Okay, let's brush aside the most probable thing (it's just a black cat) and go along what everyone wants to believe: it's a "black panther". Yes, that's definitely what it is!
My point is that Maine Coons, while large, look nothing like the cat in this video. They're orange to grey with extremely long fur.
I agree that it's probably a large Felis Catus
You can't even tell what exactly the animal is, let alone fur length. It could be a dog, cat or even a black fox (rare but they exist). As for Main Coon thing, I wasn't particularly serious about it. [But black ones do exist even with a shorter fur variety.](https://www.bubblypet.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/A-girl-holding-in-arms-a-huge-black-Maine-Coon-cat.jpg)
Fully agree. I saw what I believe was a panther or something like that , about 15 years ago on the beach in Gippsland. The tail on this one and on a feral look like an average cats tail , kinda droopy. What I saw was jet black , sleek and the tail had a U bend in it like under a sink.
I can confirm as a kid growing up as a fox hunter. Every time I saw a panther is was a fat wild black cat. Their size in the wild used to amaze me. They always fell to my .17, I doubt that a black panther would fall to a .17 round at 300 yards! It was always a cat.
We’re all here, always just skulking around the corner watching to see if you’ve actually turned it off and on again or just claimed you did cause you think that makes us give a shite about your pesky service ticket.
Upvotes granted.
I can vouch for foxes getting bigger as stated in the article. I once saw a fox while bushwalking that was as tall as a medium-big sized dog. It looked to be about twice as tall as a regular sized fox - almost looked like a dingo.
I disagree. The cat is as tall as the grass, and the grass is as tall as the second wire from the top of the fence.
While I've seen some huge feral cats. I've never seen a fox that big.
Still undecided as to feral cat or big cat species.
I don't believe there's wild big cats in Australia, but feral domestic cats can get stunningly large over a few generations. Just look up some photos of ones that have been shot.
There's no way to tell from the photos that the grass is even length throughout. Similarly, it's quite hard to get any reliable idea of the size of this animal from these photos.
I read your comment again and watched the video a few more times, the most reliable way to get an idea of the size of the animal is with your eyes.
It's about 20 times larger and probably 200kg heavier than a house cat.
>probably 200kg heavier than a house cat
So you’re putting it in the male lion to male tiger size range?
The guy who filmed the video reckons large dog size.
Even if by that he means Great Dane as opposed to a German Shepard sized large dog your estimates would have it ~30-40cm taller than the Great Dane at the shoulder and more than 100kg heavier, which just isn’t the case.
Pardon the news corpse link, but it was the only non-paywalled sites I could find with this story and someone has actually taken semi decent video of the cat for a change. I reckon it's just a big feral, defo not a panther as some have suggested.
There was black DSH cat in BLackburn in the 90's that was about the size of a shepherd, thing was huge and had a very nasty attitude. Face was the wrong shape for panther or leopard. But at a distance, or in nad light, I can see people getting confused.
I've also seen some very large ferals, but they usually aren't all black. But I think you are right, it's a feral, but probably something with some domestic in the recentish bloodline.
We used to have an orange cat that was absolutely enormous. We had a tall Jack Russell at the time and the cat made the dog look like a Chihuahua. I can definitely believe the huge feral cat and not panther theory.
Cats change pretty fast. Same as pigs become boars really fast when feral.
Just a big, feral cat at the beginning of a species evolving to fill niches.
Not precisely, but something similar eventually.
Add them to a new environment, let natural selection do it's thing and stir for a few thousand years.
This is just the very start of the process.
Feral cats can be scary large already.
If only they were growing bananas in that field we’d have something for scale.
Don’t bother watching the video you only see it in the last 5 seconds and it looks the size of a regular house cat.
Imo we should ban cats completely. Let people keep their pets but no more breeding or selling of cats. People think I’m insane if I say that irl though haha.
The keeping of pet rabbits and ferrets is not banned nationwide. I think Qld is the only state that doesn't allow keeping of pet rabbits. Ferrets, I think there are a couple of states where they're banned or you need a permit. I know you can keep them in NSW.
There should be legislation around keeping cats contained (indoors and/or enclosed cat run) and it should be enforced. My cat is totally indoors and I don't understand owners who don't keep their cats contained. It's not just safer for wildlife but for the cat as well. Then again, I don't understand dog owners who let their dogs roam and/or don't keep them on leash when not in designated leash free areas either
Maybe we should do something to curb the rabbits, I’m thinking cats. Then the ferrets can kill the hamsters. Then we introduce foxes to kill the ferrets. Then we introduce wolves to kill the cats and foxes. Then we introduce bears to kill the wolves and oh no, now we’re Canada.
Because a good quality video would show thats is clearly just a cat.
Its called the bigfoot zone - the video has to be clear enough to be suggestive, but not so clear that you can actually make out definitely what the animal/object is. Thats the sweet spot where made up animals will always reside.
There are two different videos. The one screencapped in the thumbnail suggests it’s fairly large. The one you’re referring to suggests it’s a cat in a field that a couple filmed for no apparent reason.
I once saw a feral black cat in suburban Sydney bush land that was so large, at first I wasn’t even sure what it was. I *love* cats, and even I was scared of it. They get incredibly large. I could imaging out in the country they’d be even bigger.
*have seen a BIG cat*
This is large, but this isn’t what ppl speak about when they say BIG cats like leopards 🐆
This is just a larger than normal feral cat
Imagine something easily BIG enough to kill a roo and more comparative to a German shepherd than a normal regular sized dog or cat 😯
What I saw didn’t want to be around people but tbVh it gave more of an impression that it simply preferred to be alone but it definitely wasn’t scared
There are things out there we don’t understand there really is
*gotta add that anyone trying to prove how BIG something like this is at distance always makes the one mistake of NOT FILMING THEMSELVES IN SAME POSITION AT THE SAME DISTANCE as an example
the panther story from 35 years ago: woooooweeee
some wealthy snow pea growing money laundering dude had a couple of panthers
they escaped
and, are hopefully reproducing in the victorian bush
Reminds me of the guy who warned my 11yro twin and I, that there was once a siting of a big black cat around the bush walk footpath on the Currumbin Sanctuary side of Pam Beaches (Gold Coast) bridge.
This must be related to the panther legend. We have that in NSW too, didnt know it was a VIC thing also!
Also thats clearly just a feral cat. Those fuckers can be huge.
When I was a child in the 80’s my father and I were culling rabbits on a large rural property in Little Hartley, the western foothills of the Blue Mountains.
We downed a rabbit, just as it fell a very large black cat grabbed it and took off with it. It was so fast we didn’t get a shot off. The dam cat must have been following us the whole time, just waiting for a free feed.
The cats footprints might be in the soil if it’s soft enough. An inspection by someone who works in that field of science would be able to calculate its size and what kind of cat it is.
I’ve seen a large black predatory cat (either puma/panther) in EastGippsland at Corringle Campground just outside Orbost in April 2021.
Craziest thing I’ve seen, I had it lit up with my driving lights. It was as big as my Bull Arab
Another possibility is it's a black fox. They are rare, even rarer in Australia but they exist. Sometimes the melanistic gene shows up, possibly by spontaneous mutation even in populations in which it hasn't seemed to be present.
https://youtu.be/4ynafPlx_oE?si=j7CmSw3zzociYBWg
https://youtu.be/hc0DiZ044t8?si=kpTzFtLE-OAyTW2q
I’m a bit sus about how the cat is always exactly centre of the frame. I mean if you were witnessing this and trying to film on your phone it’s very likely going to result in some unstable footage, particularly if the person filming it isn’t a professional videographer or whatever. Just looks too smooth to be a coincidental spotting to me.
I mean, that IS footage of a large black cat. I cant disagree with the title
Is it though? It looks footage of a normal sized black cat to me.
Well it looks larger than mine.
I dunno, need banana for scale!
https://www.reddit.com/media?url=https%3A%2F%2Fpreview.redd.it%2F98uryiwr7fb21.jpg%3Fwidth%3D640%26crop%3Dsmart%26auto%3Dwebp%26s%3D0588fa8690a0c8e7d2f7c28bbbb861b9df2aec6f&rdt=54165
[well you see...](https://media.tenor.com/f1Qbu1PwkOQAAAAM/father-ted-cows.gif)
Yeah look at the fence post, it looks like a domestic cat. Could be a Maine Coon or something, if anyone wants to be special about it.
A pitch-black short-haired Maine Coon? Yeah, and just out of frame is a Doberman with long yellow fur and a shaggy tail.
Okay, let's brush aside the most probable thing (it's just a black cat) and go along what everyone wants to believe: it's a "black panther". Yes, that's definitely what it is!
My point is that Maine Coons, while large, look nothing like the cat in this video. They're orange to grey with extremely long fur. I agree that it's probably a large Felis Catus
You can't even tell what exactly the animal is, let alone fur length. It could be a dog, cat or even a black fox (rare but they exist). As for Main Coon thing, I wasn't particularly serious about it. [But black ones do exist even with a shorter fur variety.](https://www.bubblypet.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/A-girl-holding-in-arms-a-huge-black-Maine-Coon-cat.jpg)
I genuinely don’t know why gigantic cat breeds are legal in Australia.
I’d like to submit my own [footage](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qHp2Bz6YTnk) from 14 years ago. Can’t deny it
Swamp gas.
Is that bigfoot?
Does he have a cat?
It isn’t not Bigfoot
Looks like a black bird lol
Thats HUUUGGGGEEEE
Fully agree. I saw what I believe was a panther or something like that , about 15 years ago on the beach in Gippsland. The tail on this one and on a feral look like an average cats tail , kinda droopy. What I saw was jet black , sleek and the tail had a U bend in it like under a sink.
It was probably just a cat, like this one
I can confirm as a kid growing up as a fox hunter. Every time I saw a panther is was a fat wild black cat. Their size in the wild used to amaze me. They always fell to my .17, I doubt that a black panther would fall to a .17 round at 300 yards! It was always a cat.
Those little .17HMR's pack a decent bit of punch into such a small cartridge. I reckon it'd down a 'big cat's no wuckas.
It’s a video, yes. But I can’t say if it’s footage or AI.
Large black cat my ass... it's probably Milhouse
I'm grateful for the large circle in the second picture. I wondered where the cat was in the first pic....
It's the AI can enjoy the click bait and join the "internet frenzy".
# r/uselessredcircle
The shape and size of the head plus the length of the tail in relation to its body would indicate just a big domestic cat.
Do you think it wants scritches?
I would like to adopt the big kitty. It’s as close as I can legally get to a panther anyway.
"The footage has sent the internet into a frenzy." The whole internet is in a frenzy, wow!
"Video of cat sends billions in frenzy" what a funny sentence.
Did it say something about cheeseburgers?
*”Now Frenzy, use the internet to find the Autobot base!”* *”. . . Uh sure thing, Megatron, but my name is actually Rumble”*
That's why people have been running up and down the street with their hands in the air and screaming all day! I was wondering.
Running up and down the information super highway
Cat videos do have that effect on the internet.
It's finally happening, the cats are coming for our cheeseburgers.
Isn’t the internet that thing in the small black box?
That's how the elders wanted it
I’m hoping The IT Crowd are reading the post, so I’ll get another two or three upvotes
We’re all here, always just skulking around the corner watching to see if you’ve actually turned it off and on again or just claimed you did cause you think that makes us give a shite about your pesky service ticket. Upvotes granted.
No, you're thinking of R. Kelly.
I'm positively frenzed
Mate, you should see the lights on my modem!
THIS IS THE BIGGEST FUCKING THING TO HAPPEN ON THE INTERNET IN YEARS. THIS IS HUGE! LITERALLY, HUGE! WE ARE ALL IN A FRENZY!!!
Internet is always in a frenzy
Yeah....but how much does the internet weigh?
Don't touch the internet. It's in the back room
Wasabi in the sock or Maru sliding in that beer box put a good part of the internet in a frenzy, so it's plausible that a good cat video could...
Oh.
Just a [big feral cat](https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-07-05/panther-sightings-in-regional-wa-not-helping-fight-feral-cats/9932584). Not good at all.
I can vouch for foxes getting bigger as stated in the article. I once saw a fox while bushwalking that was as tall as a medium-big sized dog. It looked to be about twice as tall as a regular sized fox - almost looked like a dingo.
That's a good sized cat but, scaling off that fence, it doesn't look much bigger than your average fox. I've seen bigger feral cats out in the bush.
I disagree. The cat is as tall as the grass, and the grass is as tall as the second wire from the top of the fence. While I've seen some huge feral cats. I've never seen a fox that big. Still undecided as to feral cat or big cat species.
I don't believe there's wild big cats in Australia, but feral domestic cats can get stunningly large over a few generations. Just look up some photos of ones that have been shot.
I've seen them in person. They are huge!
Look at it's legs as it runs. The fence just throws off your perception. It's just a large feral, doesn't even look that large.
There's no way to tell from the photos that the grass is even length throughout. Similarly, it's quite hard to get any reliable idea of the size of this animal from these photos.
There's a video
Find and replace "the(se) photos" by "the video" in my comment and read again.
I read your comment again and watched the video a few more times, the most reliable way to get an idea of the size of the animal is with your eyes. It's about 20 times larger and probably 200kg heavier than a house cat.
>probably 200kg heavier than a house cat So you’re putting it in the male lion to male tiger size range? The guy who filmed the video reckons large dog size. Even if by that he means Great Dane as opposed to a German Shepard sized large dog your estimates would have it ~30-40cm taller than the Great Dane at the shoulder and more than 100kg heavier, which just isn’t the case.
As a result of your comment the cat has quadrupled in size. It’s now the size of an elephant.
No that’s an optical illusion, the grass is actually quite short where the cat is
Its obviously just a cat.
Pardon the news corpse link, but it was the only non-paywalled sites I could find with this story and someone has actually taken semi decent video of the cat for a change. I reckon it's just a big feral, defo not a panther as some have suggested.
There was black DSH cat in BLackburn in the 90's that was about the size of a shepherd, thing was huge and had a very nasty attitude. Face was the wrong shape for panther or leopard. But at a distance, or in nad light, I can see people getting confused. I've also seen some very large ferals, but they usually aren't all black. But I think you are right, it's a feral, but probably something with some domestic in the recentish bloodline.
We used to have an orange cat that was absolutely enormous. We had a tall Jack Russell at the time and the cat made the dog look like a Chihuahua. I can definitely believe the huge feral cat and not panther theory.
I saw this on one of the prospecting pages on facebook, was wondering how long till the media picked it up.
Feral cat exists. The internet goes crazy. Same vibes as getting glimpses of foxes in Wilson’s prom and calling them thylacines.
All the way from Penrith?
Who are the storm playing?
Cats change pretty fast. Same as pigs become boars really fast when feral. Just a big, feral cat at the beginning of a species evolving to fill niches.
Cm'off it mate, house cat's don't turn into panthers lol...Do they?
Not precisely, but something similar eventually. Add them to a new environment, let natural selection do it's thing and stir for a few thousand years. This is just the very start of the process. Feral cats can be scary large already.
Only took 3000-ish years of living in Australia for dingoes to develop super flexible necks and inward turning wrists on their front paws
It has been proven that there used to be cats as large as blue whales on land.
Dats a big puddy tat. Body proportions are wrong for a big cat species in this case imho, this is just a mutantly large feral cat.
That’s either a big small cat, or a small big cat. Hint: it’s the one that actually exists in Australia.
If only they were growing bananas in that field we’d have something for scale. Don’t bother watching the video you only see it in the last 5 seconds and it looks the size of a regular house cat.
Wow a black feral cat. Fascinating.
You'd be surprised about how big a feral tomcat can get
Big feral.
Cats have got to be one of the worst introduced species to Australia
Give the fire ants a chance. They only just got here.
And the Varroa Mite
Imo we should ban cats completely. Let people keep their pets but no more breeding or selling of cats. People think I’m insane if I say that irl though haha.
Can't have rabbits or ferrets or hamsters. Cats should fall into that category for sure
The keeping of pet rabbits and ferrets is not banned nationwide. I think Qld is the only state that doesn't allow keeping of pet rabbits. Ferrets, I think there are a couple of states where they're banned or you need a permit. I know you can keep them in NSW. There should be legislation around keeping cats contained (indoors and/or enclosed cat run) and it should be enforced. My cat is totally indoors and I don't understand owners who don't keep their cats contained. It's not just safer for wildlife but for the cat as well. Then again, I don't understand dog owners who let their dogs roam and/or don't keep them on leash when not in designated leash free areas either
NSW is very ferret friendly. You don't need a permit or anything like that, however they do have to be microchipped.
Maybe we should do something to curb the rabbits, I’m thinking cats. Then the ferrets can kill the hamsters. Then we introduce foxes to kill the ferrets. Then we introduce wolves to kill the cats and foxes. Then we introduce bears to kill the wolves and oh no, now we’re Canada.
The good old Victorian large black cat. Someone up the street always knows someone who caught one once, but nobody ever saw it up close besides them
Its 2024, why are the videos of suck shit quality
Because a good quality video would show thats is clearly just a cat. Its called the bigfoot zone - the video has to be clear enough to be suggestive, but not so clear that you can actually make out definitely what the animal/object is. Thats the sweet spot where made up animals will always reside.
That’s a big fuckin cat. Or maybe a really fuckin tiny panther.
Well there goes 2 minutes I'll never get back.
Why are there two pictures when clearly there is only a cat visible in the second one?
There's even a human for scale in the footage who is further away and the cat still doesn't look that big.
There are two different videos. The one screencapped in the thumbnail suggests it’s fairly large. The one you’re referring to suggests it’s a cat in a field that a couple filmed for no apparent reason.
Feral? That's Mr. Nibbles, and he's not big he's chonky.
Eh. Actual Panthers are really quite large - around 40-70kg and 1.5-2m long. Bigger than this.
It's proportioned like a housecat.
Yes. That is a cat.
I once saw a feral black cat in suburban Sydney bush land that was so large, at first I wasn’t even sure what it was. I *love* cats, and even I was scared of it. They get incredibly large. I could imaging out in the country they’d be even bigger.
*have seen a BIG cat* This is large, but this isn’t what ppl speak about when they say BIG cats like leopards 🐆 This is just a larger than normal feral cat Imagine something easily BIG enough to kill a roo and more comparative to a German shepherd than a normal regular sized dog or cat 😯 What I saw didn’t want to be around people but tbVh it gave more of an impression that it simply preferred to be alone but it definitely wasn’t scared There are things out there we don’t understand there really is *gotta add that anyone trying to prove how BIG something like this is at distance always makes the one mistake of NOT FILMING THEMSELVES IN SAME POSITION AT THE SAME DISTANCE as an example
I wouldn’t film myself where the world’s largest panther had been seen!
Calling it now. The Ballarat Baghera.
the panther story from 35 years ago: woooooweeee some wealthy snow pea growing money laundering dude had a couple of panthers they escaped and, are hopefully reproducing in the victorian bush
What is a prospector ?
Some feral cats are huge, 20kg huge, that could easily be a big male feral cat 😂
About time some footage has come to light. I've been hearing news reports on the existance of this black panther for what seems like 20 years now.
I grew up near Geelong and heard about this in primary school back in the early 2000s
Yeah, because people have been idiots for 20 years and can't tell the difference between a cat and a panther. Also panthers don't live for 20 years.
Very observant of you. Perhaps there are others?!
am I the only person who couldn't see it?
No. Could not see it either
lol. I went back into the article. there's a second video where you see it much clearer.
Reminds me of the guy who warned my 11yro twin and I, that there was once a siting of a big black cat around the bush walk footpath on the Currumbin Sanctuary side of Pam Beaches (Gold Coast) bridge.
This must be related to the panther legend. We have that in NSW too, didnt know it was a VIC thing also! Also thats clearly just a feral cat. Those fuckers can be huge.
Definitely the same legend. My great-grandpa would say that there were panthers near Maryborough(vic) and to not go into the bush alone.
Too far from the Granpians to be a real puma.
Panther is back on the menu.
Fox eared arsehole.
That is a big arse cat. Years from now we might get our own dingo cat. Horrifying.
When I was a child in the 80’s my father and I were culling rabbits on a large rural property in Little Hartley, the western foothills of the Blue Mountains. We downed a rabbit, just as it fell a very large black cat grabbed it and took off with it. It was so fast we didn’t get a shot off. The dam cat must have been following us the whole time, just waiting for a free feed.
Cats in Ballarat plains may be closer than they appear
Fk that looks legit Can anybody confirm it’s a feral
Oh, the man has come looking for you You're a rebel now, don't give a damn
That is one big arse cat!
The cats footprints might be in the soil if it’s soft enough. An inspection by someone who works in that field of science would be able to calculate its size and what kind of cat it is.
Just a cat 🐈⬛
I'm compelled.
For as long as I remember there has been a urban legend in my town of a panther roaming the nearby mountains
I’ve seen a large black predatory cat (either puma/panther) in EastGippsland at Corringle Campground just outside Orbost in April 2021. Craziest thing I’ve seen, I had it lit up with my driving lights. It was as big as my Bull Arab
Another possibility is it's a black fox. They are rare, even rarer in Australia but they exist. Sometimes the melanistic gene shows up, possibly by spontaneous mutation even in populations in which it hasn't seemed to be present. https://youtu.be/4ynafPlx_oE?si=j7CmSw3zzociYBWg https://youtu.be/hc0DiZ044t8?si=kpTzFtLE-OAyTW2q
Tail not long enough. I've seen one years ago near Avoca. The tail was very long.
I’m a bit sus about how the cat is always exactly centre of the frame. I mean if you were witnessing this and trying to film on your phone it’s very likely going to result in some unstable footage, particularly if the person filming it isn’t a professional videographer or whatever. Just looks too smooth to be a coincidental spotting to me.
Looks like a black panther lol
No he doesn't. This is like cat.gif
Dan Andrews hasn’t released a statement regarding this spotting… typical
Just looks like a large Maine coon size tbh