greg (Login javajimi) Forum Owner Posted Jun 18, 2009 3:03 PM
Going panther Hunting
Truck driver Chad Stewart points to the area where he last saw the big cat running last Friday, sparking widespread interest in there being a panther-like creature roaming the Mid Canterbury moors.
By Annie Studholme
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.
The original sighting of the alleged big cat happened last Friday, when truck driver Chad Stewart spotted what he was certain was a black panther at the Mayfield property of Blair and Sarah Gallagher.
MAF was notified yesterday.
Ms Pascoe said the team arrived at the Gallaghers this morning. Investigators would be looking for any visual signs of a cat in the area including cat scats (faeces) with bits of bone, fur or wool in it, scratchings on trees, remains of prey, and paw prints.
They are certainly not expecting to see it (the animal) today, she said.
With all the activity and warmer weather it was likely the animal had gone back to the hills.
Ms Pascoe said this was the third type of investigation MAF had carried out in the past couple of years. The last, in the Kaiapoi area, turned out to be nothing but a black labrador dog.
A similar search had also been carried out in Mid Canterbury in 2001 after Marcus Ewart and his friend David Tuttum spotted what they thought was a black cat on the Winterslow property, but no evidence was found.
Ms Pascoe said it was unlikely that it was a black leopard or black jaguar as there were only tigers, lions, and cheetahs in captivity in New Zealand, but its really hard to know.
The last one officially in New Zealand was years ago at Auckland Zoo.
Adelaide Zoo keeper Peter Whitehead said leopards were adaptable creatures and could live in the wild up to the age of 15 or 16 years, but he doubted the sightings based on the lack of stock maulings in the area.
Stories like this come up all the time and its never actually come to anything, but thats not to say its impossible, Mr Whitehead told the Ashburton Guardian.
Since Fridays initial sighting came forward there had also been an unsubstantiated report the big cat had been sighted again. Reports from the past couple of years were also coming up.
Separate black cat sightings were also being reported across the country.
The MAF Emergency Pest Hotline confirmed it had received a number of panther calls since 6.30pm yesterday.
One was a prank call, but the other five were from people convinced they had seen a panther. They were from as far north as Auckland and south to Roxburgh.
Methven and Ashburton police said today there had been no further panther sightings overnight and there had been no reports of mauled stock.
![[linked image]](http://www.ashburtonguardian.co.nz/images/uploaded/truckie.jpg)