what is this on my game-cam?

[Lightfoote]

Don't mean to rattle you, but that is certainly not a standard house cat in my opinion.

The proportion of the legs to body and tail length and size seem inconsistent with a domestic house cat. I suggest going to the state fish and game website for your state (or perhaps a University website), and researching "identifiers" for wild cats that are considered native to your state/region.

 

[Illia]

Yeah, I was just going to say, - Is it possibly a FL Panther?


Otherwise I know you don't have 'em but that body, the legs - Not a house cat or fox.

 

[monkeemakr]

Ohh, my extremely amateurish vote is also for a young cougar. We're not supposed to have them where we are either, but someone had several for "pets" and it was not uncommon for them to get loose. Hope I'm wrong for your sake.

 

[ChicKat]

Yes, I see that GA is out of courgar territory, but how's about the Florida Panther?

http://www.nwf.org/Wildlife/Wildlife-Library/Mammals/Florida-Panther.aspx

It is on endangered species list.

Glad that you have a live and let live attitude. maybe an electric wire around your coop perimeter.


We have blue heelers too--- Love those dogs.

 

[ellieroo]

In the last picture it seems clear its a young cougar.If in truth Florida panther they are smaller than the ones out west !

 

[dinahmoe]

ok guys,you ARE scaring me just a little.i was just down there with my 5yo and 2 yo walking down the creek.this is why i always carry a gun on my walks.

 

[ChicKat]

More good net stuff:

http://www.cougarnet.org/bigpicture.html

As for the markings, juveniles of the wild cat species do have spots/striations to help camaflage.

Good idea to have the gun along, but mostly these animals would run. Not to take a chance with your family though or chickens.

Hope that you find good sources to deal with it in your area.

Edited to add field identification guide that is html and can be downloaded
http://www.cougarnet.org/idguide.html

 

[crazyhen]

While I lived on the coast of NC we had what we called just plain wildcats. They are not big as cougars but bigger than housecats. They are long and lean. They scream like a panther on TV. That has my vote. Def. a cat of some kind. They will eat chickens and will follow you if you are walking on a road and scare you just about to death. One did me. Yikes. Later my uncle killed it because it bowed up at him with him on a tractor. When he held it up by the feet as high as he could its head hit the ground. You would have those in Ga. Be safe. Gloria Jean

 

[Buugette]

No way that is a bobcat... and seems way too big to be a domesticated cat. Comparing the blurred image to other photos and such... you might just have a cougar/mountain lion in your area. We ran into one in the Alleghany Mountains... one that had been kept as a pet and released. It was more scared of us than we were of it... but we still all ran in opposite directions.

Keep your cool, but do contact your local fish and game office. They should be made aware... and you should know if you can shoot it or not. They may come and trap it.

Best of luck.

D

 

[grawg]

That second picture of the unknown creature reminded me of a grey fox...so I googled grey fox and found this. http://scienceblogs.com/clock/2007/02/hairless_grey_foxes_in_north_c.php