Two friends of mine claim to have seen a "Black Panther" a couple of years ago on a property near Dubbo. They estimated the size at shoulder to be that of a Kelpie dog, but twice as long, not including tail. One of my friends has owned this 2,000 acre cattle property for 18 years, & I have difficulty in doubting what he saw since I've known him since primary school & have hunted with him in Cape York, NT ,Vic(for Sambar)& NZ for Reds & we are now in our 40's- no reason for bullshit.Anyone else out there seen one?

Pantherus Mythicus?

Is that the same cat that, when shot, will ALWAYS fall into the only creek for miles and be swept away? In the middle of a drought?
Or is shot by someone who "threw the head away and I only kept the tail"?

Just checking. If it is the same cat, then I know lots of people who have friends who know a guy who heard about it.

This subject comes up from time to time. I don't know what your friends saw, but it's doubtful it was a "black panther". There have been black leopards and black jaguars, but you shouldn't have either in your area.
I live in Florida. We have Florida panthers which are nothing more than cougars. People frequently report seeing black panthers here. There has never been a confirmed melanistic form of a cougar. You would think that in all the thousands and thousands of cougars taken since North America was settled by Europeans that one of them would be black and we'd have a confirmed specimen.
I think there's some kind of mystique where people want to see a black panther, so they do. Most of the time it turns out to be somebody's Labrador.

I was staying at the property that day & my mates woke me when they rushed back to the homestead to grab their rifles & me. I'm sure they saw something, but I won't be convinced till I see it myself.

I have several friends and acquaintances who also swear to have seen black panthers, but like Dagga Boy says, there has never been a documented case of melanism in the cougar. Are they seeing just big house-cats and getting excited? Probably.
Several years ago, the state of Arkansas contracted with a well known Texas cougar hunter (Rocky McBride) to bring his hounds numerous times/various places in Arkansas to see if they could find any cougars or any "hot" sign. Rocky told me that they found no cougars, no hot sign, and no cold sign. but he said that the state game folks knew of thirty-some privately owned "pet" cougars within the state. So our "black panther" sighters may on rare occasion actually be seeing cougars, but there is absolutely zero chance of it being other than the normal color. But it's better to keep this opinion to ourselves, and just enjoy the stories.

For the US guys, just some history. The sightings of 'black panthers' dates back to post WW2 when US units are alleged to have released their 'panther/cougar' mascots into the wild. Sightings have been recorded across Australia and strange killings of domestic stock (sheep/cattle) reported for many years.

I also know people that swear they have seen them, but the best response was one I heard a little while back that given the number of feral cats in Australia (millions!) and a normal distribution of weights ... its not unreasonable that a few moggies are floating about that are well into the high teens or low 20kg weight ranges. There have been domestic pet cats reported as heavy as 12-15kg, a few kilos heavier and a bit larger isnt totally out of the question.

Now ... 50 years ago we had a viable elk herd in Victoria, wild squirrels around the Melbourne Zoo, Fiordland in NZ is still reported to hold some moose ... so strange things do occur in strange places.
Cheers...
Con

From Wikipedia

quote:

Black panther is a black variant of any of several cat species.

quote:

A black panther is a black (melanistic) color variant of one of several species of larger cat which are often known by the term panther. "Panther" in North America is most commonly used for the cougar (genus Puma), in Latin America it is most often used to mean a jaguar and elsewhere in the world it usually refers to the leopard (both genus Panthera). Panthers are not necessarily black, but may also be normally colored for the species (tawny or spotted), or white.

quote:

Confusion may arise from the distinction between the genus Panthera and the genus Leopardus. Originally, the relatively long-tailed species were called panthers (genus Panthera, which includes the leopard) and others were called leopards (genus Leopardus, which, perhaps confusingly, did not include the leopard.) All these species are now included in the genus Panthera, which therefore covers species such as lions and tigers as well as "panthers".

quote:

Melanism in panthers
Melanism is most common in the jaguar (Panthera onca), where it is carried by a dominant allele, and the leopard (Panthera pardus), where it is due to a recessive allele. Close examination of one of these black cats will show that the typical markings are still there but are hidden by the excess black pigment melanin, giving an effect similar to that of printed silk. Melanistic and nonmelanistic individuals can be littermates. In those species that hunt mainly at night, the condition is not detrimental. Albino or leucistic individuals of the same three species are known as white panthers.

quote:

Melanistic cougars
There are no authenticated cases of truly melanistic cougars. Black cougars have been reported in Kentucky and in the Carolinas. There have also been reports of glossy black cougars from Kansas, Texas and eastern Nebraska. These have come to be known as the North American black panther. None have ever been photographed or shot in the wild and none have been bred. There is wide consensus among breeders and biologists that the animal does not exist and is a cryptid. Sightings are currently attributed to errors in species identification by non-experts, and by the memetic exaggeration of size.

quote:

Melanistic leopards
Melanistic leopards are the most common form of black panther in captivity and they have been selectively bred for decades in the zoo and exotic pet trades. Black leopards are smaller and more lightly built than normally-pigmented individuals ...

They're here alright. I saw one in the lion park on the Gold Coast. I hope he's still there and not here.

Gee I haven't seen Tony for a while.

Hi Finnwolf64,

In what area of Dubbo are we talking about?? there is a lot of wild bush in the hills out towards to Sapa Bulga trig point area.

For all those non believers have a look at this "Dedicated" Australian website.

http://uqconnect.net/~zzpclach/bigcatwitnesses.htm

This story has been going on for years and if anyone watched Channel 9 Current Affairs the same story was run again recently following a recent sighting.

There have been numerous sightings in the Blue Mountains & Richmond areas etc but notice the similarities in country that these cats have been seen in. Ruggered, deserted etc. And by sober people of all backgrounds.

I would love to speak to your mates as I now live in Dubbo and have hunted the hills for almost 50 years, send me a PM if you can.

Cheers for now from Australia.

Jeff Gray

The property is south of Dubbo, but I can't be more specific, since my mates have spent a considerable amount of time building traps in the hope of capturing this thing alive. You will certainly hear about it if they catch a panther/leopard, but i wouldn't hold your breath waiting for the news.

Sightings of big cats where they arent supposed to be has long been an interest of mine. Im my opinion there have been too many sightings world wide for there not be something there in at least some of the cases.

Alien Big Cats or ABC's have been reported all over USA, UK/Europe and Australia and NZ.

Have alook at: http://www.australianbigcats.com/ http://www.scottishbigcats.co.uk/ http://www.mysteriousnewzealand.com/ http://nzcryptozoologist0.tripod.com/ http://www.geocities.com/australiandesertcats/

There are links on 1 site to a video clip that I believe is also on You Tube and news articles of possible big cat attacks in Western Sydney.

ABC sightings in USA dont surprise me as Jaguars used to roam over much of USA and there is no reason 1 or 2 still dont.

UK has the 'Beast of Bodmin Moor' and whole lot of others.

Releases of a large cat from a circus or private zoo could easily explain the presence of large cats in that country.

Similar explanations could apply in Australia and NZ along with US army mascots being released. For a large cat to survice in relatively benign country such as Australia and NZ with plentiful food (sheep and anything else) isnt stretching the imagination that far.

It is my belief that sooner or later a carcass (trophy???) will turn up.

When I was a young feller back in the 60's my Dad had a farm in the Capertee Valley near Lithgow. We had a cougar living on the farm then as I and several others had seen it. I remember the local farmers spent a lot of time trying to shoot it as it used to kill quite a few sheep. But to my knowledge they never shot it. I don't know what the life span of a cougar is but it would be long dead by now.
Pete