2 July 2008
New Zealand Herald
English
(c) 2008 The New Zealand Herald
Northland locals in uproar after fireman and his son spot a big cat a large feline has tongues wagging in one Northland town.A lion sighting in the hills above Parker Lime Company Quarry has sparked gossip, rumours and amusement in Kaiwaka, halfway between Waipu and Wellsford. The cat was spotted on a ridge above the quarry by fire officer Allan Swanson and his son Carl, who were taking part in a search-and-rescue exercise in Gibbons Rd in late May.Louise Owens, of Jaques Four Square, said news that a lion might be prowling the hills above Kaiwaka came as a surprise to her and her customers - a Sunday newspaper story was the first most people had heard of it.Ms Owens said motorists passing through were stopping and asking: ``Is this the town with the lion?''Up the road at Shamrock Service Station, Adrienne Bregmen said townsfolk were surprised by the reports.
``People are quite astounded,'' she said.
Mrs Bregmen didn't know if anyone was planning to head into the hills to search for the up in the hillsbig cat but she expected the rumours to continue for a while yet.She said the other people who said they had seen the lion, chief fire officer John Bowmar and quarry boss Scott Parker, were ``high, upstanding members of the community''.
John Bowmar said his phone hadn't stopped ringing since 6.30am yesterday.``There's definitely something weird going on in Kaiwaka. That's all I can say.''Mr Bowmar said the news had sparked a flurry of text messages.They were mainly along the lines of: ``I told you not to feed your cat so much''.Years ago, a minister claimed he saw a lion while out duck shooting and ``turned tail and ran'' to his car.
Due to a continous lowering of quarantine standards in Australia..some geniuses have decided that they will allow a serval/felis cattus crossed with an asian leopard cat.We already have problems with cats and now this..what a pathetic joke.Hybrid Super Cats.
Australian Big Cats
Lithgow Panther..or Lithgow feral..the great old myth/fable about the animal the Pounds filmed at lithgow a few years ago is set to crumble.We have seen the frozen body..its a large feral.When it is mounted we will video it and release the footage.!!
c
New Wallaby Kill that appeared between 6 am and 7 am on the same property that has had geese taken.A big black cat has been seen here as well.
ON THE PANTHER TRAIL
4/4/2008
Fairfax Times
Mysterious death in paddock at night
By Jo Arblaster
All a bit spooky:
IT must be something very big to cut a wallaby in half, says Paul van Tilburg. bb Picture: Natalie Spiteri
PANTHER08By Jo Arblaster ntePAUL van Tilburg got a nasty shock on Wednesday morning when he went to check on his horses.
Half a wallaby's body was lying in the horse paddock. It hadn't been there the night before.
``Every morning I pick up horse manure in my paddocks down among the trees,'' the Arcadia man said.
``All of a sudden I stumbled on half a wallaby there. I know it wasn't there last night because I was working in that area until 6.45pm.
lw-2 ``It happened during the night. There are no dogs in the area. I have two horses and an emu in the same paddock and they were not touched. Even if it had been dogs, they would have started chasing the horses or the emu.'' Mr van Tilburg's horse paddock is down in bushland about 80 metres from his house. He said he would have expected to hear some sort of commotion when the attack took place but he and his wife, Celia, heard nothing. The injuries to the wallaby concern Mr van Tilburg. ``It is virtually clean cut which is the weird thing about it. It wasn't torn, it was absolutely cut. ``About 18 months ago, I went down there and it was all dead quiet. The horses were very spooky standing on one side of the paddock. I heard a noise in the bush but I never saw anything. I thought it was the panther to be honest even then.''Mr van Tilburg is not concerned for his own safety but believes it could quite possibly be a panther attack."It might sound silly but if someone knew something about these type of animals, they could put a trap up to catch the animal. "We don't know what it is but it is something very big to cut a wallaby in half. You'd need quite a lot of force for that.''
The kind of photo we would love to see from Australia.The prevailing theory of how big cats arrived in Australia is that they are escapees from circuses and private collections.
But how does that explain the reports that are pre-circuses in Australia starting in the nothern Territory in the 1880`s and extending down to the Grampians in central Victoria in the samer time period.
And what about the animals that are reported where the coats show variations of colour that are not normally associated with any known large cats from either the panthera genus or even pumas.
Are these native cats of some sort, which is mad..If they are native animals where are the aboriginal legends and art work assoicated with them.And how come the majority of sightings appear to sort of match large felids like leopards and jaguars, and not match the thylacoleo(Australian marsupial Lion)appearance.But what is interesting, is that there are reports of TC like animals..
Now if these animals are "merely" escaped leopards/jaguars ,since they are the only known large melanistic cats, where are the reports of normal looking leopards and jaguars.90% of the cats coats are reported as black..and except for a very small selection of moggy colours..the rest are variations of brown.
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Blast from the past
The Mirboo North Times 1989
Wildlife Sanctuary?South Gippsland is apparently the chosen hide out of the extinct or the unusual in the kingdom of the wild:big cats of the strzelecki`s, panthers(at and around Mirboo north) and Tasmanian Tigers at and around Fish Creek.
Reported Sightings of mysterious but easily identified creatures in these localities are on the increase, which seems to rule out the suspicion of optical illusions etc.Then they must be accepted as reality.If such is the case lets hope some of the thoughtless trigger happy oaf doesnt point a gun at any of the creatures he may happen upon.Shoot one by all means, but with a camera.Then we will be able to sift fact from fantasy.
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A HULKING beast is stalking Irish woodlands - and the terrified forestry worker who saw it fears it's a BLACK PANTHER.
The mystery "big cat" prowls the Comeragh Mountains on the Tipperary/Waterford border.
Cops have confirmed they are taking the sighting seriously and farmers in the area are keeping a watchful eye on their livestock in case the animal targets their herds.
The Coillte worker, who didn't want to be named, told how he saw a "strange black animal roaming in the wood" close to Kilsheelan village in Tipperary.
He described the creature as "bigger than a Labrador or Alsatian with a large head and big tail - which "looked like a panther".
Caution
Coillte forestry manager Paddy Fitzgerald stressed the worker was "very reliable" and had seen the strange sight in the afternoon.
He reckoned the animal could have "moved on" and that any search would be difficult as "the wood is around 5,000 acres".
And a van driver also claimed to have spotted the panther yesterday when he stopped for a pee at Dundrum Woods near Cashel at 2.30pm.
He said: "I saw this big black thing. It looked like a big labrador but mother of divine Jesus the Jimmy Riddle was short taken."
Gardai urged the public to "exercise great caution" if they see anything that resembles a panther.
E season for sightings of the mysterious big cat of Kenthurst is approaching and investigators are keen to get back on to its elusive trail.
Cryptozoologist and long-time investigator of the Kenthurst big cat Rex Gilroy said he had noticed the number of sightings of the mysterious feline were down from this time last year.
He puts that down to the unusually wet summer we have had.
``I tend to get reports of cat sightings around this time of year due to them needing to venture out more to get water from local creeks and waterways,'' Mr Gilroy said.
``I feel they have probably gone to ground due to a lot of rain, however I predict another big season of sightings in the coming months.''
Mr Gilroy, who runs the Australian Unknown Animals Research Centre in Katoomba, said he expects to join Blacktown big cat enthusiast Greg Foster at the end of March to make a special trip to Kenthurst.
``There is no doubt in my mind these Australian panthers are a living subspecies of the extinct marsupial lion,'' Mr Gilroy said.
``My main concern lately has been to form a scientific picture of these marsupial cats roaming in the Hills district.
``I believe we can now regard them as a distinct form from other `panthers' seen over a wide area of the country.''
Both Gilroy and Foster believe two groups of these mysterious cats continue to roam the Kenthurst and Hawkesbury bushlands.
This year will see them continue in their search to capture video evidence that the creatures exist.
The History Channel will be in search for evidence of British Big Cats as part of their 'Monster Quest' series, and will be filming at the end of March, beginning of April.
The search is on for the evidence, video footage, casts, photographs recordings, eye-witness accounts.
Have you seen a big cat in the British countryside, more importantly have you any evidence?
A search for a suitable location, on land with frequent sightings is also being sought for two nights filming. Big Cats in Britain press release.
Can you help. Big cats are reported everyday from somewhere in Britain, yet the hard evidence to support these black cats is virtually non-existent. People are obviously seeing something, but what. Can you help clear up the mystery?
Mark Fraser is collating the evidence, please contact him on 07940 016972, or email at bigcatsinbritain@btinternet.com or visit the website at www.bigcatsinbritain.org
Big Cats in Britain (BCIB) is the only group in Britain dedicated on a daily basis to finding out the answers to the big cat mystery. We have a core of experts that we can call upon, including scientists, zoologists, professional trackers, and police officers.
There is no such thing as a black puma, and black leopards are relatively rare in their country of origin. People in the UK are seeing something, but what? We need that evidence.
There have been two more sightings of a big cat in the Stonehaven area.
Marketing and PR consultant Elma McMenemy, who lives at Barras, had a close encounter with the beast, which she described as similar to a panther, on Cheyne Hill while out walking her dogs on Tuesday morning.
Mrs McMenemy's suspicions were first aroused when her dogs, both deerhounds, began scratching at a stone wall.
She told the Leader: "They were terribly attracted to the wall. One of my dogs jumped over it. I looked over to see what was happening and the cat stood up. It was right there, about three or four feet away from me."
Mrs McMenemy (56), said the cat was "completely black, with a shiny, smooth coat" and the same height as one of her deerhounds - about 28 inches tall.
"The dogs appeared to have interrupted its breakfast," she continued. "It had been gnawing at what looked like a deer's leg. My dogs gave chase, and it ran. It tried to take its meal with it, but dropped it a few seconds later".
She said: "I got such a fright, I was so shaken up. I think it's a good idea for other dog walkers to be warned. My dogs are quite big so thankfully it ran away."
She added she would think twice about taking her dogs to Cheyne Hill – at least for a few days.
This remarkable sighting comes just days after the Leader was told of another reported sighting in a garden in the harbour area of Stonehaven.
Carol McCaskie, who lives in the Old Town, says that she saw a big cat two months ago.
Her partner, Chris Stephen, said: "We weren't going to mention it until we saw in last week's Leader that there had been a sighting at Crawton. We thought people wouldn't believe us."
Miss McCaskie said: "It was about half four in the morning. Our dog Moya started barking, which is very unusual for her in the middle of the night. I let her and our cat out, but the pair of them both froze on the front steps. That's when I saw the big cat at the end of the garden."
She said it was smooth haired, and a "solid, dark colour".
Miss McCaskie continued: "It just turned round slowly and looked at me, then at our cat and the dog, before it just slowly strolled away."
"It was about the same size as our cocker spaniel, but it was definitely not a dog. It was a big cat." she insists.
Carol and Chris became even more suspicious when, three weeks ago, their dog started barking at half past four in the morning once again. This time, they found a large dead rabbit on the steps in front of their home.
In a further mystery, four or five domestic cats disappeared from the area around that time.
Miss McCaskie reported the rabbit carcass to the vet, and was referred to David McKinnon
, the Wildlife Police Officer for Grampian, who came and removed the animal.
Mr McKinnon told the Leader that he is still awaiting test results to reveal what killed the rabbit, adding: "We have had lots of sightings of big cats in the Grampian area over the years. Many of them have been reported by credible people, including doctors and police officers. So yes, we do get big cat sightings in Grampian. But the jury's still out on whether there are indeed big cats in Britain."
ELMA MCMENEMY with her dog Staffa. She says the big cat she saw was the same size as her pet.
Australian big cats-We are moving a thermal imaging video camera into an interesting section of forest in the next two weeks.The big cat has been seen up close by reliable witnesses an chased by a large dog.Then, if we actually get footage we will have to place a dog in the shot to get some scale.
The australian big cats are moving round in the river systems of lower hawkesbury.We have a recent sighting of one of these animals which popped up near some very young children who luckily had an adult with them.The owners rotweiller chased the cat way.It looked like a jaguar or a leopard.
Diabetes
