Mysterious cat-like creature spotted in New Zealand

This creature has been spotted numerous times in the Canterbury region for the past few years. Some reports have claimed it the size of a panther, almost all reports have said it is jet black in colour. Just tonight someone finally has finally gained photgraphic evidence, it was one of the leading stories on our national news TV3. In Christchurch there is a wildlife reserve called Orana Park and the gamekeeper from there claims it is nothing more than a feral cat but looking at the evidence one can see it's much larger than that. Biosecurity NZ also share this view after searching for it fruitlessly for weeks. See links below:

NZ Herald artice from earlier on this month:
www.nzherald.co.nz...

And a slightly less credible but interesting website:
www.mysteriousnewzealand.co.nz...

Another national news website:
www.stuff.co.nz...

and there is plenty more information out there under google...

it makes the mind boggle, doesn't it? According to the chap who photographed it he seems to think there could be more than one and considering the timeline and locations between sightings it may be entirely possible we are looking at a new feline species, exciting stuff! Will try to keep an eye out for photos.

ADDITION: TV3 have since pulled down their video clip of the story

Here is a local newspaper link of the story:

www.ashburtonguardian.co.nz...



[edit on 29-8-2006 by simo]

[edit on 29-8-2006 by simo]

Here's an article on the latest spotting today:

www.stuff.co.nz...

where is the photographic evidence?

and.... why wouldnt it be a panther?

Originally posted by simo
Just make sure to click on the video link under TONIGHT: 3 News but unfortunately the network weren't taking this story seriously enough to actually feature it anywhere else on their website.

Will try to keep an eye out for photos.

If you read through the post entirely you would have seen that there is no photographic evidence available on the web yet because the photos were released on the 6 o'clock news here and they are a bit slow on updating the content on their website, hopefully they'll actually publish the photos although I imagine that will be up to the photographer.
Secondly I'm not ruling out a Panther although in light of the circumstances it seems highly unlikely, the nearest wildlife park is several hundred kilometres away and they have not reported any missing panthers so unless it was introduced into the wild secretely...I have e-mailed TV3 inquiring about gaining some copies of the print to post here.

Nice find. I have been following this story for three years. As some have suggested it may be escaped from a zoo, but I am pretty certain it would have been reported. More likely it escaped as someones illegal pet. The cats are very, very cunning, and are very hard to capture once they know to hide from man.

Originally posted by simo

Originally posted by simo
Just make sure to click on the video link under TONIGHT: 3 News but unfortunately the network weren't taking this story seriously enough to actually feature it anywhere else on their website.

Will try to keep an eye out for photos.

If you read through the post entirely you would have seen that there is no photographic evidence available on the web yet because the photos were released on the 6 o'clock news here and they are a bit slow on updating the content on their website, hopefully they'll actually publish the photos although I imagine that will be up to the photographer.
Secondly I'm not ruling out a Panther although in light of the circumstances it seems highly unlikely, the nearest wildlife park is several hundred kilometres away and they have not reported any missing panthers so unless it was introduced into the wild secretely...I have e-mailed TV3 inquiring about gaining some copies of the print to post here.

okay thnx. what part of your post are you qouting... i didnt read that... because i dont see that. if i had read that in the original post i wouldnt have questioned the photographic evidence. thnx though.

Secondly I'm not ruling out a Panther although in light of the circumstances it seems highly unlikely, the nearest wildlife park is several hundred kilometres away and they have not reported any missing panthers so unless it was introduced into the wild secretely...

When I lived in Omaha, my apartment was on a hill overlooking a creek. One day I was sitting on my back porch having a smoke and a cougar walked by.
I was so shocked. The news had had a couple of stories about the Cougar, but I still couldnt believe it.

Eventually the Omaha police caught it and realizied it came all the way from Kentucky.

So distance isnt really a thing for these guys, they can adapt.

I tried getting hold of some photos of the creature but unfortunately the fellow who took them has copyright and is probably planning on selling them to some media outlet. Given time they may surface on the 'net so I'll keep my ear to the ground for you guys, I've been tracking this story as well for a few years. What amuses me is our very own Biosecurity NZ and Department of Conservation officers couldn't track it down while searching for a week and this guy just happens to be in the right place at the right time and snapped a pic of it. I highly doubt it's a panther though, I could be wrong but don't they need a warm climate to live in? It's the middle of winter here and in the high country the temperatures regularly drop below freezing level.