By Romy Stephens
A Black Panther could ‘100 per cent’ thrive in the Dandenong Ranges, according to a big cat expert.
Vaughan King is a former big cat keeper from Australia Zoo and researcher in the documentary The Hunt: In Search of Australia’s Big Cats.
Despite not researching the Dandenong Ranges and surrounds for the documentary, Mr King said he had done “a fair bit of research and camera trapping” around the region.
“We’ve had sightings in Emerald, Cockatoo and Silvan and then a bit further north, the Warburton and Toolangi area,” he said.
“It’s an absolute hotspot.
“Could a big cat thrive in the Dandenong Ranges? 100 per cent.”
Mr King always had a deep affinity with big cats. As soon as he left school he applied to a volunteer program at Australia Zoo and after a few years, became a professional big cat handler.
He has since dedicated numerous hours to research, travelled around the country and relocated to Victoria in order to be closer to where a majority of the sightings are.
The Hunt sees a team of Australian experts that are out to prove a big cat population exists in remote areas of the Australian bush.
Mr King teamed up with veteran researchers John Turner and Simon Townsend to investigate recent sightings of big cats.
Documentary director Stu Ross said the only reason the Yarra Ranges wasn’t filmed, was because there wasn’t a recent sighting.
“The Dandenong Ranges and Yarra Valley are, and have always been, hotspots,” he said.
“We only investigated fresh sightings that came in within the filming period and no one reported one there within the allocated filming time.
“We would definitely be interested in researching in the future but, in the interest of collecting DNA, we really need to be there within 24 hours.”
Mr King said the big cats known to live in Australia are the Mountain Lion and the melanistic Black Leopard – also known as the Black Panther.
He said the Mountain Lion was more likely to be seen in the west of Australia whereas the Black Panther is more prevalent in Victoria.
When asked why there have been numerous Black Panther sightings in the Yarra Ranges but no clear footage or photos, Mr King said it’s because these predators want to remain elusive.
“It’s just them by nature, they are an apex predator, their life revolves around them staying hidden, they don’t want to be seen,” he said.
But Mr King said that didn’t mean a human and big cat encounter was impossible.
“I don’t think people need to be scared, the big cats in question, they coexist with a lot of people,” he said.
“They do take lives.
“You’ve got an apex predator coming into contact with humans… They will kill and eat humans if they need to and that’s usually down to opportunity.
“The only reason a big cat like that should kill a human is if they are sick, injured or old. It’s very rare but it does happen.”
Despite the threats, Mr King said people shouldn’t be fearful, mainly aware.
“I don’t think people need to be scared, the big cats in question, they coexist with a lot of people,” he said.
“These animals, they want to live their own lives, they don’t want to come into contact with humans if they can avoid it.”
The Hunt: In Search of Australia’s Big Cats will air on 5 May at 9:30pm on the Discovery Channel.
Anyone who has a sighting to report can do so at www.facebook.com/TheHuntFilmAUS/.
