A SENIOR state government scientist has dismissed a recent sighting of the so-called \u201cOtway panther\u201d by Lorne\u2019s Perry Childs and the CCTV footage he provided of the cat.<\/p>\n
Inspecting vision taken from multiple cameras at Lorne\u2019s Cumberland Resort in February this year, coupled with measurements of footpath paving the cat is seen to walk over, Peter Menkhorst said he believes the animal is not unusual in size.<\/p>\n
\u201cI estimate its size to be around 40-45 centimetres\u2026 right in the middle of the size of a domestic cat; it\u2019s not a big animal in my opinion,\u201d Mr Menkorst, a principal scientist at the Arthur Rylah Institute for Environmental Research, said.<\/p>\n
Mr Childs estimated he spent 5-10 minutes watching the cat from his third-floor balcony in the Cumberland as it walked around the street and plaza below him, later gathering CCTV footage from the building showing the cat.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was walking on the curbside of Mountjoy Parade and it walked past the Telstra call box and past the bins and then I realised that this is big,\u201d he recalled.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is definitely not your run of the mill household cat looking for a couple of scraps.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is a cat, a big cat, and my firm belief is that it\u2019s a panther.\u201d<\/p>\n