Popular satirical news site picks on 'boring' Gympie

THE legendary and elusive black panther has pounced back into the headlines, not in Gympie, but in the popular satire news site The Betoota Advocate.

The Betoota Advocate has amassed 648,249 followers on Facebook and is well-known for its satirical take on national issues. On Monday it released a story, satire of course, implying that Gympie was one of 16 regional towns that are boring and had to make up a rumour of a panther.

A very large black cat caught on camera at a Miva property, an animal which Wendy Elsley said could be mistaken by some to be a black panther. Contributed

"16 separate towns and localities genuinely claim to have a panther lurking in their shire, leaving the researchers to estimate that there must be nearly 20 big cats stalking the countryside," the report said. Lead researcher Kayle Bradshaw "told" the Advocate that there is strong reason to believe that there could be even more towns claiming to have a panther of their own.

"We didn't manage to get up to places like Nimbin and Gympie, but have heard some residents up their have compelling panther sighting evidence," Mr Bradshaw said.

Andy Raymond from Cessnock told reporters that he can't believe he is still fighting for recognition.