'I know what I saw': Woman claims 'large cat' loose in south Marlborough

Monday, 29 April 2019

It definitely wasn't Carol Schofield's cat, the Ward woman said.

Reports of a big cat roaming south Marlborough have emerged online. Stuff reporter Alice Angeloni went to check out the 'insane encounter', with a healthy dose of scepticism.

The last thing I expected to be doing on Monday was chasing a so-called large cat around the rolling hills of rural Marlborough.

Could a large cat be roaming around Ward, in south Marlborough?

With little hope of finding the beast itself, I was sure the local farmers of Seddon and Ward, about 30 minutes south of Blenheim, would laugh me off their properties.

But, weirdly, some didn't shoot down the idea completely.

Some were sceptical, 'it was probably a wild pig', they said.

An unusual cat-like creature was reportedly spotted south of Ward on State Highway 1 on Friday night.

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Picton business owner Juliearna Kavanagh has detailed the 'insane encounter'.

Some were sceptical, sure, 'it was probably a wild pig', they said. But one woman had a story of her own to tell.

First though, this cat. Picton's Juliearna Kavanagh posted on Facebook on Friday about a 'large cat/panther' five to 10 minutes south of Ward, that had leapt out in front of her car.

Ward farmer Carol Schofield with her black cat, less sizable than the one reported.

Kavanagh and her partner Warren Lewis were driving home from Invercargill when they came across the cat-like creature on State Highway 1 about 11.50pm.

It was the same size as a dog, but with a large cat head and huge tail, Kavanagh said.

'It wasn't a feral cat and I can tell you that straight away.'

Kavanagh was driving when they came to the 'S-bend' just south of Ward.

'I had slowed down to about 70kmh and this great, big, huge, black cat was there.'

It had a huge head and a long, distinctive tail, she said. 'It was quick and it was in full flight.'

'Lucky I was doing 70[kmh] because if I was doing 80 or 85, I would have hit it.'

Kavanagh and Lewis looked at each other before saying, 'was that what you thought it was?'

'If it had been anybody else, I would be going 'yeah right', but I know what I saw.'

Kavanagh said she called police because she felt somebody would come across the cat again. 'I want this off my conscience.'

A Ministry for Primary Industries spokeswoman said they had received a report of a large cat sighting.

'We have previously received calls over the years about similar sightings,' the spokeswoman said.

'MPI has investigated many photographs, footprints and hair, scat and faeces samples, and in each of those previous cases, we have concluded the sighting to be that of a large feral cat.'

But a Ward woman, who did not want to be named, said her husband came across a similar creature about 10 years ago.

'He couldn't believe his eyes,' she said.

They were camping in Marlborough's Northbank when the large cat-like creature approached the bank from the opposite side of the river.

'I believe there's something around. Several people have spotted it.'

The recent sighting didn't surprise her at all, she said.

Ward farmer Carol Schofield said she had lived there for 16 years but hadn't seen or heard about similar sightings in the area.

Schofield said she did have a black cat, but it certainly wasn't the animal described.

'I know there's a lot of deer down there that cross the road,' she said.

'It wasn't my dogs, because they were locked up.'

They hadn't lost any of their sheep, Schofield said.

Schofield worked at Ward School and said staff were talking about the Facebook post on Monday morning.

Department of Conservation senior ranger Chris Wootton said reports of large black cats popped up around New Zealand from 'time to time'.

The South Marlborough office hadn't received any reports of sightings recently, he said.

'It's possible that given the conditions when this observation was made, what was seen could have been a cat or similar animal like a dog or possum crossing the road, but the perspective in the light conditions may have made it seem that the animal was bigger than in real life.'

Ward farmer George Murray said he 'hadn't seen such a thing'.

Murray said they saw wild animals including cats, rabbits, deer and pigs in the area.

'Mum's got two black cats, but I wouldn't describe them as big,' he said.

Hebb construction worker Shane Tapp was working on SH1 on Friday night but hadn't seen anything.