Australian Big Cats

Australian panther.
A quick detour back in time first for some perspective.
The NSW Department of Primary Industries Report .Here.
The NSW government had no intention of ever releasing any of the following reports below.
We did a series of FOI requests and flushed them out.
The 1st NSW Department of Primary Industries Report September 2008.Here.
The white wash report is next.
The 2nd NSW Department of Primary Industries Report- September 2009.Here.
Our reply to the Premier pointing out some of the mistakes.Here.
Letter to the DPI 31st July 2009 regarding some problems.Here.
Even though the 2008 report had loads of mistakes and appeared to been researched by someone in a hurry, its not to bad by NSW government standards.
The second report is the mendacious gold.
The 2009 has whitewashed the whole of the 2003 report and the 2008 report.
It even forgot to mention the Dr Johannes Bauer "study" in 1999.
Remember the Bauer debacle .?
You know!!!
The department gave the ecologist 2 days to do "research", because of the "budget constraints".
He concluded "Difficult as it seems to accept the most likely explanation of the evidence is the presence of a large feline predator in this area, most likely a leopard, less likely a jaguar (unless this is an elaborate hoax by someone in the community).
And what did the NSW government do with that report...NOTHING.
They hid it, never mentioned one thing until it was flushed out by another FOI.
But we digress..
The 2009 "report" even managed to fake the conclusion of the 2003 report.
"...The report however concluded that none of the available evidence conclusively proved the presence of free-ranging exotic large cats In NSW..."
Wow, they must have missed the bit after the comma in the 2003 report.!!
The actual 2003 conclusion was.
"..Nothing found in this review conclusively proves the presence of free ranging exotic large cats in NSW, but this cannot be discounted and seems more likely than not on available evidence..."
Why did the DPI do two reports.?
No one is saying, they have all gone to ground.
If the minister stands up in Parliment and gives the 2009 "conclusion" then he will be misleading parliment.
The latest press release..Here.(nice move releasing it quietly and not saying anything)
We have been told that all media requests for information from the DPI regarding NSW Big Cats are now being handled by the following staff member.
Mr Nathan Cutter.
nathan.cutter@dpi.nsw.gov
02-6391 3100

Australian panther-a radio show interviews Ray Williams a local Liberal party member, about big cats and then Dr Zammit, a local vet.
http://www.australian-big-cats.com.au/nsw radio.mp3

Australian Panther.Now the panther is supposed to be on the left, and its friend is on the right.Can you see the problem.The video footage showed a black cat that was large, with pointed ears."Panthers" dont have pointed ears they have round ears.The feral cat hanging with the "panther".Does not happen in real life.And....something the media and others never bothered mentioning.The feral was nearly the same size as the "panther".Whoops.A nut from out west told us the australian panther in this footage was a "thylacoleo".When I mentioned the problem of the TC hanging with a domestic cat, the nut , told us with a straight face the domestic cat was a "thylacoleo" as well.Seriously, for a guy that has supposedly been studying the TC for 20 years, how could you not tell the difference between a normal %$#@#$ cat and a possum faced marsupial. :)

Australian Panther.
The number of Australian panther reports is increasing from central new south wales.We have found a few properties and areas worth investigating over the next few months which beats the hell out of driving down to Victoria. :)
A game camera will be placed on some road kill animals this weekend on the main farm and then a cage if the place looks interesting.

ABC online is carrying this report.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/07/16/2627459.htm
That "conclusion" is from the second report not the first.!
The official "conclusion" has not been released yet.!!!!!!
And why was a second report even asked for.?
And did someone inside NSW Ag ask/direct the DPI to do another report.?
If not, why would the DPI do another "conclusion".????
Something smells big time..
And why did they change the "analysis" of the prints in the first reports as being felid from a cat expert, to canid, by an anonymous public servant.?
And, regarding "evidence" as being inconclusive...its secondary evidence we are talking about..which did actual point to felid...but..NSW Agricultural Dept dont accept any form of secondary evidence for a start so of course they found no %$#@#$ conclusive evidence.
The dept did not examine all the categories mentioned in the article.
That is another lie.
One example.
We provided them with emails/analysis from herpetologists of the scratch marks on trees because the dept did not know how to use google search or emails.
We gave them the results.
At the time we trusted them. :(
They then lost the emails.
This is just another inept/dishonest "'report"/conclusion by a bunch of mendacious pen pushers from the NSW Dept of Agriculture.
And I love how the media, who now have all the reports/conclusions..still managed to miss the main story.
The media`s ineptitude and govt sophistry is truly amazing in this ongoing train wreck.

australian panther-Herald Article

The first part of the show on australian panthers was not too bad.
But..supposedly after this segment the show mocked the whole thing for the rest of the episode...oh well..no more channel 9 for us.
Apologises for the quality..

australian panthers-The Herald keeps up their fine tradition of forgetting journalism and going for the quick extended gag story.
First you dont ask for the document, you just relay some gossip.
The online version is different to the newspaper.
The newspaper said "While there is no scientific proof the panther does roam.."
If they had reporters who could use Google and the phone they would have found out that the NSW DPI does not accept any form of secondary evidence.
Can reporters follow that simple statement.???????
Then they threw in a bigfoot gag,.
And this pearl.
"..concludes that even through scientific testing hints the panther is a figment of peoples imagination, a massive cat may well call the bush home."
There is no form of scientific testing, and the DPI staff have even seen the cats.
And it doesnt exist yet may exist according to the above.
Literacy as well as research are not strong points at the Herald it seems.
And just to cap off a story worthy of 3 minutes of "research", they decide to go for the space cadet angle.
Why not avoid the people that gather information for the DPI, and go for a guy that had ZERO to do with the DPI work/findings.
Sure, that makes sense for quality journalists.!
So they contact Rex Gilroy who did not let them down.
The Herald stated "..said he had more ufo sightings than panther sightings but was not surprised.."
If you were going to help make the whole story a joke then its always best to be asked about large cats and start to rattle on about Ufo`s.
Unbelievable.
Here is the 2 pages of the "report" the article is talking about.
We have it yet the Herald cannot get it..what a surprise.
This article should be up for a walkley award.






Online version.
http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,25786801-5005961,00.html
However, the Department of Primary Industries report recommends that evidence of any future sightings should still be collected.It also suggests a whole-of-government taskforce be formed should any compelling evidence emerge.However, Fairfax Community Newspapers reports the released three pages of findings is a "watered down" version.
A 24-page report is said to recommend the government erect warning signs about the potential existence of the animals, or conduct education sessions at local schools.
Sighting of big cats - dubbed either the Penrith Panther or Lithgow Panther - have been part of local folklore in Sydney's west and the Blue Mountains for decades.
Rumours persist the big cats escaped from private zoos or a circus in the area years ago, and even the local NRL club is called the Penrith Panthers.
Renewed state government interest in the possible existence of the cat was sparked last year when Premier Nathan Rees said he no longer believed the reports were an urban myth.
"There are too many people reporting sightings," he said last September, only weeks after becoming premier. "Of particular concern is if there are little kids out there, and there actually is one of these things."It is easy for all of us to dismiss these things ... but if we're actually wrong then there is an altogether different set of scenarios."

Mr Rees was refusing to talk about the panther's existence following the report's release today.
While many people believe it is some type of exotic cat, possibly a panther, cougar or leopard, myth busters say they are nothing but large feral cats with thick winter coats.The creatures are said to roam from Penrith to the Hawkesbury region in Sydney's north-west, along the Nepean River and across the Blue Mountains to Lithgow.
Believers say the big cats have been able to survive by roaming the three large national parks - Kanangra-Boyd, Blue Mountains and Wollemi - which connect across the mountains.

Thought we would show the 2 colour phases of leopards.If you look carefully you can see the rosettes(shapes) in the black leopard(panther).
Some truly dumb "researchers" keep repeating "panthers are in Australia" over and over as if the mere repetition of an evidence free statement is evidence in itself.
If the black cats here are "just" .."panthers" then how come, no matter what distance/light the observer is from these animals, that 99.9999% of observers never see any rosettes.
Even when they look for them.!!!
But thinking and honesty dont always go hand in hand in cryptid research in Australia.
Many people dont know there is no animal called a "panther".
Its a reference to the genus "panthera", ie, the big cats that can vocalise/roar.
And normally means a melanistic leopard or jaguar.

Spoke to friends of ours..large cat has entered the cage and managed to get its arse caught in the trap door and wiggled out..solution..they have made the cage longer, Locked the trap door up and started leaving meat inside..the other night a 30 kg wallaby was dragged out...they will leave food further and further inside the cage until the animal feels safe to go to the back and then reset the trapdoor.
Could be the proof we have been after for a long time..!!

Perhaps one day in Australia we will get a cat like Felicity the puma shown here stuffed.She was trapped alive by Ted Noble at Cannich Scotland in 1980.