to much human contact, or rewild them far from human settlements to avoid that those animals come to close to humans for begging for food or not to kill easy prey like cattles and sheeps,,,,,than i think u will see how hard it is to find such an animal in those countries alive ;) and yessss, domestic cats are millions, and some of them do that school, staying close to humans and its youngsters get more and more feral and wild and able to survive.....but not so easy ;) and yes...sometimes we find a escaped lion from zoo or circus...exhausted and close to human settlements...survived for some weeks and week....
I grew up in Kangaroo Valley where there were sheep and cattle being slashed up, I hunt the table lands and have also been down in around the bush near nerriga and have seen odd shit. A mate of mine has seen a sheep carcass up a tree near nerriga. There's something out there for sure. Especially with the old stories about the navy, private zoos and even a circus train derailment in Bundanoon.
Notice how that guy said " Im not comfortable being in the otways without a firearm because theres animals in there that shouldn't be in there " that should tell you everything you need to know about whats out there in the Australian bush! Look at the size of the puncture marks on the neck of that calf !
About 1981, just before I joined the Australian Army, I was helping to clear a paddock of some huge tall trees and mallyroots down somewhere near Mandurah or Manjimup or something. We got down there and the car was covered in thick dust. Next morning - all over the car and all around the house and right out into the paddock - were some huge cat prints. Massive - think of the biggest man you know and get him to spread his hands as wide as he possibly can ... now add about a third of that width again. Definitely a big cat. You can tell cat prints (plus - dogs don't usually climb over Landrover roofs). I never saw the animal and guessed it must have been an escaped (or released) lion or tiger. I wouldn't want to claim any more than that, or try to be mysterious. But, what I've said is dinkum.
@@spearsinspines Yeah, I'm guessing these were not mountain lion tracks. Much bigger and different continent (although we're not meant to have any big cats in Australia 🤔)
Hi Darren, Back in 1991 I was on my way from SA to NSW when I broke down on the Sturt Hwy between Balranald and Hay, near the Maude turn off. While sitting in my vehicle waiting for a part to arrive from Hay, it was about 4-5 pm when I looked out of my open window across the road (to the south) and noticed a large shiny black cat about 50 metres away from me. I didn't give it much thought as I figured the bush that it was next to was about knee high and it was half the height of the bush. Figured it was either a cat from a local farm or a feral. I hissed at the cat to get its attention and it turned its head to look at me for a few moments with its yellow eyes. I returned to my reading for a while but my mind started to wander back to that cat. All the wild cats in SA that I saw were feral with very scruffy grey-brown-reddish coats. I looked again out of the window, however the cat was nowhere to be seen. It was February and about 45 degrees C outside. Thinking that I might take a closer look at where I'd seen it. Cautiously I opened my door and looked under my vehicle while still inside because my vehicle offered the only shade for a long way around me. I then crossed the road and scurried down the embankment as the surrounding land was lower than the road. Walked up to where the cat had been and it was only then that I realized that the bush was much larger than I had estimated, it was nearly chest heigh. This was no feral, nor was it a domestic kitty and the paw prints in the sandy soil were larger than any dog prints that I had ever seen. It wasn't until many years later that I saw a doco about Black Leopards in the Grampians that I realized what it was that I saw.
i had a mate that lived out the back of wandin Vic he had a feral cat that would visit him he would leave food for it it stood ove a mt tall at shoulder paws where as big as a bread and butter plate its fur was shiny as it ate well it was a tan color looked black in twilight
@@ruffnut743 I'm originally from the Yarra Valley , and my mate used to hunt rabbits in the 80's and 90's and he swore he spotted a black panther several times in Warburton !! It was widely reported and common knowledge amongst residents of Warburton over many decades ( it was thought a circus had let it go in the area !) and the black panther was even spotted on the golf course !!
@@juliecook6057 there's still no confirmed proof of a panther no DNA has ever been found a large feral cat on dusk looks black. Panthers only live for around 17yrs so how it can be sighted for decades is, Amazing . Then a panther is to big to mate with a domestic turned feral cat naturally.Then the damage done to the skeletons found can easy be explained away most damage is from eagles. Feral cats grow fairly big but not big enough to naturally breed with panthers. What was seen around Warburton ,Wandin , Millgrove , Reefton was a feral cats even up past cumberland junction and beyond to Big River Camp then the other way to Lake Mountain an Marysville big feral cats have been seen. Hunters have been shooting deer around that area for, 40 + yrs that i know of possibly longer but a panther has never been shot hunters were hunting there well before spotlight hunting was made illegal still no panthers shot. Then on top of all that you need 3 Panthers to have a breeding population of panthers as inbreeding causes lots of problems like low sperm count in males and other problems that will kill them of slowly over the years. So unless there was at least 3 or 4 to start with its scientifically impossible for panthers to be in there for as you say decades. P/S i still live in the yarra valley have done for 50yrs have a house at Eildon in the bush part have never seen a panther in the 30yrs i have owned it have seen a fair few big feral cats one carrying a rabbit There's more chance of a megalodon living in Port Phillip bay than a panther living Around the Yarra Valley Check out the problems the Florida zoo had with inbreeding and thats in a controlled encloserin the wild theu would die off quicker
@@ruffnut743 a friend showed me the carcass of a feral he thought was a Panther he shot in monbulk Vic it was the size of a kelpie. He said even know was a feral cat he had seen on a few occasions a bigger one which he assumed was a black Panther it had also killed a few goats. Have a look in the mountains dandy ranges as at night they don’t have and thing or one bothering them
Years ago I was living in Rockingham WA, and I was driving down Kwinana beach road when a huge fox ran across the road. Red colouring, bushy tail, fox ears and fox head. It was unbelievable how bloody big this thing was, bigger than my ex partners family bull mastiff. From that night on, I never let my dog out by himself.
Bookmarking this to come and watch tonight. I saw one in the 90's... probably 94-95 in Gippsland up near Jerralang.Big black cat... well it was big to me- I'd put it around the size of a cattle dog.
those rumors are apearing everywhere around the world.....and when seeing the works of people in South America working for years to rewild yaguars which where born in captivity and those who try to do it with lions, tigers and leopards in africa and asia., even our rewilding of lynx in europe needs to be feeded for some time, till it is fit for nature....than find a way to not having to much human contact, or rewild them far from human settlements to avoid that those animals come to close to humans for begging for food or not to kill easy prey like cattles and sheeps,,,,,than i think u will see how hard it is to find such an animal in those countries alive ;) and yessss, domestic cats are millions, and some of them do that school, staying close to humans and its youngsters get more and more feral and wild and able to survive.....but not so easy ;) and yes...sometimes we find a escaped lion from zoo or circus...exhausted and close to human settlements...survived for some weeks and week like butter....
I'm 65 located in Central West NSW. In all my years outdoor, flyfishing etc I have only twice seen possible signs of a big cat & I'm going back some years, too long ago to give dates now. The 1st was fly fishing on Farmers Arm Lake Lyle. I had walked up around the edge of the water from Sir Thomas Mitchell Dr, past some very steep slopes to a spot where I could cast and fish, The water was a bit low , so I was below and eroded bank, but could see over that, across a clearing with a shallow gully running through it down from the ridge above. Anyway I had fished a while with the occasional enquiry to keep me there. It was getting later & I started contemplating whether to move on upstream or call it a day as there were ducks gathering to roost for the night on an exposed shore with thick vegetation behind it up at the next bend. Anyway, I happened to glace around & spotter a large black animal enter the top of the clearing just below the ridge & tree line, behind & upstream of me. It kind of flowed down the lowest line of the gully in a crouched run, head down & back line flat. Obviously using the terrain for cover. It was fast & the gully took its path diagonally more towards the ducks. As it neared them, it came up out of the gully & straight into the thick vegetation just behind where they were gathering to roost. The thing that really got my attention was that it plunged into that this undergrowth without single duck noticing anything. Absolutely silent & unseen. Well, I ducked down behind the eroded bank and made my way back to my car, keeping behind cover & searching behind repeatedly. I don't know what that animal was, it was too far away to be sure, but it was a large ambush predator, heavier & more powerful than me. I have never been back in the the years since then. The other time, I was walking towards Wallerawang along the service track between Lidsdale Forest & the railway line. It had rained heavily the week before, but the dirt track was reasonably firm now. There were 2 areas where I found large animal tracks, as wide as the distance across the base of my figures, not including the knuckles (about 8cm). The tracks were deep obviously made earlier in the week when the track when softer. The paw had 4 widely spaces toes, no claw marks and a wide heel pad. The whole print was slightly wider than it was long some were a little smaller & symmetrical while others larger & noticeably skewed. I did not note the stride spacing at the time other than it was a lot. When I got home & looked up prints online, they seemed most like cat prints, only I recall more skew than shown suggested. Perhaps the animal was turning on the softened service track. I'm not expert at this sort of thing, but I did try to take careful note at the time. Sorry, I can't give you dates now, it was years ago. I have mentioned these incidents online a few times over the years though. In all my years fishing around the area, local dams at night etc, these are the only 2 incidents I have had that suggest the possible presence of big cats. I mentioned this to a hunter I know & he just took it for granted these were big cats.
My brother has seen one twice in the Lake Mundi forest, near the SA/Vic border. The first time was at night while out spotlighting with a couple of mates. Their ute had broken down so they were walking with a spotlight when they saw it, sitting in the fork of a tree with a sheep carcass. They were armed but didn't think their 22's would be powerful enough so they left the area quickly. Second time was during the day, driving through the same area when a huge black cat crossed the track ahead.
those rumors are apearing everywhere around the world.....and when seeing the works of people in South America working for years to rewild yaguars which where born in captivity and those who try to do it with lions, tigers and leopards in africa and asia., even our rewilding of lynx in europe needs to be feeded for some time, till it is fit for nature....than find a way to not having to much human contact, or rewild them far from human settlements to avoid that those animals come to close to humans for begging for food or not to kill easy prey like cattles and sheeps,,,,,than i think u will see how hard it is to find such an animal in those countries alive ;) and yessss, domestic cats are millions, and some of them do that school, staying close to humans and its youngsters get more and more feral and wild and able to survive.....but not so easy ;) and yes...sometimes we find a escaped lion from zoo or circus...exhausted and close to human settlements...survived for some weeks and week....
I have seen a large 70kg+ panther sitting on a rock in the blue mountains. My wife looked at me and i looked at her and we both said wow what a beautiful big black girl. Like she was keeping lookout for her cubs. Just beautiful and stunning. More intelligent than us in their territory by far. We aren't the owner's of the bush, the big cats are...
Back in 1977, around March, Dad and I spent a few days cutting Box Logs to manufacturing fence posts for the farm. We needed 95 posts if I remember correctly to complete a section of fencing to divide one paddock to two paddocks. About midday, we took off for lunch and headed for home. After about 45 mins after lunch we returned to the site where we had spent the morning. A pile of dry bark amongst the damp Beech Forest bush, (Otway's SW Victoria) a pile of saw dust and the swing saw awaiting to be started to continue the manufacture of the posts from timber logs. As we arrived, my Labrador, piled out of the rear of the old landrover and headed off in haste. There was a Black Cat. Just smaller that our Lab, about the size of a Queensland Blue Heeler, Black shiny coat and big eyes. It watched us for no more that 3 secs, lowered to the ground and took off. Both dad and I couldn't believe our eyes and began to call Sandy back as he had already made to forrest line and disappeared. Sandy lost sight of the cat, and returned a few mins later. Dad decided to head home to grab a rifle and returned. Big Black Cats in the Otway's indeed did exist in 1977.
Growing up in Melbourne we camped every school holidays past Mansfield out the Howqua valley. In the late 70’s my brother and his friend were riding motor bikes back from shipyard flats and the dirt road forks off and then joins up again. My brother went one side his mate the other side. My brother saw the rear end and a long black panther tail as it ran from him on the road. His mate came out and was as white as a sheet. The black panther had showed itself to him as it ran across the dirt track. Looked at hi and he stopped his bike, it went into the bush and he rode past as quick as he could. In the 80’s I was travelling the highway up to Mansfield from Melbourne late at night as I left after work to go up. Between Merton and Yark towns I needed the toilet so I pulled off the road at a wayside stop. My headlights caught site of a huge, what I thought was a yellow Labrador sitting with its back to me. It than turned its head to look at me, it was a big cat, it wasn’t scared of me I just got the look, it than just turned it’s head back, like it was concentrating on something. I lost my desire to go to the toilet and drove on. My brother bought a property up the hill from where we used to camp out the Howqua valley. He noticed around their house trees had been ripped down the trunk. Then one day they had bushfires around and he went for a walk down his road to see where the smoke was. As he was walking back home he seen the cougar, tan coloured, it looked old and likely flushed out with the fires. He was going to get his shot gun but said it wouldn’t be enough to kill it and he didn’t want a wounded big cat around his house. They had to evacuate because of fires and he thinks it might have been burned as he never saw it again. They are out there. I know I have seen one. The cattlemen huts up in the highlands you are told to always close the doors, do not leave them open. There has been hikers who walked into an open hut and came face to face with the black panther. I have since moved to Qld and my brother has passed away. But I know the big cats are there.
Keep going mate, keep persisting. My father saw one on his way to work in Collie WA 30 years ago. Since than we have seen animals with their necks eaten out, an extremely clean kill in the same area so i believe they are around.
those rumors are apearing everywhere around the world.....and when seeing the works of people in South America working for years to rewild yaguars which where born in captivity and those who try to do it with lions, tigers and leopards in africa and asia., even our rewilding of lynx in europe needs to be feeded for some time, till it is fit for nature....than find a way to not having to much human contact, or rewild them far from human settlements to avoid that those animals come to close to humans for begging for food or not to kill easy prey like cattles and sheeps,,,,,than i think u will see how hard it is to find such an animal in those countries alive ;) and yessss, domestic cats are millions, and some of them do that school, staying close to humans and its youngsters get more and more feral and wild and able to survive.....but not so easy ;) and yes...sometimes we find a escaped lion from zoo or circus...exhausted and close to human settlements...survived for some weeks and week....
Back in 1983 North east Victoria in a cleared pine forest l got a really really good look at a panther as it stood still in stride crossing the road until it realised l had seen it and jumped up the 5m embankment in a single bound my dog tried to run after it but fell back down the steep embankment. Description was like so many others body size and shape a cross between Doberman and Labrador with long neck and rather small head and jet black with the tail as long as the body. I've since seen pet leopards in England that are exactly the same as the panther l saw. Maybe hundreds of years of taking panthers from India and bringing their pets to Australia hundreds of years ago. When I lived in North East Victoria for four years I would be in the bush most nights after work hunting or fishing. I only saw one panther for a few seconds. Your not going to find them
those rumors are apearing everywhere around the world.....and when seeing the works of people in South America working for years to rewild yaguars which where born in captivity and those who try to do it with lions, tigers and leopards in africa and asia., even our rewilding of lynx in europe needs to be feeded for some time, till it is fit for nature....than find a way to not having to much human contact, or rewild them far from human settlements to avoid that those animals come to close to humans for begging for food or not to kill easy prey like cattles and sheeps,,,,,than i think u will see how hard it is to find such an animal in those countries alive ;) and yessss, domestic cats are millions, and some of them do that school, staying close to humans and its youngsters get more and more feral and wild and able to survive.....but not so easy ;) and yes...sometimes we find a escaped lion from zoo or circus...exhausted and close to human settlements...survived for some weeks and week....
In outback North Queensland in the mid 1970s while looking for pigs early in the morning , I saw a large black panther type cat with a long tail and jet black. The cat was at the edge of a billabong with a duck in its mouth. When it saw me the big cat clean jumped the billabong and disappeared into the bush. I will never forget that day. Well at least I can honestly say that YES they do exist.
I’m in suburban Western Australia . I’ve been out with my brother and in the early hours of the morning with our Bows stalking pigs in the bush,about 1 hour south of Perth. And have come across scratchings about 2.5 meters up the trunk of a few trees and my brother had come across kills which have been pulled up trees with huge teeth marks to the back of the head and neck. My grand parents told us that in the years around the Second World War the American solders had come over with mascots for there platoons which were American wild cats usually puma. Which were released when they left or got free some how .
We definitely have the large black panthers in the Southern United States. Panthera onca Jaguars originally came from North America and then migrated to Central and South America. I opened my back door one night and saw one of these beautiful creatures laying upright in the grass. It had large green eyes and was looking right at me like it recognized me. It was laying by a deer trail waiting. They are so elusive, one seldom sees them and many deny their existence. Very beautiful and big.
I grew up in the blue mountains NSW and I got pretty close to a black cat, around 5 metres from it as I came around a corner in the bush area north of lithgow, a little bigger than a Rottweiler. Same discription jet black, yellow eyes, head was about the size of a large German Rottweiler. But definitely a cat. Looked at me for a few seconds as I startled it and then it turned and jumped into the bush and couldn’t find it after that this was around the year 2005 or 2006
those rumors are apearing everywhere around the world.....and when seeing the works of people in South America working for years to rewild yaguars which where born in captivity and those who try to do it with lions, tigers and leopards in africa and asia., even our rewilding of lynx in europe needs to be feeded for some time, till it is fit for nature....than find a way to not having to much human contact, or rewild them far from human settlements to avoid that those animals come to close to humans for begging for food or not to kill easy prey like cattles and sheeps,,,,,than i think u will see how hard it is to find such an animal in those countries alive ;) and yessss, domestic cats are millions, and some of them do that school, staying close to humans and its youngsters get more and more feral and wild and able to survive.....but not so easy ;) and yes...sometimes we find a escaped lion from zoo or circus...exhausted and close to human settlements...survived for some weeks and week....
Hi, my name is Fourie Ferreira from South Africa. The best bait to lure larger cats out is blue cheese. Get a trap cage and put the blue cheese inside. The cat does not eat the cheese, but rubs against it. It has the same effect as Cat Nip. The farmers have great success with the "Rooikat" in South Africa. Good Luck!
Another interesting little fact. Nothing to do with cats, but where I’m from in Australia, we use little cubes of cheese for bait when fishing. Not because the fish eat the cheese, but because it lures in the shrimp, which obviously attracts the fish…
Thanks for this..an interest of mine. I live in old warburton victoria in forest. Many locals have experience. I have 3 sightings myself..2 right near my house. One was at less than 2
I'm from Wesburn / Warburton and my friend swears that he spotted a black panther up in Warburton and Powelltown and surrounding areas etc many times when he was hunting for rabbits !! This was in the late 80's and 90's !! Luv the Yarra Valley !! 👍❤️
back in the 80s one of my friends was out shooting rabbits out near Moonanbel in Victoria and came face to face with a black panther as he came to the top of a small ridge. The panther stared intensely at him for a few seconds and then turned and walked fast back down the other side of the ridge. Funny thing is he had a 12 gauge shotgun in his hand but was so startled by the panther that he didn't think to shoot.
@@krimlefou7879 My father was going to help his boss build his new house at Lang Lang I decided to go with him. The property had a dam down the hill from it cleared land to it but surrounded by bush. Scrap nails and timber with 4 10 gallon steel drums would make a great raft for the dam I thought @ 10. I dragged all the pieces to it down the hill borrowed a hammer , I was set to go. About an hour in I started feeling like I was being watched so I stopped several times and surveyed the tall grass in front of the bush. I spotted a dark figure in the light brown meter high grass at the bushes edge, it kept changing shape but stayed within the same area. I picked up an approximately 8 ft length of 4x2 timber and headed up to confront what I thought was a wombat or boar. I got to the edge of the grass peaked over keeping the 4x2in front of me, my eyes saw WTF my body went into shock and froze, there it was less than 10 feet in front of me moving to my left slinking back further into the bush. It was low down and snarling with its tail in the air hooked at the end, it turned its head stopped looked at me then growled, I noticed the muscular body first then the large front k9. It flicked its tail side to side and disappeared into the bush. I was still frozen to the spot with the piece of 4x2 in front of me. I slowly started to get my composure back, backing up keeping the 4x2 in front of me and scanning the bush and grass praying and hoping there was no others. I slowly backed up the hill, when I heard one of the workmen at the house I dropped the 4x2 and sprinted to this guy nailing sheeting up. He was up a ladder he looked down at me and said, you alright you look like you just seen a ghost. I couldn’t speak I just wanted to be inside this building surrounded by workers and that’s where I sat until my dad had had enough. Looking back I truly believe that the piece of 4x2 saved me that day and it was eyeing me off. The panther was bigger than my neighbours Rottweiler and musculiar thick set with one very large fang as I only saw it when it stopped for a sec and turned. I am a veteran, I joined the navy and will not go into the bush by myself, I will go with others while I carry a big stick and stay on edge the whole time. I know what I saw, they are there.
I have spent 30 years walking the Howitt high plains in Victoria's high country.11 years ago I was walking the Howitt road just on dusk , I heard crashing through the bush about 50-80 meters in front of me . A deer broke out from the trees and leapt across the road smashing back into the bush on the other side . A slit second later a large black animal the size of a puma , which I have seen in Bourke Street mall in 1984 , bought in by a circus . I am totally convinced what I saw in the high plains was definitely a black puma . Identical to the circus one I saw .. There here they have plenty to eat and are stealthy a near silent . Our borders where so porous early last century with little policing of animals sold into our country.
During the lockdown i would often go bike riding around my rural area mulgoa, near penrith and the blue mountains. I would ride up the hill near the various mountain lookouts, and one day i left my bike and went exploring through the bush area at sundown to explore a path to nortons basin, the path was heavily bush filled and was like a rainforest from another country, to my left the whole way was a big gorge drop off filled with all plantation. Once i had gone to the basin which was a fairly long walk through half cleared bush track, it was almost fully dark now and my dad was trying to call me to come home, but i had no reception out in the bush. I was walking up through the bush already pretty on edge because of how dark it was and i was in the middle of the bush. As i was walking up the bush path a big black cat like creature leaped right in front of me from the slight bush hill next to me, and it was about a metre in front of me. It leaped in front of me full bolt out of nowhere and then leaped into the gorge to my left that wouldve been a couple metres deep into bush infested areas. It was the size of a black leopard or of an animal like a goat, but from its body stretched and the fact that there wouldnt be goats out there my first thought was the lithgow panther because the thing scared the shit out of me. After it jumped down to the gorge it rustled for a bit until i didnt take notice because i legged it as fast as i could through the bush over all the fallen tree branches and stuff. I eventually got back to the road and have wondered ever since what animal that couldve been to come that fast and leap in front of me, that is that size living in the bush like that, i havent thought of other animals it couldve been that would live in that bush area because its not a very animal dense area like that.
I lived for a number of years near Mulgoa. There was a 'zoo' midway between Penrith and Mulgoa that at one time had big cats but was closed down I believe. Also at some point they had lions that escaped and injured some local dogs. Would not surprise me in the slightest if there were big cats in the area.
Good work fellas, keep it up. I've done quite a bit of feral cat work in NZ and can say that the use of a pair of thermal binoculars / scope (pulsar or similar) will make your job a lot easier and more efficient. Wishing you all the best of luck :)
Interesting they have a big black cat and there's been reports of similar in the south island! Also didn't know that moose were introduced into nz back in the day. All quite fascinating
@@lish6026 A person shot one a couple of years ago, another pest control operator with good knowledge of what common feral cats look like. It was a young one (he'd seen the mother? recently just prior too at night). Newspaper published a photo, quite impressive proof, although the head wasn't clear (seemed a good shot, sensitivities & all that). Until some scientist tracked the carcass down and got a well documented sample & got DNA analysis. Feral cat, standard species, OS size (it weighed 11kg). And it's safe enough to assume the other one reported seen was either not another one, or more of these very big ferals are sneaking about. A very notable specimen, but only (trophy size) cat.
My wife and I saw a Kelpie sized black cat in South West Victoria while driving down a bush track at Mount Richmond. It wasn't moving quickly in front of us along the track, and trotted along in front for around 15 or 20 seconds, so I got time to get a good look at its features as it weaved a bit allowing me to see its outline from a few angles. It didn't have a dished face like a panther or any of the big cats, but had a flattish face like a domestic cat, and also had a short tail rather than long. To me it simply looked like a huge domestic cat, way larger than the largest feral cat I have seen.
My mate when he was a young boy witnessed this exact same animal at the back of his property at Dingley Dell near Port MacDonnell about 100 km west of Mount Richmond...
i mean domestic and feral cats look exactly the same mate. They are house cats. Only difference is feral cats here are way fatter than domestic cats because they are constantly hunting and eating all our wildlife. So, from experience what you saw was a feral cat and you should've run over thing without a second thought as they breed like rabbits. And also hearing about how big it was? Like mate that thing has killed thousands of our native wildlife. Should've been your first thought. Yeah its a kitty but after hunting em and seeing inside their stomachs they aren't no kitty. They are a killing machine
@@creatineforthesoul6495 I have seen tons of feral cats in my time, but this one was just so much taller. Not just wider. At first glance you would swear it was a panther like cat. I believe there may be some kind of hybrid feral cat out there, or some kind of genetically different animal. The closest pic online I could find was a cat photographed in Casterton, but the one I saw was much taller
@@lindamclean8809 Yeah nah I'm not talking about threats Linda. Feral cats are destroying the Australian wildlife. We have between 6 and 7 million feral cats here. And they have contributed to more than 20 extinctions. Even though we were trying to save em the cats were dropping the numbers down faster than we were adding. That isn't a threat Linda its more than that
They are common in far North Queensland around the iron range area. Also around the gulf of carpenteria and I’ve even seen one on the Atherton tableland at tarzali.
those rumors are apearing everywhere around the world.....and when seeing the works of people in South America working for years to rewild yaguars which where born in captivity and those who try to do it with lions, tigers and leopards in africa and asia., even our rewilding of lynx in europe needs to be feeded for some time, till it is fit for nature....than find a way to not having to much human contact, or rewild them far from human settlements to avoid that those animals come to close to humans for begging for food or not to kill easy prey like cattles and sheeps,,,,,than i think u will see how hard it is to find such an animal in those countries alive ;) and yessss, domestic cats are millions, and some of them do that school, staying close to humans and its youngsters get more and more feral and wild and able to survive.....but not so easy ;) and yes...sometimes we find a escaped lion from zoo or circus...exhausted and close to human settlements...survived for some weeks and week....
@@emilwestgaardhenriksen1715 "No, there's no doubt that's a big cat call. No doubt!". Damn, you must have pumas in Sweden. Sweden, famous for bringing us the pacemaker, the flatscreen, meatballs and now pumas! What a great country.
I lived in Lancefield Victoria. In the 1980s, a farmer living in the Tooborac area west of Mount William, which is near Lancefield, was checking his stock at night. He had what he believed, a panther jump at his vehicle. There was another sighting by a resident at the back of Lancefield, a black cat walking through grass. He personally told me, it was as big as a german shepherd with a long tail. Further south a few years later, another sighting near Riddells Creek. The story is that live panther mascots of USA forces in Victoria, let the panther/s loose before returning to the States.
A few days ago I was riding my mountain bike in Gnangara pine plantation, WA just after sundown and saw a strange silhouette, the next morning I found what was identical to a puma foot print in the same spot
While spraying noxious weeds for Vic Parks around the Omeo-Mt Hotham area ten or so years ago,we were told by two high up vic parks officers that big cats in Australia was the main reason the government won't ban using 10-80 baits.
Back in the early 70's, I worked on a cattle station near Katherine in the N.T. One day, just before dust I was on my way back to the stock camp many miles from any civilization in any direction. I saw what appeared to be a black panther looking cat. It was too big to be a feral cat, and it had a long tail. I reported the sighting, but everyone thought I was either seeing things, or just mistakingly saw a big feral cat. I'm wondering if there are more than one, and they travel great distances.
They can travel great distances. As do some other predators. But highly likely a vary large cat. One was shot in NZ, convincing photo, but proven cat by DNA (the DNA was got before the carcass could be destroyed). An 11kg cat, a beauty, and mistaken by an apparently experienced pro hunter. Like thylacines, it doesn't add up usually, particularly the breeding populations enthusiasts often encounter. A liberation is a faint possibility, but it would have a hard time escaping the doggers etc. notice.
Yes they can travel but there is no way one is travelling the entire border of Australia. There would have to be breeding populations. They don't live for a very long time either considering sightings go back a hundred years or so. Feral cats have been shot here and elsewhere that are well over double the size of the average domestic cat and there are plenty of jet black ones too. It is possible they're here but we will never know without a capture, kill or very good photos or film most likely.
This is beyond interesting, especially since I've seen a large jet black creature that was about half a metre tall at the shoulder and 2 metres long including its long tail bounding across the track I was riding along, it was silent it's leaps were large, I didn't get a look at its face but it certainly moved like a cat. I was located in the bush inland from Newcastle about a year ago, where in the documentary they said they had found one of those animal scats.
I was working in the hawkesbury, west of Sydney one day. I do gardening work and was on a client's large bush property. I was doing the hedges when suddenly I heard a loud alert bark. The property has two dogs which will alert to any strange things around the property, mostly by sight. As I do, having adhd I quickly turned to scan my surroundings trying to see what was being barked at incase it was something interesting. When I turned and scanned I seen a black figure standing in the middle of the parking area, a stocky body with short muscular legs, a relatively small head with pricked ears on top, a thick long tail and to my horror; glowing orange eyes. It stood about 50cm tall and was staring right at me, the sun shining on it. I quickly thought "that's a big f-ing cat" and before I could romanticise about finding Penriths missing panther, it moved, turning it's head away from me and taking a small step. As soon as this happened I knew that I had just seen the clients dog; Kodi, he's a Kelpie x black Lab.
I was camping in the Victorian Ranges a couple of years ago and the whole time I felt like I was being watched, I love anything bigfoot so I was taking pics of the tree breaks and X's around the camp-site..I noticed what looked like a den to the left of me and wanted to have a closer look but I had the urge to run..As I kept walking I noticed another den only 30 feet front the first one I'd seen..I'd taken enough pics for the day and really had the heeby geebies after that and didn't wanna check out more tree breaks and what not..Anyway amongst my pics I found one that had a pure black face with huge yellow eyes staring back at me, i would never had expected to find anything like that in any of my pics..I'm hoping I've still got the photo of it and the one I took of the den, if I knew the area over that way I could let you know the exact camping spot..Anyway I thought I'd share that with you and if you need anymore details of the exact area just not sure of what the off road was called, I can send you what I know and hopefully send the pics when I find them..Cheers..
@@faythorpe8919 Bigfoot ?? 🤔 Just so you know they are called " Yowies " here in Australia !! A truck driver friend of mine had two close calls ( at separate times driving long haul interstate !) with a Yowie and was absolutely terrified !!
@@faythorpe8919 Ha ha...yeah I can understand !! When you talk to Yanks a lot one naturally just uses THEIR lingo , especially as an Aussie they CANNOT understand us if OUR posts are TOO... Australian !! 😉😂😂❤️🇦🇺👍🐨😎
Fantastic theories. I believe in your elusive cat. So many witness sightings all the same. Simply there is no reason it can’t be there. Hope your future hunts are promising.
Yallourn north Gippsland Victoria I seen one about two metres away from me, everybody pretends they believe me but I'm sure they think I'm stupid but know what I seen 100 percent a black panther and I've always wanted to go back there to prove it. Check it out across the road from power station on old road 🙀
Here in the UK there are big cat sightings, which I’m a bit sceptical of as we are a small, cold, wet, densely populated island. It seems much more feasible in a country as large and remote as Australia which has a climate far more appealing to big cats.
Habitat & food all k in UK for leopards, they readily live in cities. & can keep out of sight of most people. But not camera traps, and they make an infernal nuisance of themselves because they love dogs for dinner, and people get sensitive about that. So steps to find the culprit would be taken. And they advertise their territory by marking, and so DNA is available. One doesn't supply the entire turd sample & wash it to see what has been eaten (that's diet study), those deposits have DNA that is shed readily from the depositors alimentary canal. That's what you test. Cat hairs in a turd incidentally would not prove it's a cat turd, as a leopard would happily eat a cat, hair & all.
The Uk is around 20 to 35 degrees hot in the summer for 6 or 7 months. It usually doesn’t get colder than minus 5 degrees. It has the perfect environment for predators to thrive in the wild, and lots of deer
@@jancyvargheese5351 Since normal leopards, pumas & tigers happily live from the Himalayas/Rockies to deserts as an example, climate isn't a limiting factor in GB or Australia. Prey might be locally, but these species, particularly leopards, have wide range of prey so that too is an unlikely restriction. The scepticism is due to little or no sound evidence, and most photos etc clearly cats. And for leopards, their love of dogs frog dinner will draw attention to them, they would be killing pets & be seen. Plus good trail camera or scat DNA, both easily obtained and conclusive. So are territorial marking. The possibility of stray liberations is finite, but a breeding population would be detected. There are techniques for detecting them even without sightings etc if any convincing areas need better searching: like thylacine reports, none are worth following up. Misinformation and speculative interpretations prevail..
about ten years ago we left Melbourne for our northern Australia trip first night we camped outside of Bendigo in the old gold diggings we left early morning slowly drove up over a rise i saw a very big light brown cat it was huge it took of like a rocket the main thing i remember is the powerful chest muscles and it ran with its head held high il never forget it
4 of us saw a black Panther ? Just out of Jindabyne around 1985. It was about 50m away, in the spotlight right on the tree line in the open, clear as day. All the firearms were still bagged and it disappeared into the trees before a round could be chambered. I know what it was, we all did, one of the local boys said " say nothing" everyone will think we're nuts. I wanted to hoof it and try and get a shot in but got the fear when I considered how big it was and how it seemed to almost glide away and melt into the bush. It was a scary critter, German Shepherd size, black, not a kitty cat but a movie type black predatory feline, Panther, Puma, you decide, I saw it.
those rumors are apearing everywhere around the world.....and when seeing the works of people in South America working for years to rewild yaguars which where born in captivity and those who try to do it with lions, tigers and leopards in africa and asia., even our rewilding of lynx in europe needs to be feeded for some time, till it is fit for nature....than find a way to not having to much human contact, or rewild them far from human settlements to avoid that those animals come to close to humans for begging for food or not to kill easy prey like cattles and sheeps,,,,,than i think u will see how hard it is to find such an animal in those countries alive ;) and yessss, domestic cats are millions, and some of them do that school, staying close to humans and its youngsters get more and more feral and wild and able to survive.....but not so easy ;) and yes...sometimes we find a escaped lion from zoo or circus...exhausted and close to human settlements...survived for some weeks and week....
I can tell you for a true fact , in Manjimup Western Australia me and my girlfriend lived on a farm , we watched as a giant black cat with a long tail ripped down and kill a fully grown sheep , thank god we were in the car at the time , I’ll never forget it as long as I live .
I seen one in collie with 2 mates in 2004 from 3 metres away my mates pitbull chased it, the collie couger as we call it jumped into a tree to escape then into the river swam across the other side and disappeared. Was bigger than my mates pitbull easily
Williams, Western Australia around 2003 one night I was sitting in an empty grain bin about a kilometer from the house, I was playing guitar inside of it when I heard a scream that sounded like it was just outside, I stopped playing and listened, it screamed at me again, I was freaking out a bit and just sat there while this thing kept screaming like a high pitch growl, a really strange sound, almost like a young child screaming and it was certainly very close, after a few minutes I quickly climbed to the top and it stopped but I couldn't see anything as there was no moon & I only had a lighter with me, now I'm left with a dilemma, stay here where I'm safe or run back to the house. I always thought I didn't scare easily until this night, not sure how long I sat up there until I built up the courage to run back to the house but I can tell you I ran for my life and I just had a feeling something was watching me the whole way, I was paranoid AF. As I was approaching the house & only had one more paddock fence to jump, I could see my mates were sitting on the front porch with the floodlights on, I leapt near the fence post and heard something behind me, I couldn't see it but knew it was there so run like a mofo upto my mates and started to tell them what I heard when this massive black cat come running from our left to almost directly infront of us in a big curve following the driveway for around 50 meters then jumped a fence but it leapt about 3 meters before the fence and cleared it by about the same distance, it was a quiet night so we heard the paws hitting the gravel as it run. The area was lit up by the floodlights, all three of us saw it, big black, shiny, muscular, long tail cat that looked like a long black panther, moving at a speed we could hardly comprehend.
I have seen two panthers ‘first one hunting in the bush in the hills in Burringbar in about 2004 and second one crossing highway ‘late at night in same vicinity’ near Crabbs creek northen nsw in about 2011 ‘ seven years later ‘ swear ‘ truth to the universe
Get urine from a female leopard/mountain lion in heat from a zoo/captive reeding program and use this to tempt any big cats (males) in the area to seek out a potential mate. Food is apparently readily available, but having happy time with a female should draw in a mate. Salt the area with food and set the whole near water and see if your luck changes. I have used fox urine to attract other male foxes toa
those rumors are apearing everywhere around the world.....and when seeing the works of people in South America working for years to rewild yaguars which where born in captivity and those who try to do it with lions, tigers and leopards in africa and asia., even our rewilding of lynx in europe needs to be feeded for some time, till it is fit for nature....than find a way to not having to much human contact, or rewild them far from human settlements to avoid that those animals come to close to humans for begging for food or not to kill easy prey like cattles and sheeps,,,,,than i think u will see how hard it is to find such an animal in those countries alive ;) and yessss, domestic cats are millions, and some of them do that school, staying close to humans and its youngsters get more and more feral and wild and able to survive.....but not so easy ;) and yes...sometimes we find a escaped lion from zoo or circus...exhausted and close to human settlements...survived for some weeks and week....
I’ve personally seen one between Leithbridge and Bannockburn Vic It was on side the highway in the grass. It was night and I see n the e yes than as my headlights pass it. I had a good view as I also slowed down under the speed limit. Many other locals had seen it. A group of friends come across it out bush and fired a shoot at it and ran back to the farm house with faces of pure white.
He also mentioned that they were living in the Johanisberg soccer stadium for years undetected, practically living in the middle of a city but never scene.
@@sgtcaco IIRC that all came about when some group decided since they couldn't drive around and see any they must be going extinct and got a world wide ban on importing their skins . I live in rural NM after a rancher friend of mine read Death in The Long Grass he didn't like to go out after dark on less he was armed
I am a hunter, trapper in Canada, If you set up camera traps along a river or creek and there are fallen logs along the banks or partially crossing the water, that would be a great spot for camera traps and hang your bait 10 feet up and dangle it from a branch to keep other predators away from your bait, a big cat can still take your bait, just a suggestion fella's, great video and best of luck to you!
Escape from a zoo❔reports could be a hoax,unusual to see because there not native to this country,there must be an explanation for it,but please show us the proof first 😺
@@Jackgritty28 while I'll agree that some reports are hoaxes, it wouldn't be unheard of for such big cat species to be able to live in the environment around southern area of Australia. as species of foxes, rabbits, hares and deer are known to thrive there as well, how they got there is a question though. escaped/released from a zoo is a possibility. as there have been cases of zoo staff not reporting escapes, because they didn't want an investigation or simply because they made a mistake. and though they could get the animal or animals under control before hand, and there have been cases where staff haven't even known there was an escape at all. then you have the animal "right" activists...they have made attempts to release zoo animals, and on a number of occasions have managed to do so before getting caught. escaped/released from private ownership. it's not really a thing these days, but in the past there were quite a few owners of big cats in Australia. these range from tigers, panthers, leopards, black leopards, cougars and such. it wouldn't be surprising if a few escaped or were release by owners in the past. escaped/released from military service.(yes I know it sounds silly) this one comes more so from my grandfather, but he has said in the past during WW2 and the Korean and Vietnamese war. there were military units that had big cats as unit mascots, and some may have escaped or had been released after said conflicts into Australia by Australian units or by American units stationed here. escaped/released from smugglers. while I think this is the lease likely, it's still a possibility. one thing I find puzzling though. is while there are a lot of sightings down in the southern Australia area NSW, VIC and such, there does seem to be too few sightings up into Queensland. most of which seems centered around the Brisbane area, but beyond there...nothing, why?? is it because of the environment, food, climate or something else.
There's been plenty of big cat sightings nowdays up and down the east coast of Australia. When i lived in Gippsland Victoria a friend of mine saw a big black cat on a 4wd trail crossing the trail when he was out bushwalking years ago. He got a good look at it about 50 yards away from him and he told me he near sht himself. I asked him if it could have been just a large feral domestic cat and he said domestic feral cats arent as wide as the 4wd track ! So it must have been huge with a big long tail. I believe they are out there as theres been too many sightings for all of them to be bs.
@@johnmead8437 yeah well its people like you that is the reason why a lot of people that actually see these big cats dont come forward in fear of being mocked. Thats ok,we dont need people with narrow minded attitudes like you in the feild shitting on good people that have seen big cats.
@@johnmead8437 I agree,theres has been no dna ,no paw prints,no claws,no fur,no skeletons,no photos,-not even blurry trail cam pics.Big cats like that would need good water sources.
@@Amatronix999 While never hunted them, reading information from those who did independently (without their hand being held by a guide) clearly shows if you know what to seek, they aren't that difficult to detect. Seeing is different, they are masters of concealment, and if not settled into a home range (possible for individuals) they may range over large 100's of kms, making location difficult. It's likely if the giveaway evidence was described here soon plenty of it would be "found" to attempt to fake credibility. Incidentally the possibility of these cats, thylacines and bigfoot seem finite, just. But most reports are clearly fake/delusional, intentionally or otherwise..
I was driving from Woodend to Melbourne on the Calder freeway with my dad, and around Gisborne I saw what I'm certain was a lynx standing in the opposite carriageway. This was around 1999-2000.
In winter of 1972 i was visiting Sydney and went to Bondi. I decided to walk along the cliff path on the South end and encountered a man walking a large black jaguar on a leash. I could hardly believe what I was seeing. It was huge and if it had wanted to get away , it easily could have. I have often wondered where it came from and how it was domesticated. Any one else know about this ?
I am very blessed to live in The Colac Otway shire. There have also been several recent sightings too. A couple of sightings there was photographic evidence. It’s so fascinating.
I had a foal completely shredded by what we firmly believe is a big cat at Dartmoor in Victoria. Newborn foal, mum none too pleased. Definitely not a dog, definitely not small cats, .... That mare was in a paddock with one other mare. They were not overly best buddies and spent lots of time away to each other. Other paddocks in our layout had large numbers of small/mini ponies who had a very 'touch my herd and die' type stallion and big colt with an 'I'll follow Herc and if he wants to slap something I will too' One had a herd of mares with attitude who would have anythings head off that looked sideways at fellow herd mates and their youngsters. The last paddock had my big stallion and a couple of mares and he would protect as well. There was a paw print that rivaled my entire hand size - I have 'man-sized hands' - workers' hands as my Grandfather called them. There were a number of us looking it over - older locals who had been in the area for years, and those of us who had experience with looking at animals who had taken down lambs, calves, miniature foals etc in the past, and I had spoken to and emailed the big cat folk photographs of the carcass which was very like the calf in how the neck was eaten out, and the skin was cleaned off so well, big areas of meat eaten first by the look of it, and had clearly had some smaller predators come along, but massive claws had been across the bones that did not look like eagle or raptor marks - Ive seen that plenty of times. I fully believe they are out there. It would be really good if the team looking for them were able to tranq dart them, gather info and chip/ear tag them so a close eye could be kept on numbers. When I lived in NSW and in Baerami Creek - two people who were with me in the car, no longer in my life but will swear to it as well, and again - we put our experience in to the Thylacine folk, we saw one run across the road in front of us. It freaked us out at first, but then excited us all greatly - seriously - how often do you get to SEE a member of an extinct species run across in front of you? When we reported it the next day, they said 'Oh yeh there is a colony on the other side of that mountain or within that range as the stud hands in the next valley have seen them 4 or 5 times now. ' Amazing. So far they havent managed to catch any though for checking them out.
Carl Pendergast saw one about 1985 along with Frank Ziblnick and Gregory Peters, sorry about my spelling guys, Jindabyne. Scary bloody things when you imagine the power they must have, I was scared seeing one from inside the car.
those rumors are apearing everywhere around the world.....and when seeing the works of people in South America working for years to rewild yaguars which where born in captivity and those who try to do it with lions, tigers and leopards in africa and asia., even our rewilding of lynx in europe needs to be feeded for some time, till it is fit for nature....than find a way to not having to much human contact, or rewild them far from human settlements to avoid that those animals come to close to humans for begging for food or not to kill easy prey like cattles and sheeps,,,,,than i think u will see how hard it is to find such an animal in those countries alive ;) and yessss, domestic cats are millions, and some of them do that school, staying close to humans and its youngsters get more and more feral and wild and able to survive.....but not so easy ;) and yes...sometimes we find a escaped lion from zoo or circus...exhausted and close to human settlements...survived for some weeks and week....
I was living in Alexandra in Victoria and used to ride up in the Black Range a lot on dirtbikes, i have seen one of these black cats up pretty close, tho i did not see tha whole cat what i saw was the rear end dissapearing into 3-4 foot bracken fern, i had been stopped for a drink in a clearing for around 5 minutes when i heard a sound behind me , iturned around to see the back end of what i call a black panther dissapearing into the bracken, mabee 8 foot or so from me the upperpart of the tail higher than the bracken and i would say the height of his back was around 2-2 1/2 feet high, totally black, i realised that it had been watching me without me knowing for how long i dont know, no growls nuthing just slinked back into the bracken, this was around 1987-88 Cheers
I can rember the Lithgow panther was with my brother and he said hey sis look at that on side of the mountain I couldn’t believe my eyes it was a black panther I’ll never for get it
For what reason would they hide a big cat when there are big cats all over the world? I've actually seen big cats. They really do exist. They've even been filmed in wild.
those rumors are apearing everywhere around the world.....and when seeing the works of people in South America working for years to rewild yaguars which where born in captivity and those who try to do it with lions, tigers and leopards in africa and asia., even our rewilding of lynx in europe needs to be feeded for some time, till it is fit for nature....than find a way to not having to much human contact, or rewild them far from human settlements to avoid that those animals come to close to humans for begging for food or not to kill easy prey like cattles and sheeps,,,,,than i think u will see how hard it is to find such an animal in those countries alive ;) and yessss, domestic cats are millions, and some of them do that school, staying close to humans and its youngsters get more and more feral and wild and able to survive.....but not so easy ;) and yes...sometimes we find a escaped lion from zoo or circus...exhausted and close to human settlements...survived for some weeks and week....
i like to share my personal experience of seeing what i truly believe was a dark coloured panther in the pine plantations in vic towards taralgon in vic about 25 years ago while riding a trail bike through the forest tracks and spotted it from a distance of about 100 yards .It quickly dissapeared into the forests .The previous night while were camping in the same area we heard what i believed was the mating calls of nothing i i have heard before but only on wildlife docos.of lepoards and panthers. Only those who have such a experience are true believers of the presence of these big cats.DONT GO OUT TO KILL THEM BUT RESPECT THAT THEY ARE ABOUT .
I used to go camping with mates in that area, I liked looking at the pine plantations because my Dad was the man who worked out how much wood-pulp APM needed for the paper mills in Fairfield, He worked at the research labs just near there and I always remember him telling us kids about it. I got the feeling it was important work to him, He also did research work for the power station, I remember him bringing some carp home from the cooling ponds and he put them in the bath for the w/end, we have relatives in Traralgon and nearby - they sawe some up at Hill End, farming land and well-known for sightings..
@@greyhound3561 Robert so your dad also had experienced sightings as well in that general area, as well.I know what I saw was not a feral cat and also the chilling sounds of what I consider were mating calls Thanks for sharing your experiences as well as your dads
The question I have is: Just how much 'secondary evidence' do you need to equate to so-called' 'primary evidence'? The system we have is one where certain people are designated 'real knowers' because they are 'scientists' (that is the etymology of the term, in fact) and nothing unusual or extraordinary can be generally credited until it gets the nod from a consensus of these people no matter how many other people have personally compelling experience of it. It isn't just big cats - it is also thylacines both in Tasmania and all over the mainland and other creatures as well. At the base, this is a problem in the philosophy of science - we credit the observational and rational powers of certain people much too much vis a vis those of sane, credible witnesses who lack only their specialised training. Even the odd scientist who has such a sighting isn't usually allowed to cut it because they generally have to contend with the trained scepticism of their peers. Ordinary people are not nearly as fallible and gullible as often alleged.
After seeing a big black cat 15yrs ago on my bush property in the mountains around moruya and read Panthers can pick up man's sent 5klms and are super stealth and are really ever seen
Second opinion is they are, plus fabricate things or are just pain ignorant. Not all, granted, and the intellectual snobbery of some scientists & official can contribute to good information being lost or ignored. But so much is in the yowie.bigfoot/thylacine/covid disinformation etc bucket the scientific attitude is understandable. The lack of good DNA & camera trap evidence is telling. These animals leave plenty behind, & the initial description hereof how a sample was handled and analysed shows why it was justifiably discredited, if it existed.
Science and therefore Scientists don't work in thw manner that you purport. They examine evidence, remove the impossible and report the possible - They have no desire to dismiss evidence out of hand, they cut the "wheat from the chaff" i.e. if a couple of lads with a carton under there belt report a big black cat,, then that would be the chaff, if an experienced field researcher reported the same, with physical or photographic evidence then that would be the wheat. Everything in between is treated as possible evidence until it can be investigated thoroughly and either proven, disproven, or sit somewhere in between.
Collie WA 2004 me and 2 mate's seen the collie couger as they say big black cat bigger than my mates pitbull. Jumped in the tree looked at us showed of its teeth and claws jumped in the river swam a few metres jumped up the bank and gone like a ghost.. mates pitbull was a hunting machine he couldnt track it... we all thought it was a big pig until it moved and jumped it was something we will never forget and too this day talk about it
@PoliticallyIncorrect Panda hahahaha, i agree. That gelli pub and the stories that get whispered in the bar. Wife and I both saw one at the same time, down towards birri, around 2008.
In 1984 driving up Wild Dog Road on just a narrow country road between Apollo Bay & Skenes Crk a Black Panther/Jaguar crossed in front of our car in broad daylight, 7 mts in front of us. It leaped up a 10 ft embankment, in almost one giant leap. Yep, 1000% there in the Ottways and even very close to the Great Ocean Rd.
When the American solders came to Australia during WW 2 each group ( battalion, what ever ) they brought mascots. Most of the mascots were big cats, it took months for these battalions to arrive at Richmond Air force Base, they camped on the Mulgoa Rd between Penrith and Mulgoa in N S W. It took those American soldiers two weeks to decamp once peace was declared. There was no evidence of the big wheeled cages that housed their mascots being loaded on the planes that took them home. In the 1960s circus style cages sat rotting in the fields where the American Army had their camp. So, where were/are the mascots and, don't forget the Lithgow tiger.
My parents were both born in Victoria. Never believed in the cats. In their 70s, had a big cat run across the road in front of them when traveling from Ballarat to Maryborough. Then Approx 2010, two of my friends saw one with cubs about to cross the road just outside of Avoca.
Yes, add Kalorama, Victoria to the list. Whilst travelling back to a Guesthouse, I believe I spotted a very large black cat, approximately 8 years ago. Crespucular as this gentleman suggests is right on the mark.
I live in the otways there’s no big cats in Australia I would of shot one! The reason they never find any evidence for these shows is because there is no cats to leave evidence! Just a bunch of drunks seeing things… no different to the tazzie tiger 🤣
I've seen the ABC twice. Once near emupark during bush clearing for an estate and once at Gympie riding in forestry. Both times there was a group of people and we all seen them. I've also found small goat skeletons wedged in trees about 6-7 meters up in the goomboorian forestry. Ain't no tabby cat going to drag a goat up a tree.
My wife and I seen one sitting on a rocky outcrop ledge in the hills in the forest out at the back of Wye River, it was watching up approach then jumped down off the ledge about 10 meters in front of us and took off into the undergrowth, it startled the hell out of us, this happened about 8 or 9 years ago 👍🏻🇦🇺
I and 6 others saw a black big cat around Flowerdale, Victoria 47 years ago. It was about 50 feet away , just looking at us and then disappeared in a couple of 2+ meter long leaps. Never seen a feral cat that was bigger than a big Labrador and could leap like that.
Yep, saw the big black puma like animal outside Emerald Victoria about 6 years ago. It was crossing a dirt road, I suspect to travel along a deep gully that runs beside the road. I had been driving slow on the windy, narrow road, I stopped the car, got out, confused about what I'd seen. It was so weird, seeing something that can't exist. Then I saw it again, it was only about 8 m away, moving slow. through the bush. At this point I understood what I was seeing, I took fright and got back in the car. A customer of mine that lives alongside a small nature reserve in the direction the animal came from said she has never seen any evidence of wildlife in the reserve. Another customer in the area said she watched the animal walk along her boundary fence near her house. She lives alone in the bush, she told me it frightened her so much she stayed indoors for 3 days.
We saw a big black cat run across the road from behind our van when we were in the Grampians VIC in 2019. We were heading East back to town, between Mt Difficult Rd & Glenelg River Rd about 4pm. I’ll never forget that. Later that year my uncle told me he had seen a black cat in the Grampians while riding his touring motorcycle through the same area. Hearing that kind of solidified that we had seen the same thing.
There was a brilliant photo capture of a black panther out at Lancelin WA not that long ago... clear photography relatively close absolutely beautiful creature
One time I went camping inland on the fortiscue river and I woke up before everyone else, I quietly made a coffee and and wondered off into the bush about 100m away for a poo. It was great, no flys, clean snap and only one wipe needed. Then as I got back to camp I noticed some movements, the boys were mixing breakfast rums it was a the perfect start to the day!
Wow! That sent chills up my spine, in that it closely parallels an experience I had on the Fortescue River about 18 months ago. The whole camp had been drinking the night before and I woke up with a gut ache, probably caused by the Jacks and 2 packets of Samboy’s I had the night before. I could sense a Code Brown. It was just on daybreak and I hurriedly made my way to a secluded spot to back one out. I got comfy and settled in for what I thought could be a lengthy ordeal. As I started to cut a cigar I noticed movement outside one of the tents. One of the girls was off for a pee. She squatted 10 metres away, not seeing me initially. I was about halfway through coiling out what felt like a yard of crap when she looked up and noticed me. I didn’t break eye contact as I continued to drop links. She took off - probably embarrassed, or she was downwind of me?? I wasn’t too well and this thing was darker than Kamahl and fairly ripe. Neither of us mentioned it at camp.
@@oggyoggy1299😂 that's the ticket mate, maintain eye contact while pinching off some sausage rolls to ensure they are acutely aware of your manly dominance 😂😂😂 pissa
Emmaville panther, Lithgow panther. When people have seen , animals up close, perhaps a grain of belief. Seek an independent assessor, maybe USA or Africa. Many years ago NE NSW, my hunting mate saw something following me. He was about 200mtrs away with binos but it never came into the light and I had then exited the bush into open paddock. Maybe they exist?,
The screaming animal recording at 9:30 was not a big cat, it was a fox (vixen). This is a sound that is very familiar to me here in the UK countryside.
There can be quite a bit of variation in vixen calls. Less so with dog foxes.. There are some big cat calls (Cougars) that bear an interesting resemblance to a Vixen but from experience I'm fairly sure your correct on this one being Mrs Fox..
Yes, it's a fox, I've heard that call 3 dozen times in my life, but to be honest, never knew it was a vixen's call. Just about every Aussie who has spent time in the bush has heard it, and far more often than me. If the bloke on the vid honestly doesn't know it's a fox call, then has he ever been in the bush at night...once?
We saw something just north of Moranbah (place called Red Hill), paw prints as big as my hand at a cocky gate; we were going through the cattle yards on this property about 3am, and we saw this black "thing" stalking through a dry culvert with a long tail. Still dont know what i saw
Faeces itself does not contain DNA as it’s chemically processed through digestion. BUT as the faeces passes through the system it can scrape some cells containing traces of DNA from the wall of the bowels. So the DNA from the doner can sometimes be swabbed from the surface of the faeces. It looks like your DNA result may be from contamination after the faeces has been deposited.
They are just domestic cats gone wild. I use to go shooting feral cats with my Pop back in the late 70,s and early 80,s at a rubbish tip at a place called Yelverton Hill half way between Busselton and Margaret River. As a 12 year old I remember holding the cats by the tail after we shot them and they were huge, as tall as me from tail to head when held by there tail the big ones were. But my Pop who was a real bushy said once they go wild and need to fend for themselves after a couple of generations of breeding they get very muscular and large, easily big enough to kill a calf or a sheep. They were very elusive and once you made a shot they would go to ground so you only got one decent shot usually.
3 of us saw a big black cat in Williams, WA 2003. It run right infront of our house under floodlights for about 50 meters, it was easily a meter and a half long and a head the size of a volleyball. We just couldn't fathom a feral cat ever being that size, this thing was huge, shiney and muscular, similar to what you described, it leapt over a paddock fence and covered about 6 meters in length with the one leap.
I live in nsw. Came home from school one arfternoon as the sun is going down. Pull down my driveway with headlights on. See two big black cats long tails yellow eyes. They took off up into the bush and that was that. Couldn’t believe our eyes.
When I was in my 20's I was on my Moto up the mountains from my house come screaming around this trail corner and sitting right in the middle of the trail was this gigantic cat. I slammed me brakes on, this massive cat just looked at me and leaped straight over at 7 foot scrub bush. My mate came behind me almost ran straight into me. He stopped and I said just fucking fang it man there is something in those bushes that just cleared that scrubb. The thing that stood out was how big it's tail was .. was freaky as shit but exciting at the same time.
Great doco! I’ve grown up with these stories and have no doubt that they’re around. Just curious as to where the unsolved missing persons in VIC bush land statistic comes from? I don’t doubt it for a second I just would like to know where to find this sort of info. Thanks
Hey 👋, Kevin from California, I have family lineage back to the 1860’s in Cattle Ranching , I’ve been in many things and throughout the Sierra Nevadas and any awesome places to chill and explore and work as we all do , I wanted to convey what I’ve experienced as others , The mountain lion or Cougar to the Florida Panther that’s coming back with the python problem spreading too ! Dam snakes ! Cougars at dark mainly in this example , Behind some dwelling with some light can LOOK BLACK ! I rejected this until it was proven to me , I worked in wildlife conservation too and May again , This is a fact as their hairs have a black or black tipped , They will come off as black , No doubt , We have some sighting of black panthers too , A lot of wild areas with diverse terrain , Even the desert type landscaped states in mg Jeep i ran around in my wild teen years to researching and saw a lot , We have the Jaguar once native making a comeback as game cams validate , A few different colors I believe , In Arizona many spotted as Calif near Mexico , Probably other areas they can be also , Most are stealthy night nocturnal hunters with exceptions , What I saw backpacking alone and had gone in with a moon up high to have three days of rocks clacked to something huge slowly and deliberately moving in a bipedal form , Then saw in a small stream down a ravine 60-70 yards , No doubt it was real and a creature called Bigfoot or many names every tribe had for them, Seen footage over in your Australian wilds of definite Yowie activity on thermal to signs , After seeing I was interested beyond the norm and educated myself to had more experiences and saw so many others too , Alpha males can be 10-14 ft tall ! And spider crawl in a way that’s so creepy ! Cold ales after that experience! It’s escalating in recent years , Also a wooo factor I have first hand experienced, The inter dimensional stuff isn’t bs !! I am having a hard time excepting but know it’s legit !! Sincerely , Kevin Standow .
A few years back we were spotlighting in Clunes coming around a corner there was a massive big black cat with a very long tail crossing the road it turned and looked at us bringing shivers down our spine as we drove past it l looked straight into its eyes, it then just walked into the bush
Oh dude, I live in Clunes and I ride my mtb at night a lot. I've felt that creepy feeling a few times around Creswick especially while riding in the bush at night.
The Leopard in africa/asia is amazingly stealthy and widespread across habitats, so no doubt it could hide/survive, and they would easily have been able to cross the land bridge from asia (only real way to spread across every state ). The black colour is a very reddish black, with obvious rosettes under the black under light, and is also a recessive gene that occurs 1 in 10 animals across leopard global range. To be honest, what makes me sceptical somewhat is that there seems no reports of standard leopards, as even melanistic leopards give birth to normal leopards. I think if it sighted as much as it is and as widespread then we would see normal spots (male ranges are big, but only big enough to patrol and mark regularly, and female territories are much smaller and overlap within male ranges 2-3 per male territory) Released population would be far more localised and water dependant ie: they won't spread fast if there is no territorial competition and adequate food water and female population, and this seems more in keeping with the VIC range, but it still doesn't explain the melanisitic element as te far more uncommon or the fact the are sighted in Northern Queenland. We have the same sightings in New Zealand in parts, and there is no way it could be here and not released due isolation for 80 million years. Am open to the idea, same as I am to primates Yowie/Jacks/Sasquatch. I'd expect aboriginal record if it was a true wild population not release.
One flaw with that information is lone animals of many species can act sort of nomadically, without others of their species they have nothing to defend against and a non-existent mate to find. Home ranges are fluid depending on resources and population it seems. One settled however, may species stick t theirs like glue. The NZ cat issue was recently highlighted by one being shot, by an "experienced" hunter (as they all are). Someone got hold of it and DNA'ed it for proof. It was an 11kg puddy tat, a trophy for sure, but not a leopard. More chance of one being liberated exists in Australia or Britain, but not established breeding populations. Their hunters would locate them.
Driving around in a truck with blazing lights you'll never find it. Try parking up and waiting in silence. For 2 or 3 month if you have to
Will spot us before we see them
You've never hunted cats in Australia then. Feral cats are NOT scared of you.
That’s was just a Ute mate, there was no kenworth or Mack in that paddock
Hi Darren . In 1971 I was working at the Wollongong branch of the Sydney Water Board (MWS&DB) and we were surveying the high water mark for the Tallawa Dam which was built on the Junction of the Shoslhaven and Kangaroo Valley Rivers. We drove in and out each day on the gravel track that lead down to the western junction of the rivers.
On 3 different occasions late in the afternoons we sighted a very large black cat that was definitely the size of a panther.
The first time it leapped out of the bush to the middle of the track and in one enormous stride went over the higher bank. Both 2nd & 3rd times it stood still in our highbeam for enough time to prove it was what we thought. A PANTHER
Extraordinary!
Wow!!!
those rumors are apearing everywhere around the world.....and when seeing the works of people in South America working for years to rewild yaguars which where born in captivity and those who try to do it with lions, tigers and leopards in africa and asia., even our rewilding of lynx in europe needs to be feeded for some time, till it is fit for nature....than find a way to not having to much human contact, or rewild them far from human settlements to avoid that those animals come to close to humans for begging for food or not to kill easy prey like cattles and sheeps,,,,,than i think u will see how hard it is to find such an animal in those countries alive ;) and yessss, domestic cats are millions, and some of them do that school, staying close to humans and its youngsters get more and more feral and wild and able to survive.....but not so easy ;) and yes...sometimes we find a escaped lion from zoo or circus...exhausted and close to human settlements...survived for some weeks and week....
I grew up in Kangaroo Valley where there were sheep and cattle being slashed up, I hunt the table lands and have also been down in around the bush near nerriga and have seen odd shit. A mate of mine has seen a sheep carcass up a tree near nerriga. There's something out there for sure. Especially with the old stories about the navy, private zoos and even a circus train derailment in Bundanoon.
Amazing!
Australia is mostly wilderness. There's no telling all what animals creatures, cryptids living there
Notice how that guy said " Im not comfortable being in the otways without a firearm because theres animals in there that shouldn't be in there " that should tell you everything you need to know about whats out there in the Australian bush! Look at the size of the puncture marks on the neck of that calf !
Yeah I know
Big bloody country out there
About 1981, just before I joined the Australian Army, I was helping to clear a paddock of some huge tall trees and mallyroots down somewhere near Mandurah or Manjimup or something. We got down there and the car was covered in thick dust. Next morning - all over the car and all around the house and right out into the paddock - were some huge cat prints. Massive - think of the biggest man you know and get him to spread his hands as wide as he possibly can ... now add about a third of that width again.
Definitely a big cat. You can tell cat prints (plus - dogs don't usually climb over Landrover roofs). I never saw the animal and guessed it must have been an escaped (or released) lion or tiger. I wouldn't want to claim any more than that, or try to be mysterious. But, what I've said is dinkum.
Ive seen many many mountain lion tracks, theyre usually about 3-4 inches wide
@@spearsinspines Yeah, I'm guessing these were not mountain lion tracks. Much bigger and different continent (although we're not meant to have any big cats in Australia 🤔)
@@DancesWithSpiders
We aren't "supposed" to have them in the uk, either!
Thank you so much for posting this to TH-cam.
Hi Darren,
Back in 1991 I was on my way from SA to NSW when I broke down on the Sturt Hwy between Balranald and Hay, near the Maude turn off. While sitting in my vehicle waiting for a part to arrive from Hay, it was about 4-5 pm when I looked out of my open window across the road (to the south) and noticed a large shiny black cat about 50 metres away from me. I didn't give it much thought as I figured the bush that it was next to was about knee high and it was half the height of the bush. Figured it was either a cat from a local farm or a feral. I hissed at the cat to get its attention and it turned its head to look at me for a few moments with its yellow eyes. I returned to my reading for a while but my mind started to wander back to that cat. All the wild cats in SA that I saw were feral with very scruffy grey-brown-reddish coats. I looked again out of the window, however the cat was nowhere to be seen. It was February and about 45 degrees C outside. Thinking that I might take a closer look at where I'd seen it. Cautiously I opened my door and looked under my vehicle while still inside because my vehicle offered the only shade for a long way around me. I then crossed the road and scurried down the embankment as the surrounding land was lower than the road. Walked up to where the cat had been and it was only then that I realized that the bush was much larger than I had estimated, it was nearly chest heigh. This was no feral, nor was it a domestic kitty and the paw prints in the sandy soil were larger than any dog prints that I had ever seen.
It wasn't until many years later that I saw a doco about Black Leopards in the Grampians that I realized what it was that I saw.
i had a mate that lived out the back of wandin Vic he had a feral cat that would visit him he would leave food for it it stood ove a mt tall at shoulder paws where as big as a bread and butter plate its fur was shiny as it ate well it was a tan color looked black in twilight
@@ruffnut743
I'm originally from the Yarra Valley , and my mate used to hunt rabbits in the 80's and 90's and he swore he spotted a black panther several times in Warburton !! It was widely reported and common knowledge amongst residents of Warburton over many decades ( it was thought a circus had let it go in the area !) and the black panther was even spotted on the golf course !!
@@juliecook6057 there's still no confirmed proof of a panther no DNA has ever been found a large feral cat on dusk looks black. Panthers only live for around 17yrs so how it can be sighted for decades is, Amazing . Then a panther is to big to mate with a domestic turned feral cat naturally.Then the damage done to the skeletons found can easy be explained away most damage is from eagles. Feral cats grow fairly big but not big enough to naturally breed with panthers. What was seen around Warburton ,Wandin , Millgrove , Reefton was a feral cats even up past cumberland junction and beyond to Big River Camp then the other way to Lake Mountain an Marysville big feral cats have been seen. Hunters have been shooting deer around that area for, 40 + yrs that i know of possibly longer but a panther has never been shot hunters were hunting there well before spotlight hunting was made illegal still no panthers shot. Then on top of all that you need 3 Panthers to have a breeding population of panthers as inbreeding causes lots of problems like low sperm count in males and other problems that will kill them of slowly over the years. So unless there was at least 3 or 4 to start with its scientifically impossible for panthers to be in there for as you say decades. P/S i still live in the yarra valley have done for 50yrs have a house at Eildon in the bush part have never seen a panther in the 30yrs i have owned it have seen a fair few big feral cats one carrying a rabbit There's more chance of a megalodon living in Port Phillip bay than a panther living Around the Yarra Valley Check out the problems the Florida zoo had with inbreeding and thats in a controlled encloserin the wild theu would die off quicker
@@ruffnut743 a friend showed me the carcass of a feral he thought was a Panther he shot in monbulk Vic it was the size of a kelpie. He said even know was a feral cat he had seen on a few occasions a bigger one which he assumed was a black Panther it had also killed a few goats. Have a look in the mountains dandy ranges as at night they don’t have and thing or one bothering them
they have been known to attack and kill koalas all cats should be outlawed in Australia
Years ago I was living in Rockingham WA, and I was driving down Kwinana beach road when a huge fox ran across the road. Red colouring, bushy tail, fox ears and fox head. It was unbelievable how bloody big this thing was, bigger than my ex partners family bull mastiff. From that night on, I never let my dog out by himself.
Bookmarking this to come and watch tonight. I saw one in the 90's... probably 94-95 in Gippsland up near Jerralang.Big black cat... well it was big to me- I'd put it around the size of a cattle dog.
They're definitely out there. I've seen one in the bush in the sw of western Australia.
those rumors are apearing everywhere around the world.....and when seeing the works of people in South America working for years to rewild yaguars which where born in captivity and those who try to do it with lions, tigers and leopards in africa and asia., even our rewilding of lynx in europe needs to be feeded for some time, till it is fit for nature....than find a way to not having to much human contact, or rewild them far from human settlements to avoid that those animals come to close to humans for begging for food or not to kill easy prey like cattles and sheeps,,,,,than i think u will see how hard it is to find such an animal in those countries alive ;) and yessss, domestic cats are millions, and some of them do that school, staying close to humans and its youngsters get more and more feral and wild and able to survive.....but not so easy ;) and yes...sometimes we find a escaped lion from zoo or circus...exhausted and close to human settlements...survived for some weeks and week like butter....
I'm 65 located in Central West NSW. In all my years outdoor, flyfishing etc I have only twice seen possible signs of a big cat & I'm going back some years, too long ago to give dates now. The 1st was fly fishing on Farmers Arm Lake Lyle. I had walked up around the edge of the water from Sir Thomas Mitchell Dr, past some very steep slopes to a spot where I could cast and fish, The water was a bit low , so I was below and eroded bank, but could see over that, across a clearing with a shallow gully running through it down from the ridge above. Anyway I had fished a while with the occasional enquiry to keep me there. It was getting later & I started contemplating whether to move on upstream or call it a day as there were ducks gathering to roost for the night on an exposed shore with thick vegetation behind it up at the next bend. Anyway, I happened to glace around & spotter a large black animal enter the top of the clearing just below the ridge & tree line, behind & upstream of me. It kind of flowed down the lowest line of the gully in a crouched run, head down & back line flat. Obviously using the terrain for cover. It was fast & the gully took its path diagonally more towards the ducks. As it neared them, it came up out of the gully & straight into the thick vegetation just behind where they were gathering to roost. The thing that really got my attention was that it plunged into that this undergrowth without single duck noticing anything. Absolutely silent & unseen. Well, I ducked down behind the eroded bank and made my way back to my car, keeping behind cover & searching behind repeatedly. I don't know what that animal was, it was too far away to be sure, but it was a large ambush predator, heavier & more powerful than me. I have never been back in the the years since then.
The other time, I was walking towards Wallerawang along the service track between Lidsdale Forest & the railway line. It had rained heavily the week before, but the dirt track was reasonably firm now. There were 2 areas where I found large animal tracks, as wide as the distance across the base of my figures, not including the knuckles (about 8cm). The tracks were deep obviously made earlier in the week when the track when softer. The paw had 4 widely spaces toes, no claw marks and a wide heel pad. The whole print was slightly wider than it was long some were a little smaller & symmetrical while others larger & noticeably skewed. I did not note the stride spacing at the time other than it was a lot. When I got home & looked up prints online, they seemed most like cat prints, only I recall more skew than shown suggested. Perhaps the animal was turning on the softened service track. I'm not expert at this sort of thing, but I did try to take careful note at the time.
Sorry, I can't give you dates now, it was years ago. I have mentioned these incidents online a few times over the years though. In all my years fishing around the area, local dams at night etc, these are the only 2 incidents I have had that suggest the possible presence of big cats. I mentioned this to a hunter I know & he just took it for granted these were big cats.
Tldr sorry
My brother has seen one twice in the Lake Mundi forest, near the SA/Vic border. The first time was at night while out spotlighting with a couple of mates. Their ute had broken down so they were walking with a spotlight when they saw it, sitting in the fork of a tree with a sheep carcass. They were armed but didn't think their 22's would be powerful enough so they left the area quickly. Second time was during the day, driving through the same area when a huge black cat crossed the track ahead.
those rumors are apearing everywhere around the world.....and when seeing the works of people in South America working for years to rewild yaguars which where born in captivity and those who try to do it with lions, tigers and leopards in africa and asia., even our rewilding of lynx in europe needs to be feeded for some time, till it is fit for nature....than find a way to not having to much human contact, or rewild them far from human settlements to avoid that those animals come to close to humans for begging for food or not to kill easy prey like cattles and sheeps,,,,,than i think u will see how hard it is to find such an animal in those countries alive ;) and yessss, domestic cats are millions, and some of them do that school, staying close to humans and its youngsters get more and more feral and wild and able to survive.....but not so easy ;) and yes...sometimes we find a escaped lion from zoo or circus...exhausted and close to human settlements...survived for some weeks and week....
I have seen a large 70kg+ panther sitting on a rock in the blue mountains. My wife looked at me and i looked at her and we both said wow what a beautiful big black girl. Like she was keeping lookout for her cubs. Just beautiful and stunning. More intelligent than us in their territory by far. We aren't the owner's of the bush, the big cats are...
Back in 1977, around March, Dad and I spent a few days cutting Box Logs to manufacturing fence posts for the farm. We needed 95 posts if I remember correctly to complete a section of fencing to divide one paddock to two paddocks. About midday, we took off for lunch and headed for home. After about 45 mins after lunch we returned to the site where we had spent the morning. A pile of dry bark amongst the damp Beech Forest bush, (Otway's SW Victoria) a pile of saw dust and the swing saw awaiting to be started to continue the manufacture of the posts from timber logs. As we arrived, my Labrador, piled out of the rear of the old landrover and headed off in haste. There was a Black Cat. Just smaller that our Lab, about the size of a Queensland Blue Heeler, Black shiny coat and big eyes. It watched us for no more that 3 secs, lowered to the ground and took off. Both dad and I couldn't believe our eyes and began to call Sandy back as he had already made to forrest line and disappeared. Sandy lost sight of the cat, and returned a few mins later. Dad decided to head home to grab a rifle and returned. Big Black Cats in the Otway's indeed did exist in 1977.
Growing up in Melbourne we camped every school holidays past Mansfield out the Howqua valley.
In the late 70’s my brother and his friend were riding motor bikes back from shipyard flats and the dirt road forks off and then joins up again. My brother went one side his mate the other side. My brother saw the rear end and a long black panther tail as it ran from him on the road. His mate came out and was as white as a sheet. The black panther had showed itself to him as it ran across the dirt track. Looked at hi and he stopped his bike, it went into the bush and he rode past as quick as he could.
In the 80’s I was travelling the highway up to Mansfield from Melbourne late at night as I left after work to go up. Between Merton and Yark towns I needed the toilet so I pulled off the road at a wayside stop. My headlights caught site of a huge, what I thought was a yellow Labrador sitting with its back to me. It than turned its head to look at me, it was a big cat, it wasn’t scared of me I just got the look, it than just turned it’s head back, like it was concentrating on something. I lost my desire to go to the toilet and drove on.
My brother bought a property up the hill from where we used to camp out the Howqua valley. He noticed around their house trees had been ripped down the trunk. Then one day they had bushfires around and he went for a walk down his road to see where the smoke was. As he was walking back home he seen the cougar, tan coloured, it looked old and likely flushed out with the fires. He was going to get his shot gun but said it wouldn’t be enough to kill it and he didn’t want a wounded big cat around his house. They had to evacuate because of fires and he thinks it might have been burned as he never saw it again.
They are out there. I know I have seen one. The cattlemen huts up in the highlands you are told to always close the doors, do not leave them open. There has been hikers who walked into an open hut and came face to face with the black panther.
I have since moved to Qld and my brother has passed away. But I know the big cats are there.
Really interesting there's is so much more info out there than just in the internet. Sorry about ur brother 😢
Keep going mate, keep persisting.
My father saw one on his way to work in Collie WA 30 years ago. Since than we have seen animals with their necks eaten out, an extremely clean kill in the same area so i believe they are around.
I seen one with wonk and vinnie in 04 out williams road massive this thing
Seen same thing maybe 2006 just out if Williams no feral cat was huge in perfect condition would not want to meet it in the bush unarmed....
those rumors are apearing everywhere around the world.....and when seeing the works of people in South America working for years to rewild yaguars which where born in captivity and those who try to do it with lions, tigers and leopards in africa and asia., even our rewilding of lynx in europe needs to be feeded for some time, till it is fit for nature....than find a way to not having to much human contact, or rewild them far from human settlements to avoid that those animals come to close to humans for begging for food or not to kill easy prey like cattles and sheeps,,,,,than i think u will see how hard it is to find such an animal in those countries alive ;) and yessss, domestic cats are millions, and some of them do that school, staying close to humans and its youngsters get more and more feral and wild and able to survive.....but not so easy ;) and yes...sometimes we find a escaped lion from zoo or circus...exhausted and close to human settlements...survived for some weeks and week....
at 33:38 from the camera traps, a large black feline crosses the screen L to R, long tail, glowing eyes.
It's there. And has a straight back and cat like tail not too long. Lacks muscularity. I think it's a large cat and not a black leopard.
Back in 1983 North east Victoria in a cleared pine forest l got a really really good look at a panther as it stood still in stride crossing the road until it realised l had seen it and jumped up the 5m embankment in a single bound my dog tried to run after it but fell back down the steep embankment.
Description was like so many others body size and shape a cross between Doberman and Labrador with long neck and rather small head and jet black with the tail as long as the body.
I've since seen pet leopards in England that are exactly the same as the panther l saw.
Maybe hundreds of years of taking panthers from India and bringing their pets to Australia hundreds of years ago.
When I lived in North East Victoria for four years I would be in the bush most nights after work hunting or fishing.
I only saw one panther for a few seconds.
Your not going to find them
those rumors are apearing everywhere around the world.....and when seeing the works of people in South America working for years to rewild yaguars which where born in captivity and those who try to do it with lions, tigers and leopards in africa and asia., even our rewilding of lynx in europe needs to be feeded for some time, till it is fit for nature....than find a way to not having to much human contact, or rewild them far from human settlements to avoid that those animals come to close to humans for begging for food or not to kill easy prey like cattles and sheeps,,,,,than i think u will see how hard it is to find such an animal in those countries alive ;) and yessss, domestic cats are millions, and some of them do that school, staying close to humans and its youngsters get more and more feral and wild and able to survive.....but not so easy ;) and yes...sometimes we find a escaped lion from zoo or circus...exhausted and close to human settlements...survived for some weeks and week....
In outback North Queensland in the mid 1970s while looking for pigs early in the morning , I saw a large black panther type cat with a long tail and jet black.
The cat was at the edge of a billabong with a duck in its mouth.
When it saw me the big cat clean jumped the billabong and disappeared into the bush.
I will never forget that day.
Well at least I can honestly say that YES they do exist.
I seen a big black cat while driving between Hughenden and Winton
I’m in suburban Western Australia .
I’ve been out with my brother and in the early hours of the morning with our Bows stalking pigs in the bush,about 1 hour south of Perth.
And have come across scratchings about 2.5 meters up the trunk of a few trees and my brother had come across kills which have been pulled up trees with huge teeth marks to the back of the head and neck.
My grand parents told us that in the years around the Second World War the American solders had come over with mascots for there platoons which were American wild cats usually puma.
Which were released when they left or got free some how .
Yeah iv heard the same story from my old boss who is 89 and he said he seen one and they tried to kill it but it was to fast
We definitely have the large black panthers in the Southern United States. Panthera onca
Jaguars originally came from North America and then migrated to Central and South America.
I opened my back door one night and saw one of these beautiful creatures laying upright in the grass. It had large green eyes and was looking right at me like it recognized me.
It was laying by a deer trail waiting.
They are so elusive, one seldom sees them and many deny their existence. Very beautiful and big.
I grew up in the blue mountains NSW and I got pretty close to a black cat, around 5 metres from it as I came around a corner in the bush area north of lithgow, a little bigger than a Rottweiler. Same discription jet black, yellow eyes, head was about the size of a large German Rottweiler. But definitely a cat. Looked at me for a few seconds as I startled it and then it turned and jumped into the bush and couldn’t find it after that this was around the year 2005 or 2006
those rumors are apearing everywhere around the world.....and when seeing the works of people in South America working for years to rewild yaguars which where born in captivity and those who try to do it with lions, tigers and leopards in africa and asia., even our rewilding of lynx in europe needs to be feeded for some time, till it is fit for nature....than find a way to not having to much human contact, or rewild them far from human settlements to avoid that those animals come to close to humans for begging for food or not to kill easy prey like cattles and sheeps,,,,,than i think u will see how hard it is to find such an animal in those countries alive ;) and yessss, domestic cats are millions, and some of them do that school, staying close to humans and its youngsters get more and more feral and wild and able to survive.....but not so easy ;) and yes...sometimes we find a escaped lion from zoo or circus...exhausted and close to human settlements...survived for some weeks and week....
Just watched ya vid on big cats great film,nice butterfly collection in the background ha ha
Hi, my name is Fourie Ferreira from South Africa. The best bait to lure larger cats out is blue cheese. Get a trap cage and put the blue cheese inside. The cat does not eat the cheese, but rubs against it. It has the same effect as Cat Nip. The farmers have great success with the "Rooikat" in South Africa. Good Luck!
Your the man 🙌
Another interesting little fact. Nothing to do with cats, but where I’m from in Australia, we use little cubes of cheese for bait when fishing. Not because the fish eat the cheese, but because it lures in the shrimp, which obviously attracts the fish…
This is talking about a possible black panther/leopard so it's a bit more of a odd but tough situation aha
Thanks for info
Wow how curious
Thanks for this..an interest of mine. I live in old warburton victoria in forest. Many locals have experience. I have 3 sightings myself..2 right near my house. One was at less than 2
I'm from Wesburn / Warburton and my friend swears that he spotted a black panther up in Warburton and Powelltown and surrounding areas etc many times when he was hunting for rabbits !! This was in the late 80's and 90's !! Luv the Yarra Valley !! 👍❤️
back in the 80s one of my friends was out shooting rabbits out near Moonanbel in Victoria and came face to face with a black panther as he came to the top of a small ridge. The panther stared intensely at him for a few seconds and then turned and walked fast back down the other side of the ridge. Funny thing is he had a 12 gauge shotgun in his hand but was so startled by the panther that he didn't think to shoot.
Hi Darren, lucky to be alive after my experience when I was ten in 1966, never went into the bush by myself ever again.
What happened ?
@@krimlefou7879
My father was going to help his boss build his new house at Lang Lang I decided to go with him.
The property had a dam down the hill from it cleared land to it but surrounded by bush.
Scrap nails and timber with 4 10 gallon steel drums would make a great raft for the dam I thought @ 10.
I dragged all the pieces to it down the hill borrowed a hammer , I was set to go.
About an hour in I started feeling like I was being watched so I stopped several times and surveyed the tall grass in front of the bush.
I spotted a dark figure in the light brown meter high grass at the bushes edge, it kept changing shape but stayed within the same area.
I picked up an approximately 8 ft length of 4x2 timber and headed up to confront what I thought was a wombat or boar.
I got to the edge of the grass peaked over keeping the 4x2in front of me, my eyes saw WTF my body went into shock and froze, there it was less than 10 feet in front of me moving to my left slinking back further into the bush.
It was low down and snarling with its tail in the air hooked at the end, it turned its head stopped looked at me then growled, I noticed the muscular body first then the large front k9.
It flicked its tail side to side and disappeared into the bush.
I was still frozen to the spot with the piece of 4x2 in front of me.
I slowly started to get my composure back, backing up keeping the 4x2 in front of me and scanning the bush and grass praying and hoping there was no others.
I slowly backed up the hill, when I heard one of the workmen at the house I dropped the 4x2 and sprinted to this guy nailing sheeting up.
He was up a ladder he looked down at me and said, you alright you look like you just seen a ghost.
I couldn’t speak I just wanted to be inside this building surrounded by workers and that’s where I sat until my dad had had enough.
Looking back I truly believe that the piece of 4x2 saved me that day and it was eyeing me off.
The panther was bigger than my neighbours Rottweiler and musculiar thick set with one very large fang as I only saw it when it stopped for a sec and turned.
I am a veteran, I joined the navy and will not go into the bush by myself, I will go with others while I carry a big stick and stay on edge the whole time.
I know what I saw, they are there.
I've spent years in the bush and it's perfectly.safe.
I have spent 30 years walking the Howitt high plains in Victoria's high country.11 years ago I was walking the Howitt road just on dusk , I heard crashing through the bush about 50-80 meters in front of me .
A deer broke out from the trees and leapt across the road smashing back into the bush on the other side . A slit second later a large black animal the size of a puma , which I have seen in Bourke Street mall in 1984 , bought in by a circus .
I am totally convinced what I saw in the high plains was definitely a black puma . Identical to the circus one I saw ..
There here they have plenty to eat and are stealthy a near silent .
Our borders where so porous early last century with little policing of animals sold into our country.
a trustworthy mate saw one in that area about 10 years ago that was larger than his big German Shepard
During the lockdown i would often go bike riding around my rural area mulgoa, near penrith and the blue mountains. I would ride up the hill near the various mountain lookouts, and one day i left my bike and went exploring through the bush area at sundown to explore a path to nortons basin, the path was heavily bush filled and was like a rainforest from another country, to my left the whole way was a big gorge drop off filled with all plantation. Once i had gone to the basin which was a fairly long walk through half cleared bush track, it was almost fully dark now and my dad was trying to call me to come home, but i had no reception out in the bush. I was walking up through the bush already pretty on edge because of how dark it was and i was in the middle of the bush. As i was walking up the bush path a big black cat like creature leaped right in front of me from the slight bush hill next to me, and it was about a metre in front of me. It leaped in front of me full bolt out of nowhere and then leaped into the gorge to my left that wouldve been a couple metres deep into bush infested areas. It was the size of a black leopard or of an animal like a goat, but from its body stretched and the fact that there wouldnt be goats out there my first thought was the lithgow panther because the thing scared the shit out of me. After it jumped down to the gorge it rustled for a bit until i didnt take notice because i legged it as fast as i could through the bush over all the fallen tree branches and stuff. I eventually got back to the road and have wondered ever since what animal that couldve been to come that fast and leap in front of me, that is that size living in the bush like that, i havent thought of other animals it couldve been that would live in that bush area because its not a very animal dense area like that.
Nar far from me. Your the 4th person that said they seen something around there
I lived for a number of years near Mulgoa. There was a 'zoo' midway between Penrith and Mulgoa that at one time had big cats but was closed down I believe. Also at some point they had lions that escaped and injured some local dogs. Would not surprise me in the slightest if there were big cats in the area.
Good work fellas, keep it up. I've done quite a bit of feral cat work in NZ and can say that the use of a pair of thermal binoculars / scope (pulsar or similar) will make your job a lot easier and more efficient. Wishing you all the best of luck :)
Yeah, I too was puzzled why they were using visible light.....
Interesting they have a big black cat and there's been reports of similar in the south island! Also didn't know that moose were introduced into nz back in the day. All quite fascinating
@@lish6026 A person shot one a couple of years ago, another pest control operator with good knowledge of what common feral cats look like. It was a young one (he'd seen the mother? recently just prior too at night). Newspaper published a photo, quite impressive proof, although the head wasn't clear (seemed a good shot, sensitivities & all that).
Until some scientist tracked the carcass down and got a well documented sample & got DNA analysis.
Feral cat, standard species, OS size (it weighed 11kg). And it's safe enough to assume the other one reported seen was either not another one, or more of these very big ferals are sneaking about.
A very notable specimen, but only (trophy size) cat.
My wife and I saw a Kelpie sized black cat in South West Victoria while driving down a bush track at Mount Richmond. It wasn't moving quickly in front of us along the track, and trotted along in front for around 15 or 20 seconds, so I got time to get a good look at its features as it weaved a bit allowing me to see its outline from a few angles.
It didn't have a dished face like a panther or any of the big cats, but had a flattish face like a domestic cat, and also had a short tail rather than long. To me it simply looked like a huge domestic cat, way larger than the largest feral cat I have seen.
My mate when he was a young boy witnessed this exact same animal at the back of his property at Dingley Dell near Port MacDonnell about 100 km west of Mount Richmond...
i mean domestic and feral cats look exactly the same mate. They are house cats. Only difference is feral cats here are way fatter than domestic cats because they are constantly hunting and eating all our wildlife. So, from experience what you saw was a feral cat and you should've run over thing without a second thought as they breed like rabbits. And also hearing about how big it was? Like mate that thing has killed thousands of our native wildlife. Should've been your first thought. Yeah its a kitty but after hunting em and seeing inside their stomachs they aren't no kitty. They are a killing machine
@@creatineforthesoul6495 I have seen tons of feral cats in my time, but this one was just so much taller. Not just wider. At first glance you would swear it was a panther like cat. I believe there may be some kind of hybrid feral cat out there, or some kind of genetically different animal. The closest pic online I could find was a cat photographed in Casterton, but the one I saw was much taller
@@creatineforthesoul6495 have you not realised that the biggest threat to the environment is human beings ❤❤❤
@@lindamclean8809 Yeah nah I'm not talking about threats Linda. Feral cats are destroying the Australian wildlife. We have between 6 and 7 million feral cats here. And they have contributed to more than 20 extinctions. Even though we were trying to save em the cats were dropping the numbers down faster than we were adding. That isn't a threat Linda its more than that
They are common in far North Queensland around the iron range area.
Also around the gulf of carpenteria and I’ve even seen one on the Atherton tableland at tarzali.
those rumors are apearing everywhere around the world.....and when seeing the works of people in South America working for years to rewild yaguars which where born in captivity and those who try to do it with lions, tigers and leopards in africa and asia., even our rewilding of lynx in europe needs to be feeded for some time, till it is fit for nature....than find a way to not having to much human contact, or rewild them far from human settlements to avoid that those animals come to close to humans for begging for food or not to kill easy prey like cattles and sheeps,,,,,than i think u will see how hard it is to find such an animal in those countries alive ;) and yessss, domestic cats are millions, and some of them do that school, staying close to humans and its youngsters get more and more feral and wild and able to survive.....but not so easy ;) and yes...sometimes we find a escaped lion from zoo or circus...exhausted and close to human settlements...survived for some weeks and week....
9:45 c'mon that's a fox mating call I hear that all the time in central Vic !!
Yeah that's a fox call alright😂 hear it often enough in sweden😂
@@emilwestgaardhenriksen1715 "No, there's no doubt that's a big cat call. No doubt!".
Damn, you must have pumas in Sweden. Sweden, famous for bringing us the pacemaker, the flatscreen, meatballs and now pumas! What a great country.
I lived in Lancefield Victoria. In the 1980s, a farmer living in the Tooborac area west of Mount William, which is near Lancefield, was checking his stock at night. He had what he believed, a panther jump at his vehicle. There was another sighting by a resident at the back of Lancefield, a black cat walking through grass. He personally told me, it was as big as a german shepherd with a long tail. Further south a few years later, another sighting near Riddells Creek. The story is that live panther mascots of USA forces in Victoria, let the panther/s loose before returning to the States.
A few days ago I was riding my mountain bike in Gnangara pine plantation, WA just after sundown and saw a strange silhouette, the next morning I found what was identical to a puma foot print in the same spot
While spraying noxious weeds for Vic Parks around the Omeo-Mt Hotham area ten or so years ago,we were told by two high up vic parks officers that big cats in Australia was the main reason the government won't ban using 10-80 baits.
Back in the early 70's, I worked on a cattle station near Katherine in the N.T. One day, just before dust I was on my way back to the stock camp many miles from any civilization in any direction. I saw what appeared to be a black panther looking cat. It was too big to be a feral cat, and it had a long tail. I reported the sighting, but everyone thought I was either seeing things, or just mistakingly saw a big feral cat. I'm wondering if there are more than one, and they travel great distances.
They can travel great distances. As do some other predators. But highly likely a vary large cat. One was shot in NZ, convincing photo, but proven cat by DNA (the DNA was got before the carcass could be destroyed). An 11kg cat, a beauty, and mistaken by an apparently experienced pro hunter. Like thylacines, it doesn't add up usually, particularly the breeding populations enthusiasts often encounter. A liberation is a faint possibility, but it would have a hard time escaping the doggers etc. notice.
Yes they can travel but there is no way one is travelling the entire border of Australia. There would have to be breeding populations. They don't live for a very long time either considering sightings go back a hundred years or so. Feral cats have been shot here and elsewhere that are well over double the size of the average domestic cat and there are plenty of jet black ones too. It is possible they're here but we will never know without a capture, kill or very good photos or film most likely.
This is beyond interesting, especially since I've seen a large jet black creature that was about half a metre tall at the shoulder and 2 metres long including its long tail bounding across the track I was riding along, it was silent it's leaps were large, I didn't get a look at its face but it certainly moved like a cat. I was located in the bush inland from Newcastle about a year ago, where in the documentary they said they had found one of those animal scats.
I was working in the hawkesbury, west of Sydney one day. I do gardening work and was on a client's large bush property. I was doing the hedges when suddenly I heard a loud alert bark. The property has two dogs which will alert to any strange things around the property, mostly by sight. As I do, having adhd I quickly turned to scan my surroundings trying to see what was being barked at incase it was something interesting. When I turned and scanned I seen a black figure standing in the middle of the parking area, a stocky body with short muscular legs, a relatively small head with pricked ears on top, a thick long tail and to my horror; glowing orange eyes. It stood about 50cm tall and was staring right at me, the sun shining on it. I quickly thought "that's a big f-ing cat" and before I could romanticise about finding Penriths missing panther, it moved, turning it's head away from me and taking a small step.
As soon as this happened I knew that I had just seen the clients dog; Kodi, he's a Kelpie x black Lab.
I was camping in the Victorian Ranges a couple of years ago and the whole time I felt like I was being watched, I love anything bigfoot so I was taking pics of the tree breaks and X's around the camp-site..I noticed what looked like a den to the left of me and wanted to have a closer look but I had the urge to run..As I kept walking I noticed another den only 30 feet front the first one I'd seen..I'd taken enough pics for the day and really had the heeby geebies after that and didn't wanna check out more tree breaks and what not..Anyway amongst my pics I found one that had a pure black face with huge yellow eyes staring back at me, i would never had expected to find anything like that in any of my pics..I'm hoping I've still got the photo of it and the one I took of the den, if I knew the area over that way I could let you know the exact camping spot..Anyway I thought I'd share that with you and if you need anymore details of the exact area just not sure of what the off road was called, I can send you what I know and hopefully send the pics when I find them..Cheers..
XS my Goodness how many husbands do you have
@@hanikaram3351 X's as in what bigfoot do with the trees..
@@faythorpe8919
Bigfoot ?? 🤔 Just so you know they are called " Yowies " here in Australia !! A truck driver friend of mine had two close calls ( at separate times driving long haul interstate !) with a Yowie and was absolutely terrified !!
@@juliecook6057 Yeah I'm just used to talking to Americans about them so I naturally say bf😊
@@faythorpe8919
Ha ha...yeah I can understand !! When you talk to Yanks a lot one naturally just uses THEIR lingo , especially as an Aussie they CANNOT understand us if OUR posts are TOO... Australian !! 😉😂😂❤️🇦🇺👍🐨😎
hope those 2 old blokes can get some closure before their time runs out
Fantastic theories. I believe in your elusive cat. So many witness sightings all the same. Simply there is no reason it can’t be there. Hope your future hunts are promising.
Yallourn north Gippsland Victoria I seen one about two metres away from me, everybody pretends they believe me but I'm sure they think I'm stupid but know what I seen 100 percent a black panther and I've always wanted to go back there to prove it. Check it out across the road from power station on old road 🙀
Here in the UK there are big cat sightings, which I’m a bit sceptical of as we are a small, cold, wet, densely populated island. It seems much more feasible in a country as large and remote as Australia which has a climate far more appealing to big cats.
Habitat & food all k in UK for leopards, they readily live in cities. & can keep out of sight of most people. But not camera traps, and they make an infernal nuisance of themselves because they love dogs for dinner, and people get sensitive about that.
So steps to find the culprit would be taken.
And they advertise their territory by marking, and so DNA is available. One doesn't supply the entire turd sample & wash it to see what has been eaten (that's diet study), those deposits have DNA that is shed readily from the depositors alimentary canal. That's what you test. Cat hairs in a turd incidentally would not prove it's a cat turd, as a leopard would happily eat a cat, hair & all.
Everyone thought that about ringneck parakeets. BET YOU'VE SEEN LOADS OF THEM. 😂. Any cat big or small is able to survive in the UK.
I have ringnecks come to my garden, Burnley, north of Manchester UK
The Uk is around 20 to 35 degrees hot in the summer for 6 or 7 months. It usually doesn’t get colder than minus 5 degrees. It has the perfect environment for predators to thrive in the wild, and lots of deer
@@jancyvargheese5351 Since normal leopards, pumas & tigers happily live from the Himalayas/Rockies to deserts as an example, climate isn't a limiting factor in GB or Australia. Prey might be locally, but these species, particularly leopards, have wide range of prey so that too is an unlikely restriction.
The scepticism is due to little or no sound evidence, and most photos etc clearly cats.
And for leopards, their love of dogs frog dinner will draw attention to them, they would be killing pets & be seen. Plus good trail camera or scat DNA, both easily obtained and conclusive. So are territorial marking. The possibility of stray liberations is finite, but a breeding population would be detected. There are techniques for detecting them even without sightings etc if any convincing areas need better searching: like thylacine reports, none are worth following up. Misinformation and speculative interpretations prevail..
about ten years ago we left Melbourne for our northern Australia trip first night we camped outside of Bendigo in the old gold diggings we left early morning slowly drove up over a rise i saw a very big light brown cat it was huge it took of like a rocket the main thing i remember is the powerful chest muscles and it ran with its head held high il never forget it
4 of us saw a black Panther ? Just out of Jindabyne around 1985. It was about 50m away, in the spotlight right on the tree line in the open, clear as day. All the firearms were still bagged and it disappeared into the trees before a round could be chambered. I know what it was, we all did, one of the local boys said " say nothing" everyone will think we're nuts. I wanted to hoof it and try and get a shot in but got the fear when I considered how big it was and how it seemed to almost glide away and melt into the bush. It was a scary critter, German Shepherd size, black, not a kitty cat but a movie type black predatory feline, Panther, Puma, you decide, I saw it.
those rumors are apearing everywhere around the world.....and when seeing the works of people in South America working for years to rewild yaguars which where born in captivity and those who try to do it with lions, tigers and leopards in africa and asia., even our rewilding of lynx in europe needs to be feeded for some time, till it is fit for nature....than find a way to not having to much human contact, or rewild them far from human settlements to avoid that those animals come to close to humans for begging for food or not to kill easy prey like cattles and sheeps,,,,,than i think u will see how hard it is to find such an animal in those countries alive ;) and yessss, domestic cats are millions, and some of them do that school, staying close to humans and its youngsters get more and more feral and wild and able to survive.....but not so easy ;) and yes...sometimes we find a escaped lion from zoo or circus...exhausted and close to human settlements...survived for some weeks and week....
I can tell you for a true fact , in Manjimup Western Australia me and my girlfriend lived on a farm , we watched as a giant black cat with a long tail ripped down and kill a fully grown sheep , thank god we were in the car at the time , I’ll never forget it as long as I live .
I seen one in collie with 2 mates in 2004 from 3 metres away my mates pitbull chased it, the collie couger as we call it jumped into a tree to escape then into the river swam across the other side and disappeared. Was bigger than my mates pitbull easily
Williams, Western Australia around 2003 one night I was sitting in an empty grain bin about a kilometer from the house, I was playing guitar inside of it when I heard a scream that sounded like it was just outside, I stopped playing and listened, it screamed at me again, I was freaking out a bit and just sat there while this thing kept screaming like a high pitch growl, a really strange sound, almost like a young child screaming and it was certainly very close, after a few minutes I quickly climbed to the top and it stopped but I couldn't see anything as there was no moon & I only had a lighter with me, now I'm left with a dilemma, stay here where I'm safe or run back to the house. I always thought I didn't scare easily until this night, not sure how long I sat up there until I built up the courage to run back to the house but I can tell you I ran for my life and I just had a feeling something was watching me the whole way, I was paranoid AF. As I was approaching the house & only had one more paddock fence to jump, I could see my mates were sitting on the front porch with the floodlights on, I leapt near the fence post and heard something behind me, I couldn't see it but knew it was there so run like a mofo upto my mates and started to tell them what I heard when this massive black cat come running from our left to almost directly infront of us in a big curve following the driveway for around 50 meters then jumped a fence but it leapt about 3 meters before the fence and cleared it by about the same distance, it was a quiet night so we heard the paws hitting the gravel as it run. The area was lit up by the floodlights, all three of us saw it, big black, shiny, muscular, long tail cat that looked like a long black panther, moving at a speed we could hardly comprehend.
Fantastic documentary boys... 😊👍❤️❤️🇬🇧🇬🇧Hope one day you find a big cat😻💕👌
I have seen two panthers ‘first one hunting in the bush in the hills in Burringbar in about 2004 and second one crossing highway ‘late at night in same vicinity’ near Crabbs creek northen nsw in about 2011 ‘ seven years later ‘ swear ‘ truth to the universe
Get urine from a female leopard/mountain lion in heat from a zoo/captive reeding program and use this to tempt any big cats (males) in the area to seek out a potential mate.
Food is apparently readily available, but having happy time with a female should draw in a mate.
Salt the area with food and set the whole near water and see if your luck changes.
I have used fox urine to attract other male foxes toa
What if it's a gay panther & female piss doesn't turn him on?
They could have been here before Australia continent broke off
They hang out with thylacines mainly, all you gotta do is find a thyla and the pumas( generally) are close by, pretty easy if you know where to look
those rumors are apearing everywhere around the world.....and when seeing the works of people in South America working for years to rewild yaguars which where born in captivity and those who try to do it with lions, tigers and leopards in africa and asia., even our rewilding of lynx in europe needs to be feeded for some time, till it is fit for nature....than find a way to not having to much human contact, or rewild them far from human settlements to avoid that those animals come to close to humans for begging for food or not to kill easy prey like cattles and sheeps,,,,,than i think u will see how hard it is to find such an animal in those countries alive ;) and yessss, domestic cats are millions, and some of them do that school, staying close to humans and its youngsters get more and more feral and wild and able to survive.....but not so easy ;) and yes...sometimes we find a escaped lion from zoo or circus...exhausted and close to human settlements...survived for some weeks and week....
I’ve personally seen one between Leithbridge and Bannockburn Vic It was on side the highway in the grass. It was night and I see n the e yes than as my headlights pass it. I had a good view as I also slowed down under the speed limit. Many other locals had seen it. A group of friends come across it out bush and fired a shoot at it and ran back to the farm house with faces of pure white.
Great video, very informative and interesting. Thank you for sharing,
I imagine that any big cat would thrive there. And if there is a mating pair...
In Capstick's books on hunting in Africa he claimed if a leopard doesn't want to be seen he won't be.
He also mentioned that they were living in the Johanisberg soccer stadium for years undetected, practically living in the middle of a city but never scene.
@@sgtcaco IIRC that all came about when some group decided since they couldn't drive around and see any they must be going extinct and got a world wide ban on importing their skins .
I live in rural NM after a rancher friend of mine read Death in The Long Grass he didn't like to go out after dark on less he was armed
My mother saw one in the Snowy Mountains of NSW years ago. She said she couldn't believe what she was seeing.
I am a hunter, trapper in Canada, If you set up camera traps along a river or creek and there are fallen logs along the banks or partially crossing the water, that would be a great spot for camera traps and hang your bait 10 feet up and dangle it from a branch to keep other predators away from your bait, a big cat can still take your bait, just a suggestion fella's, great video and best of luck to you!
Escape from a zoo❔reports could be a hoax,unusual to see because there not native to this country,there must be an explanation for it,but please show us the proof first 😺
@@Jackgritty28 while I'll agree that some reports are hoaxes, it wouldn't be unheard of for such big cat species to be able to live in the environment around southern area of Australia. as species of foxes, rabbits, hares and deer are known to thrive there as well, how they got there is a question though.
escaped/released from a zoo is a possibility. as there have been cases of zoo staff not reporting escapes, because they didn't want an investigation or simply because they made a mistake. and though they could get the animal or animals under control before hand, and there have been cases where staff haven't even known there was an escape at all. then you have the animal "right" activists...they have made attempts to release zoo animals, and on a number of occasions have managed to do so before getting caught.
escaped/released from private ownership. it's not really a thing these days, but in the past there were quite a few owners of big cats in Australia. these range from tigers, panthers, leopards, black leopards, cougars and such. it wouldn't be surprising if a few escaped or were release by owners in the past.
escaped/released from military service.(yes I know it sounds silly) this one comes more so from my grandfather, but he has said in the past during WW2 and the Korean and Vietnamese war. there were military units that had big cats as unit mascots, and some may have escaped or had been released after said conflicts into Australia by Australian units or by American units stationed here.
escaped/released from smugglers. while I think this is the lease likely, it's still a possibility.
one thing I find puzzling though. is while there are a lot of sightings down in the southern Australia area NSW, VIC and such, there does seem to be too few sightings up into Queensland. most of which seems centered around the Brisbane area, but beyond there...nothing, why?? is it because of the environment, food, climate or something else.
There's been plenty of big cat sightings nowdays up and down the east coast of Australia. When i lived in Gippsland Victoria a friend of mine saw a big black cat on a 4wd trail crossing the trail when he was out bushwalking years ago. He got a good look at it about 50 yards away from him and he told me he near sht himself. I asked him if it could have been just a large feral domestic cat and he said domestic feral cats arent as wide as the 4wd track ! So it must have been huge with a big long tail. I believe they are out there as theres been too many sightings for all of them to be bs.
Plenty of thylacine sightings too, yet somehow no sound evidence. Plenty of sightings simply means plenty of mistaken identify, and plenty of BStters
@@johnmead8437 yeah well its people like you that is the reason why a lot of people that actually see these big cats dont come forward in fear of being mocked. Thats ok,we dont need people with narrow minded attitudes like you in the feild shitting on good people that have seen big cats.
@@johnmead8437 I agree,theres has been no dna ,no paw prints,no claws,no fur,no skeletons,no photos,-not even blurry trail cam pics.Big cats like that would need good water sources.
@@Amatronix999 While never hunted them, reading information from those who did independently (without their hand being held by a guide) clearly shows if you know what to seek, they aren't that difficult to detect. Seeing is different, they are masters of concealment, and if not settled into a home range (possible for individuals) they may range over large 100's of kms, making location difficult.
It's likely if the giveaway evidence was described here soon plenty of it would be "found" to attempt to fake credibility.
Incidentally the possibility of these cats, thylacines and bigfoot seem finite, just. But most reports are clearly fake/delusional, intentionally or otherwise..
I have had two encounters with black panthers not far from the central coast of NSW
I was driving from Woodend to Melbourne on the Calder freeway with my dad, and around Gisborne I saw what I'm certain was a lynx standing in the opposite carriageway. This was around 1999-2000.
I've seen 2 or the same one twice , im in bacchus Marsh and ive been hunting it for 5 years now
In winter of 1972 i was visiting Sydney and went to Bondi. I decided to walk along the cliff path on the South end and encountered a man walking a large black jaguar on a leash. I could hardly believe what I was seeing. It was huge and if it had wanted to get away , it easily could have. I have often wondered where it came from and how it was domesticated. Any one else know about this ?
You want to check leopard scat.
Go to a private zoo that has a leopard and ask for scat.
Then get that tested.
In 2008 I was at Manilya & seen a cat print big enough to hold 2x 20cent pieces & enough room for a pen to comfortably fit between the coins.
I am very blessed to live in The Colac Otway shire. There have also been several recent sightings too. A couple of sightings there was photographic evidence. It’s so fascinating.
Not as blessed as I am to live near the Grampians, I’d say it beats the Otways in sightings 😉
I had a foal completely shredded by what we firmly believe is a big cat at Dartmoor in Victoria. Newborn foal, mum none too pleased. Definitely not a dog, definitely not small cats, .... That mare was in a paddock with one other mare. They were not overly best buddies and spent lots of time away to each other. Other paddocks in our layout had large numbers of small/mini ponies who had a very 'touch my herd and die' type stallion and big colt with an 'I'll follow Herc and if he wants to slap something I will too' One had a herd of mares with attitude who would have anythings head off that looked sideways at fellow herd mates and their youngsters. The last paddock had my big stallion and a couple of mares and he would protect as well.
There was a paw print that rivaled my entire hand size - I have 'man-sized hands' - workers' hands as my Grandfather called them. There were a number of us looking it over - older locals who had been in the area for years, and those of us who had experience with looking at animals who had taken down lambs, calves, miniature foals etc in the past, and I had spoken to and emailed the big cat folk photographs of the carcass which was very like the calf in how the neck was eaten out, and the skin was cleaned off so well, big areas of meat eaten first by the look of it, and had clearly had some smaller predators come along, but massive claws had been across the bones that did not look like eagle or raptor marks - Ive seen that plenty of times.
I fully believe they are out there. It would be really good if the team looking for them were able to tranq dart them, gather info and chip/ear tag them so a close eye could be kept on numbers.
When I lived in NSW and in Baerami Creek - two people who were with me in the car, no longer in my life but will swear to it as well, and again - we put our experience in to the Thylacine folk, we saw one run across the road in front of us. It freaked us out at first, but then excited us all greatly - seriously - how often do you get to SEE a member of an extinct species run across in front of you? When we reported it the next day, they said 'Oh yeh there is a colony on the other side of that mountain or within that range as the stud hands in the next valley have seen them 4 or 5 times now. ' Amazing. So far they havent managed to catch any though for checking them out.
I saw one run across the road in front of my car early one morning as I was driving through the snowy mountains between Thredbo and Falls creek.
Carl Pendergast saw one about 1985 along with Frank Ziblnick and Gregory Peters, sorry about my spelling guys, Jindabyne. Scary bloody things when you imagine the power they must have, I was scared seeing one from inside the car.
those rumors are apearing everywhere around the world.....and when seeing the works of people in South America working for years to rewild yaguars which where born in captivity and those who try to do it with lions, tigers and leopards in africa and asia., even our rewilding of lynx in europe needs to be feeded for some time, till it is fit for nature....than find a way to not having to much human contact, or rewild them far from human settlements to avoid that those animals come to close to humans for begging for food or not to kill easy prey like cattles and sheeps,,,,,than i think u will see how hard it is to find such an animal in those countries alive ;) and yessss, domestic cats are millions, and some of them do that school, staying close to humans and its youngsters get more and more feral and wild and able to survive.....but not so easy ;) and yes...sometimes we find a escaped lion from zoo or circus...exhausted and close to human settlements...survived for some weeks and week....
I was living in Alexandra in Victoria and used to ride up in the Black Range a lot on dirtbikes, i have seen one of these black cats up pretty close, tho i did not see tha whole cat what i saw was the rear end dissapearing into 3-4 foot bracken fern, i had been stopped for a drink in a clearing for around 5 minutes when i heard a sound behind me , iturned around to see the back end of what i call a black panther dissapearing into the bracken, mabee 8 foot or so from me the upperpart of the tail higher than the bracken and i would say the height of his back was around 2-2 1/2 feet high, totally black, i realised that it had been watching me without me knowing for how long i dont know, no growls nuthing just slinked back into the bracken, this was around 1987-88 Cheers
I can rember the Lithgow panther was with my brother and he said hey sis look at that on side of the mountain I couldn’t believe my eyes it was a black panther I’ll never for get it
The powers that be will never ever admit to what’s really out there.
Exactly.
#Yowies
Aliens. I mean big cats.
For what reason would they hide a big cat when there are big cats all over the world? I've actually seen big cats. They really do exist. They've even been filmed in wild.
those rumors are apearing everywhere around the world.....and when seeing the works of people in South America working for years to rewild yaguars which where born in captivity and those who try to do it with lions, tigers and leopards in africa and asia., even our rewilding of lynx in europe needs to be feeded for some time, till it is fit for nature....than find a way to not having to much human contact, or rewild them far from human settlements to avoid that those animals come to close to humans for begging for food or not to kill easy prey like cattles and sheeps,,,,,than i think u will see how hard it is to find such an animal in those countries alive ;) and yessss, domestic cats are millions, and some of them do that school, staying close to humans and its youngsters get more and more feral and wild and able to survive.....but not so easy ;) and yes...sometimes we find a escaped lion from zoo or circus...exhausted and close to human settlements...survived for some weeks and week....
seen it about 1995-6 hills of jindy .
i like to share my personal experience of seeing what i truly believe was a dark coloured panther in the pine plantations in vic towards taralgon in vic about 25 years ago while riding a trail bike through the forest tracks and spotted it from a distance of about 100 yards .It quickly dissapeared into the forests .The previous night while were camping in the same area we heard what i believed was the mating calls of nothing i i have heard before but only on wildlife docos.of lepoards and panthers. Only those who have such a experience are true believers of the presence of these big cats.DONT GO OUT TO KILL THEM BUT RESPECT THAT THEY ARE ABOUT .
I used to go camping with mates in that area, I liked looking at the pine plantations because my Dad was the man who worked out how much wood-pulp APM needed for the paper mills in Fairfield, He worked at the research labs just near there and I always remember him telling us kids about it. I got the feeling it was important work to him, He also did research work for the power station, I remember him bringing some carp home from the cooling ponds and he put them in the bath for the w/end, we have relatives in Traralgon and nearby - they sawe some up at Hill End, farming land and well-known for sightings..
@@greyhound3561 Robert so your dad also had experienced sightings as well in that general area, as well.I know what I saw was not a feral cat and also the chilling sounds of what I consider were mating calls Thanks for sharing your experiences as well as your dads
The question I have is: Just how much 'secondary evidence' do you need to equate to so-called' 'primary evidence'? The system we have is one where certain people are designated 'real knowers' because they are 'scientists' (that is the etymology of the term, in fact) and nothing unusual or extraordinary can be generally credited until it gets the nod from a consensus of these people no matter how many other people have personally compelling experience of it. It isn't just big cats - it is also thylacines both in Tasmania and all over the mainland and other creatures as well. At the base, this is a problem in the philosophy of science - we credit the observational and rational powers of certain people much too much vis a vis those of sane, credible witnesses who lack only their specialised training. Even the odd scientist who has such a sighting isn't usually allowed to cut it because they generally have to contend with the trained scepticism of their peers. Ordinary people are not nearly as fallible and gullible as often alleged.
Same as Sasquatch
After seeing a big black cat 15yrs ago on my bush property in the mountains around moruya and read Panthers can pick up man's sent 5klms and are super stealth and are really ever seen
And aliens and ghosts and gods.
Second opinion is they are, plus fabricate things or are just pain ignorant. Not all, granted, and the intellectual snobbery of some scientists & official can contribute to good information being lost or ignored. But so much is in the yowie.bigfoot/thylacine/covid disinformation etc bucket the scientific attitude is understandable.
The lack of good DNA & camera trap evidence is telling. These animals leave plenty behind, & the initial description hereof how a sample was handled and analysed shows why it was justifiably discredited, if it existed.
Science and therefore Scientists don't work in thw manner that you purport. They examine evidence, remove the impossible and report the possible - They have no desire to dismiss evidence out of hand, they cut the "wheat from the chaff" i.e. if a couple of lads with a carton under there belt report a big black cat,, then that would be the chaff, if an experienced field researcher reported the same, with physical or photographic evidence then that would be the wheat. Everything in between is treated as possible evidence until it can be investigated thoroughly and either proven, disproven, or sit somewhere in between.
Collie WA 2004 me and 2 mate's seen the collie couger as they say big black cat bigger than my mates pitbull. Jumped in the tree looked at us showed of its teeth and claws jumped in the river swam a few metres jumped up the bank and gone like a ghost.. mates pitbull was a hunting machine he couldnt track it... we all thought it was a big pig until it moved and jumped it was something we will never forget and too this day talk about it
im from vic lived in and around the otways for most of my life. yes i have seen one, as have many other family members.
Drunks from gellibrand cant be trusted lol
@PoliticallyIncorrect Panda hahahaha, i agree. That gelli pub and the stories that get whispered in the bar.
Wife and I both saw one at the same time, down towards birri, around 2008.
In 1984 driving up Wild Dog Road on just a narrow country road between Apollo Bay & Skenes Crk a Black Panther/Jaguar crossed in front of our car in broad daylight, 7 mts in front of us. It leaped up a 10 ft embankment, in almost one giant leap. Yep, 1000% there in the Ottways and even very close to the Great Ocean Rd.
When the American solders came to Australia during WW 2 each group ( battalion, what ever ) they brought mascots. Most of the mascots were big cats, it took months for these battalions to arrive at Richmond Air force Base, they camped on the Mulgoa Rd between Penrith and Mulgoa in N S W. It took those American soldiers two weeks to decamp once peace was declared. There was no evidence of the big wheeled cages that housed their mascots being loaded on the planes that took them home. In the 1960s circus style cages sat rotting in the fields where the American Army had their camp. So, where were/are the mascots and, don't forget the Lithgow tiger.
If you're in Victoria, take a drive after midnight to Dom Dom Saddle.
There's more than Big Cats to worry about.
My parents were both born in Victoria. Never believed in the cats. In their 70s, had a big cat run across the road in front of them when traveling from Ballarat to Maryborough. Then Approx 2010, two of my friends saw one with cubs about to cross the road just outside of Avoca.
Yes, add Kalorama, Victoria to the list. Whilst travelling back to a Guesthouse, I believe I spotted a very large black cat, approximately 8 years ago. Crespucular as this gentleman suggests is right on the mark.
With dedicated people on the hunt, surely it's only a matter of time.
And what if a government agency shut u down citing using a firearm in a n illegal pursuit
I believe it's already been done
I know they exist I've seen them
I live in the otways there’s no big cats in Australia I would of shot one! The reason they never find any evidence for these shows is because there is no cats to leave evidence! Just a bunch of drunks seeing things… no different to the tazzie tiger 🤣
I've seen the ABC twice. Once near emupark during bush clearing for an estate and once at Gympie riding in forestry. Both times there was a group of people and we all seen them. I've also found small goat skeletons wedged in trees about 6-7 meters up in the goomboorian forestry. Ain't no tabby cat going to drag a goat up a tree.
I saw 1 a couple of months back at Mount Tom, almost halfway between your 2 sightings.
My wife and I seen one sitting on a rocky outcrop ledge in the hills in the forest out at the back of Wye River, it was watching up approach then jumped down off the ledge about 10 meters in front of us and took off into the undergrowth, it startled the hell out of us, this happened about 8 or 9 years ago 👍🏻🇦🇺
do you know matt joyce ?
I and 6 others saw a black big cat around Flowerdale, Victoria 47 years ago. It was about 50 feet away , just looking at us and then disappeared in a couple of 2+ meter long leaps. Never seen a feral cat that was bigger than a big Labrador and could leap like that.
Yep, saw the big black puma like animal outside Emerald Victoria about 6 years ago.
It was crossing a dirt road, I suspect to travel along a deep gully that runs
beside the road.
I had been driving slow on the windy, narrow road,
I stopped the car, got out, confused about what I'd seen.
It was so weird, seeing something that can't exist.
Then I saw it again, it was only about 8 m away, moving slow. through the bush.
At this point I understood what I was seeing, I took fright and got back in the car.
A customer of mine that lives alongside a small nature reserve in the direction
the animal came from said she has never seen any evidence of wildlife in the reserve.
Another customer in the area said she watched the animal walk along her boundary fence near her house.
She lives alone in the bush, she told me it frightened her so much she stayed indoors for 3 days.
We saw a big black cat run across the road from behind our van when we were in the Grampians VIC in 2019. We were heading East back to town, between Mt Difficult Rd & Glenelg River Rd about 4pm. I’ll never forget that.
Later that year my uncle told me he had seen a black cat in the Grampians while riding his touring motorcycle through the same area. Hearing that kind of solidified that we had seen the same thing.
There was a brilliant photo capture of a black panther out at Lancelin WA not that long ago... clear photography relatively close absolutely beautiful creature
One time I went camping inland on the fortiscue river and I woke up before everyone else, I quietly made a coffee and and wondered off into the bush about 100m away for a poo. It was great, no flys, clean snap and only one wipe needed. Then as I got back to camp I noticed some movements, the boys were mixing breakfast rums it was a the perfect start to the day!
I'm laughing at your comment !! Thankyou for your " in-depth " pooing description !! That's what I call a great bush experience !! 👍👏😂
Wow! That sent chills up my spine, in that it closely parallels an experience I had on the Fortescue River about 18 months ago.
The whole camp had been drinking the night before and I woke up with a gut ache, probably caused by the Jacks and 2 packets of Samboy’s I had the night before. I could sense a Code Brown.
It was just on daybreak and I hurriedly made my way to a secluded spot to back one out. I got comfy and settled in for what I thought could be a lengthy ordeal.
As I started to cut a cigar I noticed movement outside one of the tents. One of the girls was off for a pee. She squatted 10 metres away, not seeing me initially.
I was about halfway through coiling out what felt like a yard of crap when she looked up and noticed me. I didn’t break eye contact as I continued to drop links. She took off - probably embarrassed, or she was downwind of me?? I wasn’t too well and this thing was darker than Kamahl and fairly ripe.
Neither of us mentioned it at camp.
@@oggyoggy1299 that’s an absolute win in my books mate. Maybe one day we can share a similar experience together.
@@oggyoggy1299creepy 🤔
@@oggyoggy1299😂 that's the ticket mate, maintain eye contact while pinching off some sausage rolls to ensure they are acutely aware of your manly dominance 😂😂😂 pissa
Emmaville panther, Lithgow panther.
When people have seen , animals up close, perhaps a grain of belief. Seek an independent assessor, maybe USA or Africa. Many years ago NE NSW, my hunting mate saw something following me.
He was about 200mtrs away with binos but it never came into the light and I had then exited the bush into open paddock.
Maybe they exist?,
The screaming animal recording at 9:30 was not a big cat, it was a fox (vixen).
This is a sound that is very familiar to me here in the UK countryside.
There can be quite a bit of variation in vixen calls. Less so with dog foxes.. There are some big cat calls (Cougars) that bear an interesting resemblance to a Vixen but from experience I'm fairly sure your correct on this one being Mrs Fox..
Yes, it's a fox, I've heard that call 3 dozen times in my life, but to be honest, never knew it was a vixen's call. Just about every Aussie who has spent time in the bush has heard it, and far more often than me.
If the bloke on the vid honestly doesn't know it's a fox call, then has he ever been in the bush at night...once?
@@allworknoplay574 Not that much of a resemblance to a fox call. Puma calls are similar but you can discern the difference easily.
We saw something just north of Moranbah (place called Red Hill), paw prints as big as my hand at a cocky gate; we were going through the cattle yards on this property about 3am, and we saw this black "thing" stalking through a dry culvert with a long tail.
Still dont know what i saw
What's interesting to me is that there was no mention of Wilson's Prom. There's been sightings down there all the way up to Yarram for decades
Faeces itself does not contain DNA as it’s chemically processed through digestion.
BUT as the faeces passes through the system it can scrape some cells containing traces of DNA from the wall of the bowels.
So the DNA from the doner can sometimes be swabbed from the surface of the faeces.
It looks like your DNA result may be from contamination after the faeces has been deposited.
They are just domestic cats gone wild. I use to go shooting feral cats with my Pop back in the late 70,s and early 80,s at a rubbish tip at a place called Yelverton Hill half way between Busselton and Margaret River. As a 12 year old I remember holding the cats by the tail after we shot them and they were huge, as tall as me from tail to head when held by there tail the big ones were. But my Pop who was a real bushy said once they go wild and need to fend for themselves after a couple of generations of breeding they get very muscular and large, easily big enough to kill a calf or a sheep. They were very elusive and once you made a shot they would go to ground so you only got one decent shot usually.
3 of us saw a big black cat in Williams, WA 2003. It run right infront of our house under floodlights for about 50 meters, it was easily a meter and a half long and a head the size of a volleyball. We just couldn't fathom a feral cat ever being that size, this thing was huge, shiney and muscular, similar to what you described, it leapt over a paddock fence and covered about 6 meters in length with the one leap.
I live in nsw. Came home from school one arfternoon as the sun is going down. Pull down my driveway with headlights on. See two big black cats long tails yellow eyes. They took off up into the bush and that was that. Couldn’t believe our eyes.
When I was in my 20's I was on my Moto up the mountains from my house come screaming around this trail corner and sitting right in the middle of the trail was this gigantic cat. I slammed me brakes on, this massive cat just looked at me and leaped straight over at 7 foot scrub bush. My mate came behind me almost ran straight into me. He stopped and I said just fucking fang it man there is something in those bushes that just cleared that scrubb. The thing that stood out was how big it's tail was .. was freaky as shit but exciting at the same time.
Finally 🙌🏽 thanks mate your a legend
Great doco! I’ve grown up with these stories and have no doubt that they’re around.
Just curious as to where the unsolved missing persons in VIC bush land statistic comes from? I don’t doubt it for a second I just would like to know where to find this sort of info. Thanks
Hey 👋, Kevin from California, I have family lineage back to the 1860’s in Cattle Ranching , I’ve been in many things and throughout the Sierra Nevadas and any awesome places to chill and explore and work as we all do , I wanted to convey what I’ve experienced as others , The mountain lion or Cougar to the Florida Panther that’s coming back with the python problem spreading too ! Dam snakes ! Cougars at dark mainly in this example , Behind some dwelling with some light can LOOK BLACK ! I rejected this until it was proven to me , I worked in wildlife conservation too and May again , This is a fact as their hairs have a black or black tipped , They will come off as black , No doubt , We have some sighting of black panthers too , A lot of wild areas with diverse terrain , Even the desert type landscaped states in mg Jeep i ran around in my wild teen years to researching and saw a lot , We have the Jaguar once native making a comeback as game cams validate , A few different colors I believe , In Arizona many spotted as Calif near Mexico , Probably other areas they can be also , Most are stealthy night nocturnal hunters with exceptions , What I saw backpacking alone and had gone in with a moon up high to have three days of rocks clacked to something huge slowly and deliberately moving in a bipedal form , Then saw in a small stream down a ravine 60-70 yards , No doubt it was real and a creature called Bigfoot or many names every tribe had for them, Seen footage over in your Australian wilds of definite Yowie activity on thermal to signs , After seeing I was interested beyond the norm and educated myself to had more experiences and saw so many others too , Alpha males can be 10-14 ft tall ! And spider crawl in a way that’s so creepy ! Cold ales after that experience! It’s escalating in recent years , Also a wooo factor I have first hand experienced, The inter dimensional stuff isn’t bs !! I am having a hard time excepting but know it’s legit !! Sincerely , Kevin Standow .
A few years back we were spotlighting in Clunes coming around a corner there was a massive big black cat with a very long tail crossing the road it turned and looked at us bringing shivers down our spine as we drove past it l looked straight into its eyes, it then just walked into the bush
Oh dude, I live in Clunes and I ride my mtb at night a lot. I've felt that creepy feeling a few times around Creswick especially while riding in the bush at night.
The Leopard in africa/asia is amazingly stealthy and widespread across habitats, so no doubt it could hide/survive, and they would easily have been able to cross the land bridge from asia (only real way to spread across every state ). The black colour is a very reddish black, with obvious rosettes under the black under light, and is also a recessive gene that occurs 1 in 10 animals across leopard global range. To be honest, what makes me sceptical somewhat is that there seems no reports of standard leopards, as even melanistic leopards give birth to normal leopards. I think if it sighted as much as it is and as widespread then we would see normal spots (male ranges are big, but only big enough to patrol and mark regularly, and female territories are much smaller and overlap within male ranges 2-3 per male territory) Released population would be far more localised and water dependant ie: they won't spread fast if there is no territorial competition and adequate food water and female population, and this seems more in keeping with the VIC range, but it still doesn't explain the melanisitic element as te far more uncommon or the fact the are sighted in Northern Queenland. We have the same sightings in New Zealand in parts, and there is no way it could be here and not released due isolation for 80 million years. Am open to the idea, same as I am to primates Yowie/Jacks/Sasquatch. I'd expect aboriginal record if it was a true wild population not release.
One flaw with that information is lone animals of many species can act sort of nomadically, without others of their species they have nothing to defend against and a non-existent mate to find. Home ranges are fluid depending on resources and population it seems. One settled however, may species stick t theirs like glue.
The NZ cat issue was recently highlighted by one being shot, by an "experienced" hunter (as they all are). Someone got hold of it and DNA'ed it for proof. It was an 11kg puddy tat, a trophy for sure, but not a leopard. More chance of one being liberated exists in Australia or Britain, but not established breeding populations. Their hunters would locate them.