Puma-sized cat sightings in NSW prompt investigation
The New South Wales state government has launched an investigation into sightings of a puma-sized cat in the Hunter Valley.
Maitland woman Bev Fraser told the ABC she could not believe her eyes when she spotted a panther-sized big cat in a paddock next to her home.
“It was too large to be an overgrown domestic cat – just a 50-kilo sort of animal sitting on my fence post,” Fraser said.
She estimated the cat’s size based on the fence post on which it was sitting. “This cat had climbed up on a fence post and was sitting on a substantial fence post staring down into the undergrowth,” she said.
“It was obviously hunting something, looking and concentrating obviously as cats do. I am now hesitant to go down there.”
Fraser said she could not get closer than about 120 metres before the animal sensed her presence.
“You know, it was 100 or so metres away, and that is a huge animal, and so I am still very convinced that is was a very large cat, but what variety I have no idea.”
Hunter Valley man Chris O’Neill has also reported a sighting of a puma-sized cat about 30 kilometres from Fraser’s place.
O’Neill said he was driving home for dinner last Thursday when he saw “a very big creature”.
“A black feline cat-like creature, was kind of running under or near a truck and it was the same size as the wheel,” he told the ABC.
“So it was a very big creature and its movement was cat-like but it certainly wasn’t a domestic cat.”
The Department of Primary Industries (DPI) told the ABC it had launched an investigation into the feline sightings and would refer the report to either the NSW Police, the land manager, or the Livestock Health and Pest Authority.