The Year of the Cat.
Mercury Newspaper dated May 3rd, 2001.
The Sydney media at the weekend was again on safari, reviving tales of a 'panther' marauding through the Blue Mountains foothills and carting off stock and domestic animals. Could this be the 'Son of Tarana Tiger'?
Older readers of the Mercury will recall the exploits of 'The Tiger' some years back with the sighting of what witnesses describe as a 'black panther' killing sheep on properties between Tarana and Yetholme.
The Tarana Tiger became something of a local legend for months but the sightings ended after a landholder shot an unusually large black dog. Over the years there were other sightings of strange animals around the district.
But perhaps the most unusual was the one that took a little explaining. Years ago the column was at the old Lithgow police station in bridge street when an obviously startled traveler burst in. He blurted out to the desk sergeant that a short time earlier he and his family had pulled off the highway at South Bowenfels for a cup of tea and a nature break when they heard a frightening howling noise and saw a 'large black cat' staring at them before bounding away up the mountain. When he took police back to the location he pointed out a side track leading into the bush below Hassans Walls, opposite the Forty Bends.
The police found a pile of fresh animal bones, various tracks, and an unusual smell. And that was it.
There were no more sightings ever reported at that location so maybe that 'cat' was just as startled as the travelers who encountered it.
On the bright side we have no reports of local bush walkers being physically molested by anything more aggressive than the occasional Funnel Web spider or Tiger Snake. There was a tale of the Byng Bunyip, but that's another story?.!
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