So, how do ya go about trapping a black panther ?

**tarn** · 6th May 2008, 12:45 AM

Hi,

Frankly i don't believe all the panther stories - our eyes & minds play tricks on us. But if you are serious about catching cats - feral, panther or otherwise, I've got a few tips that may help. I started a PhD on feral cats a while back but changed topics in the end...but i did do a bit of literature searching & some trapping for radiotracking so know a wee bit about it. Cats are visual predators and actually have a poor sense of smell until they are right on top of whatever is making the smell. But they are famous for being curious... So use a visual lure like a bunch of white chook feathers suspended in the trap, maybe something sparkly to bring them in close, or even one of those toy mice you get in pet shops, then have the food bait, like dead mouse or rabbit, for the smell to lure them all the way in. In my case I just used dead white lab mice hanging off a hook in the cage trap. visual lure & bait all in one. Worked pretty well for the short time i was doing it. If you wanted to make a trap just scale up a cage trap with a treadle with the lure/bait hanging off a hook that the cat has to enter all the way in to the trap to tug at it. Also cats can be fussy - so make sure the bait isn't too rotten, unless there's a drought on & they are starving & in that case they just aren't that fussy.

And please carefully plan what you intend to do with your "panther" BEFORE you actually catch it. 5 kgs of off feral moggy is scary enough if you want to do something with them while they are alive instead of just shooting them. So I'm pretty sure that 40+ kgs of off panther is that much scarier. Many wild animals calm down if you cover their eyes or put them in a hessian bag. Cats don't.

Best of luck. it would be great to have some actual proof.

cheers
tarn

**Buzza** · 31st May 2008, 12:59 AM

A contract shooter I used to shoot for, had a feral cat skin in his shooting hack everywhere he went. When he was running out of cash in a bar, he would take bets on the size of the cat he had once shot, and when all the bets were laid, he would take the punters out to his his hack and unroll the skin hangin it from an eye hole, on a roo hook. Five feet long from nose to tip of the tail and tabby. It was shot by him out of Hawker in the Flinders Ranges, South Australia. We used to get enough money for both of us to continue until closing time.

We used a .222 over long distances for feral cats, because you can't get near them usually.

**wheelinround** · 29th July 2008, 11:30 PM

http://www.news.com.au/dailytelegrap...001021,00.html

Sydney's 'big cat' sighted again

July 29, 2008 02:32pm

THE fabled "Hills Panther" - a giant cat said to roam as far as Lithgow - has been sighted yet again.
The latest sighting occurred in Berowra Valley at Hornsby Heights on Friday, July 18.

A Hornsby Heights resident, who asked to be known only as Kate, told The Hills Shire Times her husband recently caught sight of a huge cat in bushland behind their property.

"It was on a Friday afternoon just after lunch and we were working in the garden," Kate said. "This animal moved very, very quickly and it leapt too.

"We could see the haunches. It seemed to be a greyish colour from the very quick siting we had and the surprise of it all."

Kate believes it could well be the same big cat that has been spotted by several people in the Hills district.

"I think it's probably the same cat as the one from the Dural-Kenthurst area and it has gone for a wander into Berowra Valley," she said. "I would like to see it again. It's just fascinating me."
Cryptozoologist Rex Gilroy has told The Hills Shire Times the sighting could be connected to other big cat sightings as the animal has been known to follow the scrubland which goes all the way into the outskirts of the Hornsby area.

However Melbourne-born big cat conservationist and New York-based Panthera Foundation executive director Dr Luke Hunter said the evidence available was not enough to support the theory.

For his reasons, read The Hills Shire Times story in full here.

**namtrak** · 30th July 2008, 10:37 AM

The photo looks doctored to me, check out the shadow.

**Woodwould** · 30th July 2008, 11:38 AM

It doesn't look 'Photoshopped' to me; comparing its size to the size of the pavers, it just looks like a domestic grey tom cat!

A panther's paw would cover a good half of one of those pavers.

**Clinton1** · 30th July 2008, 01:08 PM

Nahhhh mate, those are 1000mm square pavers.

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