UPDATE:
A local family has contacted the Gazette identifying the mysterious beast: It’s their family pet, Toby.
“Sorry to disappoint everyone, but this is my cat Toby. He has never been a panther. He is a domestic cat, black in colour, larger than usual, but not panther size. This is my paddock. He likes to visit the neighbours, and has done for the last 14 years. This is great, what a laugh we've had,” Dannielle Donlan commented on the Gazette’s Facebook page.
The humour of the situation wore thin on the family, however, as the videos gained more and more attention nationally and they had concerns more people would try to come and gain pictures or perhaps hunt the panther.
Ms Donlan later shared her own video of Toby, clearly showing he is not a rogue panther but instead a humble domestic cat.
EARLIER:
There has been a purported panther sighting in the Blue Mountains with Belinda Baker uploading footage to Facebook on the weekend of what she believes to be the infamous Black Panther.
Ms Baker said she saw a creature roaming along a slope in Kanimbla on Monday afternoon, June 11, “Not far from the Coxs River”.
“We watched it walking around for about half an hour. It was huge!” Ms Baker wrote in a post on Facebook.
Related stories:
- The article, Woman says she spotted black panther near Coxs River, first appeared on the Lithgow Mercury.
