The black leopards and jaguars seen by many coherent, hi-intellect, rational people, including the present writer, are easily explained.
Up to the mid-'70s of last century most of the many circuses roaming NSW, where the writer grew up, had a 'Black Panther' display/act. These animals were Leopards and Jaguars, the 'jungle' variety of which are black; the rosettes are visible only under bright illumination. The 'animal liberation' movements of the '70s saw the dispersal and consequent escape (liberation) of most 'panthers'.

Since then the sightings have increased exponentially with time. Anyone who drinks at pubs between Lue and Hampton, and talks to the bush workers and property managers intelligently, will hear many many plainly true stories of sightings. For example, two black leopards were seen crossing the Bylong Road, to the north of the Wollemi Wilderness, in 1978. Men who have seen these beasts never forget the finest details.

The male was almost twice the size of the female. They were obviously a breeding pair. The present writer saw a black leopard twice (three weeks apart) near the intersection of Londonderry Road and Wilshire Road, Londonderry NSW, in May 1996. He, obviously a male, was as big as a tiger, had been feeding on the rubbish bins of a cattle feed-lot at that location. He was clearly seen in the hi-beam of the writer's (Computer Engineer with Digital Equipment Corporation) company vehicle. He slunk very quickly into the jungley creek-side bush surrounding Richmond Trotting & Greyhound Club.

The animal had eaten all the local pet sheep, goats, dogs and cats. Soon after, he departed for the Gross Valley, leaving a clear 'trail' of half-eaten carcases of sheep and calves, cached up tall trees, at North Richmond and Gross Wold. The writer has photographs of his footprints taken by an alert pony-club lady at Gross Wold.

Subsequently lone campers in the Gross Valley have been disappearing without trace at the rate of two or three per annum. The area has finally been closed for camping by Dept. of Parks and Wildlife, as we speak.

The present writer is an active private pilot (unrestricted since 1979), a sporting shooter, and a very keen bushman and breeder of big strong cattledogs.
The aim of 'Boutique Adventures' is to catch a live example in the Gross Valley. A big breathing snarling leopard, by use of a simple drop-down door cage.
All interested helpers who are physically and mentally hard, sharp, & keen are invited to participate. The writer is now 60 years old, all friends and present aquaintences are not up to a bit of hard bush-work with a wiff of adventure (risk!) Poor darlings.
Dietrich (Dean) Wilhelm Behncke

Oh .. sorry the above is fiction!... You gotta make that clear, I was going to call you a dirty liar until i figured that out!!!

Looks like an interesting fanatsy read. Would love to see more.

OMG... that story is wrong. The animals were the USA's armys, air force and NAVY's mascots. But when ww2 was over, they left and left the animals there too. The animals are there. Its a fact, there ain't many. But they are there...

It was on channel 7 a couple of weeks ago with plans to get them out of the country, but then people were saying, no killing them is cruel and so on...
Australia is fine with them here. I just think we should worry about our water supply.

City people watch too much TV, play too much 'computer games' and are stressed by the 'behavioural sink syndrome'...in Lithgow even smartass off duty coppers still get a smack in the mouth when guilty of dumb insolence. Don't let the sun set on your ass west of emu plains, sweeti, our cattledogs will bite your balls off if you have any.
Go ride with santa-clause.

What has happened to all the 'black panthers' (hundreds) that were circus animals until 1970's? What is the zoological definition of a 'panther?' The Dept. of Zoology at The University Of Sydney will inform you...Your story of 'mascots' is also true; the descendants of those animals are also out there in the Great Dividing Range. The sightings of large tawney cats, 'mountain lions' are rare but credible. Have personally met a young lady from an Armidale property who has sighted such a beast.
'Worry' is for grandmothers, a waste of intellect and logic. Try thinking. Come out to the bush and meet some real people.

Hi Tranquilitybase blackheath,

WooHoo a mystery from my part of the world, I was at Centennial Glen, Blackheath this morning (making the most of the sun) . Now I hadn't heard that the NPWS were closing the Grose Valley due to disappearances. I know lots of walks have been closed due to bushfires though.

I keep an open mind about the bigcats around here. Hasn't some government department even investigated? In the old "Driving guide to Australia" published in the 1980's (I think) there is actually a "Strange Animals Research Centre" located at Mount Vic. I could only find further reference to it on a German website and since I am sans the German language that didn't really go anywhere. Do you think they may have escaped from the Lion park down at Warragamba?

I was speaking to a National Parks guy who said there were packs of large hybrid dingo/cross in the area but they don't usually go where the humans are.

We back onto the Grose Valley and have found some great paw prints measuring 14cm x 14cms, it's a big place anything could be in there. I don't believe though that the number of cats that were released could continue to grow to the amount of sightings now a days, there would have to be some sort of mutation or something to keep the gene pool going.

My foreigner's understanding of the geography is that the Blue Mountains area of NSW includes Katoomba and Mount Vic(toria).

If that is correct, then perhaps you are looking for Rex and Heather Gilroy's three research centres that are or were located in Katoomba:

Australian Yowie Research Centre
Australian Cryptozoological Research Centre
Australasian Cryptozoological Research Centre

Hope that helps.

Thanks - I couldn't quite remember the name - my sister has the guide now. We laughed so hard when we saw it. Like they had an 'insider' at the publishing house who put it in.

Edit: I think the name in the guide is slightly different - Ill ask my sister to dig it out. But it is most likely to refer anyway to one of those above. Cheers

That is too good.

Blue Mountains, Black leopards..... Are there pink stars and purple clovers too?

Unfortuently only gold stars here. Honestly though you'd need to see the place to appreciate how large it is.

Tia,
Thanx 4 your input & clear recollection. The pawprints you saw are 'average' leopard size, though the male may be twice the size & weight of the female; ie females weigh 40-60 kg, males 70-100 kg. Did you photograph the prints? The one that I saw in '96 was as big as a Tiger, at least 100 kg.

Regarding possible numbers, there are some clues. Whe I was young, almost every circus had 'animal acts' including a 'Black Panther'. (This is a tautology since a panther is by definition a black leopard, jaguar, or puma (mountain lion) The last are rare if not unknown.) There were two or three dozen circuses roaming the Eastern states. At the consciousness raising era, mid-1970s, these animal acts quickly became redundant. At least one semi-trailer load overturned on the Putty Road and all the clever carnivores escaped. We may suppose most survived, and nature took it's course.

Regarding the genetics, most mutations are un-noticed, unfit specimens do not survive to reproduce. The carnivorous animal is at the top of the food chain, highly competitive , superbly adapted. If you are interested in Zoology, check Rosemary Ewer's classic text 'The Carnivores'. Also David Attenborough's famous Video 'Leopard'... "the most widespread and successful of the big cats".
Cheers,
Dean

Belquis,
You are right, Perry's Lookdown is open again. My information about the missing campers comes from the Lithgow cops. Most of the Lithgow 'uniforms' have seen the black leopards on their ealy morning patrols. There is nothing 'strange' about any of these feral carnivores in our bush: Zoology Rules!
Cheers
dean

Yea, i heard this too, let them live, they eat kangaroos and there's plently of them. Also regarding animal roadkill, better their corpses dragged from the road and eaten instead of lying there and rotting as roadkill. Im sure they havnt hurt them. I also believe they are thriving.

i know that at least around here that there are cougars running all over these mountains.

Actually there was a lovely large wallaby (road kill) sitting there for a couple of days and now has gone, that was down at Yarramundi.