Big Black Cat Sighting south of Invercargill
Eye-witness Christopher Dean in his own words...
(A Mysterious New Zealand Exclusive - November 2005)
"There is a very large black cat, like a Puma at Omaui. Omaui is south of Invercargill, heading towards Bluff.
I have seen it on two separate occasions about six years apart. The first time was with another person at about 2 am. The animal was actually standing behind a few metres behind us. We didn't realise it was there until I turned around with the torch and immediately saw these large eyes about the size of 50 cent pieces. The eyes reflected the light with a green luminous appearance. It was obviously black. It was very stealthy and slowly lowered its head below the bank of pushed up earth it had been standing on. There was no other animal around other than this creature. We immediately got back into the car and left.
That was about 1996.
I saw it again by myself at around the same time of night in 2002. I had seen a documentary on television about the big cats sighted in England...they said that the cats could live around 15 years. I wondered if it would still have been around. Again, I saw the same huge eyes watching me from about 150 - 200 meters away as I headed back to the road in a hurry. It just kept looking every time I checked on it with the torch. I eventually shone the laser dot at it and it disappeared immediately.
There used to be a lot more opossums in that area and there was in fact a goat problem for several years after 35 goats escaped into the bush after the bottom dropped out of the industry around 1984. Those goats bred into triple digits by 1994. A hunting club shot 200 in one weekend about that time. Now that area is very quiet at night with nothing around.
The cat seemed to have been returning from further afield the second time I saw it so it may have cleaned out the area that we had seen it in the first time. I thought that it might have been dropped off at Omaui having come into Bluff on board a ship. I later learned that in the 1960's the idea was put forward that predatory cats could be brought into the country to control pests.
This animal was large enough to be dangerous to people (it had a big head because its eyes were well spaced) it was stealthy and intelligent...but I think it would be extremely secretive and probably avoid people during the day. Perhaps the idea of pest control from the 1960's went ahead...maybe these animals are neutered and cannot breed, but simply live out their lives preying on pests.
Originally I figured that somebody may have brought it in on a boat to the nearby Port of Bluff and decided to get rid of it into the bush.
I doubt that any one else has ever seen it apart from myself and the other bloke who was with me around 1996.
These big cats seem to be a reality, someone probably knows how they are getting into the country, however the rest of the public think it is a great joke if the subject is ever brought up... which I have done about once."
And a follow-up message from Christopher Dean...
"It had a large head and was totally black ...so rather than calling it a Puma, as I did in the original message, the creature seems far more likely to be a Black Panther.
It was only about four metres behind us when, for no apparent reason, I turned around and lit up its large eyes with the torch.
The eyes were facing forward and were about the size of 50-cent coins, and well spaced, as I stated earlier.
I remember the comment my friend said at the time, "what the *$@!%# is that". It stood there still for about six seconds then very slowly lowered its head below the level of the bank.
I went over in an attempt to find it again with the torch but it was too stealthy for a second glimpse. We got over that fence and into the car so fast.
It was quite funny later on when another friend asked me if I thought it was an opossum! Especially after giving the same description as above."
