27 Nov 2020

Video footage of Canterbury cat released - but how big is it?

From Checkpoint, 6:22 pm on 27 November 2020

Could there really be a black panther or a puma living in Canterbury?

Last month, Christchurch osteopath Mark Orr was mountain biking on the Perseverance track near Hanmer Springs when he told Checkpoint he saw what looked like a black panther prowling the path ahead of him.

The sighting was rubbished by academics who said big wild cat were highly unlikely to survive in the wild in New Zealand.

They said what Mr Orr saw was most likely a feral cat.

On Friday afternoon, double amputee Mark Inglis, who works for Hurunui Trails, was doing an interview with a cameraman on the same track.

He joins Lisa Owen to describe what he saw.