Back in late October I travelled to the Stirling ranges (100kms north of Albany WA) with a friend in search of orchids . After some discussion we drove down a very quite road on the southern edge of the Stirling ranges to look for a particular orchid . This road goes to a dead end , national park on the left and a narrow strip of bush and then paddocks on the right . I would estimate less than 10 cars a year use this road no farm houses just paddocks so very deserted and quiet.
As we travelled along this road/track my friend stopped the car to view a bush that was in flower. While sitting in the passenger seat I was gazing up the track and spotted a black animal walking along the track 100-150mtrs away. It was about the size of a labrador but thinner, I saw it for less than 10 seconds before it headed into the strip of bush next to the paddock. This animal moved very smoothly sort of slinked along , I would say cat like movement. It was quite a slim animal with a long skinny upright tail and jet black glossy colour .
We drove up to where it disapeared into a narrow strip of bush (windows up) sheep were grazing contentedly on the other side of the thin bush strip , was this aniamal hiding close by ? If it was some sort of dog I would imagine that it would spook the sheep , but no the sheep were standing still grazing . An animal with a great deal of stealth was what we saw . Having all the hairs on the back of my neck stand up at the time and every time I discuss it after it happened spooks me a little but I am sure that this was a large cat/panther like animal .
Even 4 months on the image is still quite clear in my mind , this is a large national park and the area we were in is a long way from where most people go so anything is possible. Having not been a believer in big cats here in Austraslia before I certainly have a different view now !!!!
Marty (Albany WA)
