Victorian man finds human hand-sized paw prints as potential proof blank panthers roam Australia

A mysterious paw print found on a dirt track in the Australian bush has sparked a debate online about whether black panthers roam the area.

A man discovered two human hand-sized paw prints on a muddy trail in Victoria on Saturday morning.

The Victorian resident shared images of his unexpected discovery to the ‘Black Panther Sightings Group’ on Facebook.

A man discovered two large paw prints on a muddy trail in Victoria on Saturday morning (pictured)

He said he ‘couldn’t explain’ the paw prints, which were the size of his outstretched hands.

‘I was always a bit skeptical but there have been quite a few sightings and reports of livestock kills in this area,’ he wrote.

The images sparked a debate in the comments, with many saying that the paw prints belonged to a large dog.

‘That’s a big old dog. Cats retract their claws so cats won’t leave claw marks,’ one said.

‘That’s definitely a dog print’, another agreed.

A man found two human hand-sized paw prints on a trail in Victoria (pictured), while some believe they could belong to a blank panther 

A black feline spotted in rural Queensland in 2014 (pictured) as many claim black panthers roam Australia 

But others said the alleged ‘claw marks’ were simply twigs and excess dirt.

‘That looks like debris in the soil, or indentations caused by debris rather than claw marks’, one woman refuted.

One man claimed to have interacted with one of the elusive Australian panthers.

‘It’s hard not to believe when you have been one out with one of these beasts. Their grace and power is unbelievable.’

There have long been rumours that black panthers roam around Australia, but none have been caught.

There have been many alleged sightings of black panthers around Australia (pictured)

Panther sightings on Victoria’s Mornington Peninsula go back 35 years, with a 2018 photo the most recent to be debunked. 

In August last year, a Queensland woman claimed a big cat attacked her dog for the second time near her home in Jensen, 20 minutes west of Townsville.

The North Queenslander said it was the third time she had seen a black panther, the first being ten years ago when she claimed to see one carrying a baby panther in its mouth.

An investigation by the NSW government in 2003 said ‘there is no conclusive evidence that large cats exist in the wild in NSW,’ and the cats were likely part of a feral colony.

A Victorian government report concluded it was ‘highly unlikely’ that big cats existed in that state in the wild.

Believers say the big cats escaped zoos in the 1800s or were brought to Australia by World War II American soldiers in the 1940s as mascots.

There have long been rumours that black panthers roam around Australia, but none have been caught (pictured: stock of black panther)