Australia: Hikers spot footprints in Blue Mountains, fuel rumours of panther

In Australia's New South Wales region a tale of a mysterious black panther has been running around for years but nobody has been able to provide any hard shreds of evidence apart from eyewitnesses who claim to have seen the feline themselves. However, an Instagram post by the Blue Mountains Explore page has sparked fresh conversations about the rumour that has been fuelling the region since 1998. The page posted a picture claiming that few hikers have managed to capture footprints of what they say is of the mysterious black panther. 

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Panther in Australia's Blue Mountains?

The post has left many divided on social media, however, the page has said in its post that they contacted the Hunting Association of Australia and sent them all footage and pictures to confirm the find. According to the Blue Mountains Explore page, the Hunting Association of Australia confirmed to them that it was a sizable print of a cat. In the post, the page further added that the print was fresh because all tracks had been washed out by the rain, that lashed over Australia in the past week. The post has attracted many people on the internet with some agreeing with the claim while others calling it a wallaby print or macropod tracks.

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According to media reports, there have been 560 sightings of a black panther in the Blue Mountains in New South Wales since the late 1990s. The eyewitness accounts range from various credible sources like police detectives, doctors, solicitors, and National Parks rangers. As per reports, the Department of Primary Industries had conducted four enquiries into the matter and each report cites lack of any hard evidence to support the claim but hasn't completely ruled out the possibility. 

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