An Unsolved Mystery N.Z.

An Unsolved Mystery

Original Article
http://www.ashburtonguardian.co.nz/index.asp?articleid=2649


Is there really a panther roaming the Mid Canterbury foothills?

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? Panther sightings are nothing new. Not even in New Zealand.

In 1999 British tourists Mark and Deb Greening filmed what they believed what was a mountain lion in the Lindis Pass. The pair were travelling towards Queenstown in their campervan when Mr Greening saw a creature in the undergrowth.

Curiosity compelled them to turn back for a closer look where, to their astonishment the Greenings found themselves 20 to 30m from an extremely large cat.The first thing that came to mind was that the creature was a panther, Mrs Greening said at the time.

Scientists were divided on whether the Lindis lion might actually have been a tiger, or just a large feral cat.

Bendigo Station gamekeeper Steve Brown said people had good reason to think they were seeing black panthers in the Central Otago high country. Mr Brown said the wild cats were massive, menacing and getting even bigger. These big ones, these panthers people reckon they see, they are not pulling your leg. They are real, he said. But the jury was still out. Panther cases have come up all over the world.

A man staying on his boat off Roseland in Cornwall late last month told The West Briton newspaper the clear sound of a big wild cat kept him awake for one-and-a-half hours. Robin Evans reckons he heard the throaty, large cat sound coming from the shore.

In late September, police combed miles of forest, hillside and bog in
Northern Irelands north coast hunting for two big cats. The search followed more than 20 big cat sightings since early August and a string of sheep killings.

And a big cat has been seen or heard at least five times in September and August five miles west of Aberdeen in Scotland.

Elsewhere in Scotland, in mid-September, two young sisters were frozen in fear when they confronted a panther in a forest in the Black Isle, Ross-shire. It was one of several sightings in the area and has heightened fears that an escaped wild panther or puma is roaming through Ross-shire.

People in New South Wales complained of living in fear in 2001, complaining of a huge black beast on the loose. They set traps and sleuths were brought in to investigate, but nothing was ever found.

Recent activities in Mid Canterbury have put it on the long list of centres with their very own unsolved mystery.

Last week truck driver Chad Stewart got the fright of his life when he pulled into Blair and Sara Gallaghers Mayfield property, 35km northwest of Ashburton.

Mr Stewart spotted what he believes was a big cat at the foot of a tussocky hill. He could hardly believe his eyes, when he drove into the farmyards.
There, beside a scrawny clump of matagouri was a big black shape, less than 50m from where he stood. He watched it for some time.

Initially I thought I was seeing things, its not every day that you see a big black cat running up a hill, Mr Stewart said. One minute it was there, the next it wasnt.

Mr Stewarts sighting has sparked a lot of debate. Experts have said its possible not probable, but locals swear they have seen the mystical black creature made famous by The Jungle Book dubbed the black panther. Since the sighting last week a number of previously unreported sightings over the past three years have cropped up.

The panther was first sighted in Mid Canterbury in 2001.
Alford Forest resident Dave Wightman confirmed a big black cat was spotted in a gorge area of his Winterslow property that winter by Marcus Ewart and David Tutton through binoculars.

The pair watched it walking slowly for about 100m before it disappeared into undergrowth. At the time the pair did not come forward out of fear people wouldnt believe the story, but as Wightman made inquiries, more stories surfaced.

There was also a positive sighting in the Bushside area. The Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry was called in to investigate, but found nothing not even a footprint, MAF biosecurity national advisor import manager Dr Kerry Mulqueen said.

Despite assurances from MAF that there were no reported leopards or jaguars on the loose in New Zealand, the locals thought otherwise.
Hunters have continued to make reports that there was something fishy going on in the hills.

About three weeks ago, Ashburton couple Tony and Peter May saw what they believed was a panther when returning from the Lord of the Rings site at Mt Sunday. It was just by the road, Mrs May said. Initially I thought it was a cat, but it was too big. It wasnt a domestic cat, it wasnt a possum and it wasnt a dog.

On Wednesday MAF investigators made their way back to the area, confident that if there was a big cat roaming the district, they would at least find a sign - some cat scats, scratchings on trees or at least some remains of prey.
They only found some small cat scats.

Once again MAF has abandoned the search, preferring just to leave it as one of the many unsolved mysteries around the world.