Big cat stalking Sydney may be no urban myth

A Current Affair/SMH

NO URBAN MYTH: A large black animal thought to be a panther or another cat-like creature roaming through bush land in New South Wales. The state premier believes such sightings are no longer an urban myth.

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NSW Premier Nathan Rees believes something big and furry is roaming Sydney's west.

Despite a lack of firm evidence, Mr Rees no longer thinks stories of big cats such as a black panther stalking western Sydney are just an urban myth.

Mr Rees yesterday said a western Sydney woman had written to him with a database of around 600 people who have supposedly sighted a big cat in Sydney's outer suburbs.

And the new premier seems to be convinced something is out there and the mysterious animals may warrant investigation.

"I don't think it's necessarily an urban myth," Mr Rees told reporters in Penrith yesterday.

"There are too many people reporting sightings."

He said the state government investigated the issue with the National Parks and Wildlife Service three years ago, but the new sightings may prompt a further probe.

It is a turnaround for Mr Rees, who as water minister in August said the "black panther is an urban myth".

"Of particular concern is if there are little kids out there and there actually is one of these things," Mr Rees said yesterday.

"It is easy for all of us to dismiss these things ... but if we're actually wrong then there is an altogether different set of scenarios."

Sighting of big cats - dubbed either the Penrith Panther or Lithgow Panther - have been part of local folklore in Sydney's west and the Blue Mountains for decades.

Rumours persist the big cats escaped from private zoos or a circus in the area years ago, and even the local NRL club is called the Penrith Panthers.

While many people believe it is some type of exotic cat, possibly a panther, cougar or leopard, myth busters say they are nothing but large feral cats with thick winter coats.

The cats are said to roam from Penrith to the Hawkesbury region in Sydney's north-west along the Nepean River and across the Blue Mountain to Lithgow.

Believers say the big cats have been able to survive by roaming the three large national parks - Kanangra-Boyd, Blue Mountains and Wollemi - which connect across the mountains.

- AAP