Big black cat sighting

[Kung Foo Chicken]

I saw one when I was about 12. I rode my bicycle down an old dirt road to the stream and heard rustling
in the bushes and saw a large black cat which was slightly taller than my child bicycle. It was smaller boned
and thin. The best description by looking at photos is a black jaguar. I've seen Tigers in the zoo and it
was nowhere near that big or bulky.

It was about 5ft from me and trotted across the road into the bushes. It looked at me once and sped
up a bit, trotted off into the forest. I'm guessing it was an exotic pet that escaped or something.
Never saw it again.

 

[MagsC]

Yep, the ones seen around here seem to be smaller boned than cougars.
Its interesting that yours was seen in South Carolina because when my daughter was living with her in laws while her husband was on deployment, they talked about big black cats in the area.
When I talk to my parents this week, I will have to ask if they saw it again.

 

[emmalynn]

The fear I have is that they are sneak attack hunters. They leap (and boy can they) from behind and bite at the base of the skull. A woman or child being the easier target due to size, I would do more than keep an eye out. I would go in a group and get a gun out.

 

[mom'sfolly]

As far as I know, the only large cat attacks in this country have come from cougars/mountain lions/pumas, and they are sneak attackers. They generally drop hunt, they lie in wait on a ledge or tree branch and fall on the prey....there are quite a few documented attacks.

Personally, I think all the black cat sitings are from feral exotics, jaguars, leopards and the like. Many states don't regulate exotics, and some strange things are turning up, particularly in Texas. Texas supposedly has more tigers in private hands then there are in the wild. Recently the Austin zoo, which is primarily a rescue zoo, received two lions that they think are Barbary lions, which are extinct in the wild. Extinct in the wild, but showing up in a rescue in Texas...

We all know that people dump animals, and I think exotics, particularly if they are illegal where they are being kept, are more likely to end up being dumped.


http://www.austinzoo.org/images/up/File/AustinZoo_Lions_2-8-10_v3.pdf

 

[Stumpy]

This topic interests me because it's a recurring topic of discussion between DH and I. His wildlife biologist associates tell him there are no black (non-domestic) cats in our area of the deep south, but I've heard of too many sightings, including repeated sightings at someone's house and large tracks. I haven't read all of the responses, so I don't know if anyone has mentioned the black Florida panther. We now have scores of coyotes and armadillos here which were unheard of in my childhood, so why couldn't a Florida panther make it to Texas? Just a thought.

 

[whitecra]

Quote:
You might not believe it but they are real. My husband and brother saw one while they were fishing. It was screeming at them.
Chris

 

[CityClucks]

I also saw the TV show on Discovery or Nature (can't remember which) about all the large black cat sightings in the US. This is from Wikipedia:

"Another possibility would be the black jaguar which ranged into North America in historical memory. Melanistic jaguars are uncommon in nature and, significantly, jaguars in general were persecuted to near-extinction in the 1960s. Though they do not look exactly like cougars, they have the requisite size. The jaguar has had several (photographically) confirmed, and many unconfirmed, sightings in Arizona, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and southwest Texas, but not beyond that region."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_panther

 

[MagsC]

I dont know much about jaguars....do you think if they made it up to Minnesota, they could survive up here?

 

[cedar post]

Quote:
MagsC I highly doubt this is any sort of a jaguar. These melanistic black cats are cougars or mt.lions whatever you call them they have been in our northern states and Canada for a very long time and their populations are just starting to be realized in the past years. They have had cougars killed in Iowa in the past few years. I personally I believe they have their teritory and they move when it is needed for food or due to population expansion. The states just to the west of you have very limited hunting on these animals and they are expanding their range and therefore we end up with alot of these travelers in Minn. WI. and the U.P.of Mich. Now with nothing to stop them they are taking up residence in our states and reproducing. Mike

 

[slightlyscrambled]

While there have not been any black cat sightings here in Nebraska that I am aware of, we have had cougar/mountain lions for a long time. This is a link to the Grand Island Independent a local news paper.
http://www.theindependent.com/articles/2001/12/15/news/20011215-archive3.txt
My brother lived in St. Paul at the time and his then about 10 year old son said they were throwing rocks at it through the fence at the school!