New Zealand Panther

And Netchicken says nothing bites down there!

Ministry of Agriculture investigators and a big cat expert from Orana Wildlife Park arrived in Mid Canterbury today in search of the panther-like creature spotted roaming farmland last week.
�It is really hard to see how a giant cat could have got into the Ashburton wild, but MAF needed to take it seriously,� MAF exotic animal response co-ordinator Amelia Pascoe said.

www.ashburtonguardian.co.nz...

It will be humorous if this mythical beast turns out to be one humongous feral cat doing a panther impersonation.

The potential for a panther to have got into this area from anywhere in the world is as slim as the chances of existence of the undiscovered colony of moas it would need to feed itself on to explain why farmers haven't seen their livestock missing...

Dont be so certain! If you had told me someone was keeping a tiger in an apartment in Manhatten a few days ago, I would not have believed it either! (Not sure if anyone reported this)

www.nbc4.tv...

WOS

I've forgotten the name of the lead actor in The Office, but when he appeared on Letterman he made a comment alluding to this as well... his difference between the UK and the US is that in the UK, people don't keep tigers as pets, but in the US, 10,000 of them do.

An escaped panther would be newsy, and it would not go unclaimed.

This is happening in a country where within the past decade the lead story on 'Crimewatch' one night was about a camera that someone left behind on a train, that never got returned to the owner...

OK, in sympathy for NC... bolt your doors, man, this big cat could be headed your way!

Originally posted by MaskedAvatar
WOS

This is happening in a country where within the past decade the lead story on 'Crimewatch' one night was about a camera that someone left behind on a train, that never got returned to the owner...

LOL! Sounds like a nice place!

sounds interesting, i've got a few friends in ashburton i might email them to see if they can shed some light.

The mystery continues...

When people think of Mid Canterbury they think of its snow-capped mountains, rolling hills and golden plains, but now Mid Canterbury has a new claim to fame.
An unsolved mystery to consume residents and tourists alike.
The big question is, is there a panther-like creature in our midst?

www.ashburtonguardian.co.nz...

The cat has reared its head once again.

Mid-Canterbury's black panther has come back.

Several people have sighted what they say was a panther around the Ashburton area since 2001.

Now a man walking his dog has reported seeing the animal at the PPCS meatworks in Fairton, 8km north of Ashburton.

Pat Hannan was out with his dog Brandy on Sunday morning when he stumbled upon the black cat.

"I saw it behind a fence near the stock yards at the plant. I thought it was a dog at the start but then I saw the tail and had another look and it was definitely not a dog or cat or possum or anything like that."

Mr Hannan said the panther was around one metre tall and its tail was its most defining feature. "It [the tail] was about as long as its body."

The panther was first spotted near Alford Forest in 2001. It reappeared in October when stock truck driver Chad Stewart saw what appeared to be the phantom cat on a property in Mayfield, 35km northwest of Ashburton

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It could have escaped from a private zoo. It happened in Idaho a few years ago and people still report seeing Lions and Tigers in the area around Boise. They even caught a tiger about 8 months ago. The land they were enclosed on is only 2 miles from my friends house. It looks decrepid and the owner had no idea how many could have escaped over a 20 year period, they were breeding the whole time, so a hard count is impossible.

It's been spotted again, or another, different large cat...

Big cat surfaces in Queenstown

The Mayfield panther may have family � and one of its relatives could be holidaying in Queenstown.
The Ashburton Guardian received an email from Grant Carter, an Australian visitor to Queenstown, after he spotted a �big cat� from his hotel room last week.

�Living in Australia, I know what a possum looks like, and what size feral cats can grow to.
�This was definitely something different.�

www.ashburtonguardian.co.nz...

Yeah something like this has been reported in central Victoria too.
members.dodo.com.au...

Not an uncommon thing for zoos and private keepers to have "accidents" in their animal security. It's been happeneing for years and will continue to do so. If you cage a wild animal it will always seek escape, simple fact of instinct.

What is concerning though is the potential repercussions for the eco-systems this is happening in. Places like New Zealand and Australia don't have any naturally large mamal predators, and having a sudden population of them introduced (even a small one) would be disastrous for the native fauna there. You only need to look at the damage pigs and rabbits have done to Australia for an example.

So as much as they have a right to exist, it was our fault they got where they shouldn't be today and so to save the natural balance, I can only suggest big guns.

Apparently some people believe that the possible panther or whatever it is roaming around central Victoria may be due to a circus letting them go, or having them escape from a circus. I believe that's what the newspapers were saying might have happened when it first made the news (a long while ago).

New Zealand Panther Spotted Again

Stock-truck driver Chad Stewart got the fright of his life last Friday when he went to drop off stock at the Mayfield property of Blair and Sarah Gallagher � he saw what he thinks was a big cat, what some people would call a black panther.
As Mr Stewart drove into the sheep yards he noticed a large black animal sitting at the bottom of the hill, right beside the yards.
At first he thought it was a dog, but then realised its tail was too long.
He watched it for about five minutes, and then it took off up the hill, stopped half way before slinking out of sight.
�Initially I thought I was seeing things, it�s not every day that you see a big black cat running up a hill,� he said.
Once he got over the shock, Mr Stewart was convinced of what he saw.
�I am pretty sure it was a black panther � not that I am a big cat expert, but it definitely wasn�t a dog.�

Full Story: www.ashburtonguardian.co.nz...