THE SOUTH ISLAND PANTHER
“I thought I saw a pussy cat, a-creeping up on me...” sang cartoon canary Tweetie Pie. In the South Island, many have echoed the sentiment over recent years.
Although the sightings bear remarkable similarities to those in other parts of the world, notably Britain, the South Island Panther is an enduring part of kiwi modern legend. Sightings of large felines, similar in size, colouring and movement to big cats like the puma or black leopard, seem to have begun in the last two decades, ruling out the possibility of a hither-to unknown native species. If these creatures do indeed exist (and hard evidence is so far elusive), abnormally large feral cats or escaped exotic animals would seem the most likely explanation.
“... the way it was acting it just didn’t seem to be like a friendly kind of animal ... it was looking towards me all the time - it kind of gave me ... the heebies ...”
Mark Brosnahan
3rd May 2005: Mark Brosnahan of Mid Canterbury saw and photographed a big black cat. His digital photographs seem to show the animal has the appearance of a black panther or large black cat-like animal. As the animal was photographed crouching in long grass, it is difficult to gauge its scale, but he equated it with the size of a dog, with a long tail.