Blue Mountains Panther

In this week's episode, we're going over to the Australian countryside for an elusive big cat, the Blue Mountains Panther! Why does Australia have a complicated history with cats? What do we think this could be? Find out this week!

Transcript

INTRO:
Hello and welcome to Myth Monsters, my name is Erin and I’ll be your host for these little snack bite size podcasts on folklore and mythical monsters from around the world. 

These podcasts focus on the actual cryptids, folklore and mythic monsters from global mythology, rather than focusing on full stories of heroes and their big adventures.

I’ll also be dropping in some references that they have to recent culture and where you can see these represented in modern day content so you can learn more, and get as obsessed as I am about these absolute legends of the mythological world.

I’ve spent most of this summer crammed into my home office either playing video games or studying, and my cats have been particularly disruptive, so this episode comes at the perfect time for me to appreciate how cute and small they are in comparison to some bigger monsters out there.

DESCRIPTION:

So let’s talk about big cats this week, as we’re heading on over to the wonderful and hopefully, currently chilly Australia to discuss a strange cryptid, the Blue Mountains Panther!

Okay, so this is going to be a weird monster to describe because it’s going to be super basic because it's just a normal panther. 

The Blue Mountains panther is typically described as a normal panther as I said, and these are massive black cats that can be found across Asia, South America and Africa usually. They have big teeth, big claws, four legs and they don’t particularly like humans. 

They’re jungle cats, so they hang about in trees and are awesome climbers. They’re also not technically their own species, the panther is just a mutant jaguar or leopard that doesn’t have spots but is black all over. However, the mutation is common enough to have its own variation name and the panther was born. 

The Blue Mountains panther is slightly different because it is believed to be a panther who roams the Australian wilderness near the Blue Mountains in New South Wales, South-East Australia. Now what makes this monster special is that Panthers are not native to Australia, and no one knows how they appeared and no one has been able to capture one - so it’s become a cryptid in its own right. 

It doesn’t have any special powers, it’s not got mega camouflage skills even though it's clearly very good at evading capture. They’re super strong as they’re big cats and can tear apart flesh with both their claws and teeth, and run at super fast speed - so even though they’re not anything special in comparison to normal Panthers, they’re still super dangerous.

There have been sightings since the 1800’s, so there is a thought that maybe this is one Panther that has been alive all that time, but I don’t think that is the widely accepted belief. 

Panthers live independently, and they breed like normal mammals. The females are the hunters, and they eat smaller animals such as deer, antelope, goats and have a litter of up to three cubs per pregnancy.

Of course, I will say that if you ever see a big cat in the wild, do not approach it, please. They’re not like your common house cat and whilst they do like a cuddle if they’re looked after by humans, they’re most likely going to try and eat you or just rip your face off. 

To avoid being eaten by a big cat, maintain eye contact, make yourself big and back off slowly, never turn your back and never run from one. If they do attack you, you just have to attack back and hope that you set up a will before you went on this hiking trip. 

That’s really all I have to say on this, the grit of this episode is mostly in the origin section so I’ll move onto that.

ORIGIN:

So moving onto etymology, I mean I’m not sure what to tell you here that you don’t already know. They’re from the Blue Mountains and it looks like a panther - so that’s about it for this week, a bit bland, but hey, at least you can’t mistake the name for anything else I guess. It is also known as the Lithgow Panther, after one of the towns that sees it the most. 

Right, let's get onto something interesting, the history! This monster has been rumoured to be around since around the 1800’s, however, through the last 20 years, there have been over 500 recorded sightings of the Blue Mountains Panther across New South Wales. The reports mostly came in from 1998, with 39 reports in 2003, including in 2002, when a boy that year was badly scratched by a big cat outside his house. Most of the reports are of big black, shiny cats outside in the evenings in gardens or wooded areas from afar, with witnesses saying they were bigger than house cats. 

But what is super interesting about this is Australia’s history with cats. They were first introduced in 1788 with the first fleet of British colonists to the island, and quickly became household pets in the 1830’s to 90% of the population as pest control. They also did a mass release of cats for pest control in Victoria as rabbit hunters, but didn’t think about how quickly those cats would go feral and how much they’d breed. 

This led to a massive overpopulation problem with a non-native species to Australia, to this day, feral and domesticated outdoor cats kill 110 native animals each year, including birds, mammals and reptiles. This technically makes them an invasive species, and the feral cats did get to massive sizes in this ecosystem, and in 2005, a feline was found to be 69 inches from tail to nose, and was found to be a feral overgrown cat and could explain our big cat issue. 

Another explanation is that circuses were a big thing in the 18 and 1900’s, which included big cat acts. Circuses are notoriously horrendous at looking after exotic animals, and some were known to be released into the Australian wild. We also have the issue of black market pet trading, where you are able to purchase a big cat for big money, however, these people want a status symbol and once they realise they can’t look after their pet lion or tiger, or panther in this case, they release it into the wild - which again, has been recorded to happen in these regions. 

Lastly, and the most probable cause of this myth is World War 2. You might be thinking, well that was in Europe - yes, you’re right, but Australia did get involved as it was still part of the British Empire at this point. During this time, American soldiers who were stationed over there, coming back from North Africa, would pick up exotic animals as ‘mascots’. There was a record of one ship bringing back 1650 animals, including bear cubs and lion cubs, and this is the widely accepted reason as to why there might be big cats roaming the Australian countryside now.

The Department for Primary Industries has done multiple enquiries on this issue in 1999, 2003, 2009 and 2013. In the first report, it noted that "Difficult as it seems to accept, the most likely explanation of the evidence … is the presence of a large feline predator." which led to astonishment in the scientific community, that the Government had admitted their presence.

However, then in 2003, the government reported that "Nothing found in this review conclusively proves the presence of free ranging exotic large cats in New South Wales, but this cannot be discounted and seems more likely than not on available evidence.", followed in 2009 with, "There is no scientific evidence found during this review that conclusively proves the presence of free ranging exotic large cats in NSW, but a presence cannot be discounted, and it seems more likely than not on available evidence that such animals do exist in NSW. Whilst information has been provided, there is still nothing to conclusively say that a large black cat exists."

Lastly, in 2013 to close the argument they said, "The sightings and other evidence presented, mostly from the Hawkesbury region, are at best prima facie evidence." and that "Large feral cats (Felis domesticus) can be found throughout most parts of Australia and it has been suggested that sightings of 'black panthers' may be the result of people mistaking feral cats, or even the rear view and tails of animals such as the black swamp wallaby, for panthers — particularly in dense bushland.

"Unfortunately there is rarely sufficient evidence such as clear photos or footprints to warrant further investigation."

But why is this such a big deal for such a normal animal? Why is this being mentioned in a mythical monsters podcast? 

Because it’s a cryptid, and what’s more it’s a specific type of cryptid. A cryptid is defined as a creature whose existence is in question due to lack of evidence but cited in multiple witness accounts, and not sourced from an ancient civilization or religion, which is exactly what this monster is. The Blue Mountains Panther, whilst a normal panther by what we know, shouldn’t be there - and is a phenomena, so of course we’re covering it. 

So why shouldn’t it be there? Well most importantly because of Australia and their ecosystem. Australia is an island, and almost half of that island is uninhabited due to weather, terrain and creatures that are native to the Australian outback that are dangerous to humans. We all know that Australia has snakes, spiders, sharks and Cassowaries, but what they definitely don’t have is Panthers. This means that the Panthers, because they definitely didn’t swim across from Asia, got there somehow. Hence, the mystery. 

Also New South Wales is pretty populated, and seeing a wild big cat must be pretty scary and pretty weird knowing that they don’t come from here. Like me seeing a lion a few times in an Essex park, that would be weird - but if multiple people see it, that’s how a cryptid is born, baby!

I mentioned that they’re a specific type of cryptid, and they are known as Phantom Cats or Alien Big Cats. These are cats that appear outside of their native spaces and have been reported across the world. Usually if they are found, they are identified as escaped zoo animals or exotic pets - however, some of their hunts go on for long enough to fall into the cryptid category.

So let’s talk about similar monsters, of course we have the wonderful Big Cats of the UK, which are really prevalent in British folklore throughout the 18th and 19th century, and still get spotted today in the wilds of Yorkshire and Devonshire. We do also have the Cat-Sith from the Scottish Highlands, who was technically a witch in disguise but moved around as a big cat. 

In Australia too, we have the extinct Thylacine, which is often thought to be not-extinct by cryptozoologists, and is hunted for as a cryptid now. These native Australian fossils are similar to wild cats, but have tiger stripes. You can learn more about them in the Thylacine episode I have in the Myth Monsters catalogue.

I will mention that the belief in the Blue Mountains Panther is still pretty widespread in the area, and there are a load of people still researching this - including The Grose Vale Group, who are the leading research group for this topic. So watch this space and if they ever prove it, I’ll definitely come back and amend my facts here.

CULTURAL SIGNIFICANCE: 

Now onto modern media, there’s not a lot for this one I’m afraid. So I’ve found a bunch of things around Panthers - including the namesake Marvel character of course.

For art, there’s absolutely nothing on this one because of the nature of the beast, pardon the pun there. But you can find all the photo evidence that people have collected online, so I’d recommend looking at that if you’re interested enough!

In movies, we have; The Pink Panther, Cat People, Black Panther, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, Apocalypto, The Emperor's New Groove & Jungle Cruise.

For TV, we have; Onyx Equinox, Bleach, Angel, Fairy Tail, The Pink Panther, Charmed, Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha, Merlin, Chaotic, Thundercats, TaleSpin, Johnny Quest, Wild New World, Defenders of The Earth, The Simpsons, She-Ra: Princess of Power, The Transformers, The Sentinel, The Munsters, He-Man and the Masters of the Universe, Gargoyles & Cybersix.

In video games, we have ones such as; Age of Empires III, Monster Hunter, Mortal Kombat 11, The King of Fighters, The Elder Scrolls Online, Them’s Fightin’ Herds, Brutal Legend, Knights of Valour, Hero of Sparta, Golden Axe 3, Hotline Miami, Killer Instinct, Mega Man Zero 2, Tales of Rebirth, Star Fox, Luigi's Mansion 3, Quest for Glory, World of Warcraft, Warcraft & The World Ends with You.

My book recommendation this week is actually some books about this exact thing, Snarls From the Tea Tree: Australia's Big Cat Folklore by David Waldron and Australian Big Cats: An Unnatural History of Panthers by Mike Williams, which massively helped with my research this week, so will be super interesting if you’re into that too!

There’s also an English equivalent, The British Big Cat Phenomenon: Environmental Impact, Politics, Cover Ups, and Revelations by Jonathan McGowan if you’re interested in big cat studies from over here in the UK too. 

DO I THINK THEY EXISTED? 

Now it’s time for, do I think they existed?

Well the thing is, they do technically exist - we all know big cats do exist. However, does a panther exist out in the Australian Blue Mountains, probably not, but I’m also not saying absolutely not.

There’s always a possibility that a creature that we know about could end up somewhere else that we didn’t expect, Australia does have zoos that have panthers and they were introduced during the old circuses. Taronga Zoo currently has a panther, and Australia Zoo has a load of big cats. 

But there’s also the point that panthers aren’t technically real either, they’re just black leopards or jaguars, which again, aren’t native to Australia, but can be found over there. 

We have a lot of big cat reports in the UK, that's why that book I suggested has been written, because we have so many sightings, but nothing has ever amounted to anything. Maybe someone is just feeding their black house cat a little too much, I know I’m guilty of this at the very least. Ripley is starting to look a little like a panther herself these days. 

But that’s not to say that I don’t love a cryptid, you all know I do - and I think this one is fun until they find a stray jaguar and it eats someone I guess. 

But what do you think? Does the Blue Mountains Panther roam Australian wilds? Let me know on social media!

OUTRO: 

I was worried that I wouldn’t have enough information for this monster honestly, and I’m glad I’ve managed to get as much out of the research as I did - so I hope you’ve enjoyed learning about the Blue Mountains Panther as I have here!

Next week, we’re heading over to Eastern Europe for a super interesting monster because we’re looking at a human hybrid, which has not happened for a little while. So get ready to bring some silver and garlic for the Dhampir next time!

For now, thank you so much for listening, it’s been an absolute pleasure. If you enjoyed this podcast, please give it a rating on the service you’re listening on - I’ve got loads of social media for any questions, or suggestions on what monsters to cover next and I’d love to hear from you. The social media handles for Tiktok, YouTube and Instagram are mythmonsterspodcast, and twitter is mythmonsterspod and I’m now also on BlueSky under mythmonsters. But all of our content can be found at mythmonsters.co.uk, and you can also find us on Goodpods, Buymeacoffee and Patreon if you want to help me fund the podcast too.

Come join the fun though and share this with your pals, they might love me as much as you do.

But for now, stay spooky and I’ll see you later babes.