The Olinda Cat: a phantom big cat in Upcountry Maui

December 2002. A single account of a big cat came out of Upcountry Maui. By June 2003 the Associated Press counted eight reports, three of them confirmed. The centre of it all was lower Olinda, above Makawao, and a gulch near Seabury Hall.

June 9, 2003. Susan and Willie Wachter were leaving their driveway in the afternoon. "It looked up," Susan said. "I saw the profile of its head, catlike, running down the hill. He quickly took a turn to the right, and then I saw a very long tail." It was a very large, dark, almost black animal. It vanished into the gulch. Willie saw it run "unlike a dog runs, really low to the ground and fast."

More witnesses followed. Dr. Ed Boone saw it on a separate occasion. In September a driver watched a large cat "ascending a swale" on an Olinda road. Late that month two women saw it from about 7 feet away, at about 8:50 p.m. About 7 feet long. A long tail. A black coat. Yellow-green eyes and a flat face.

The gulch held clues. Fur on a fence that did not match domestic animals. Scratched trees. Eight to ten dead doves with bite marks on their backs. Large catlike paw prints. On July 11, 2003, a 30-lb deer was found dead near the gulch. Then, at about 1:30 a.m. on September 7, the Wachters' black Labrador, Nani, was hurt. Vet Ronald Moyer said the wounds were "more consistent with claw marks than teeth marks and happened in a matter of seconds."

Biologist Fern Duvall of the state DLNR worked the case alongside the Maui Invasive Species Committee. Baited cages went up in June. Hair stations were scented with Calvin Klein Obsession for Women. In August William Van Pelt of Arizona Game and Fish judged the deer kill feline. "I'm confident there is a large feline cat," he said. A young adult mountain lion, leopard or jaguar, he suggested.

In late October Stan Cunningham set 19 snares with serval scent lure from the Honolulu Zoo. From a hind paw print he put the animal at 150 lb or more. The snares caught only a pregnant dog, which then gave birth to nine puppies. Cameras recorded nothing. The hair had no follicles and the DNA proved inconclusive. Around November 22 the snares were disengaged.

Officials accepted that a large cat had been there, most likely a released or escaped illegal pet. Possessing one in Hawaii could bring fines up to $200,000 and three years in prison. Perhaps it had died. Perhaps it had moved, or gone back to its owner. Sceptics had other ideas. Glenn Coryell, a 30-year resident, blamed pit bulls for the deer kill. Professor Robert Schmidt of Utah State University likened it to the Loch Ness monster.

December 23, 2003. In Wailea, Karen Dougherty saw a black animal of about 50 lb that "moved like a cat." The state later judged the Wailea calls not credible. By March 2004 there were no credible reports at all. The Olinda Cat was never caught and never identified. A decade later the Maui News recalled the "hysteria." The case now sits among the world's phantom cat reports.