Black Panther

[Chic-n-farmer]

I can't believe I read this whole thread

Especiallly since the kids are on their way to school and I could be enjoying a squabble-free morning.

I can't see the picture, my computer won't let me. Therefore I can't make a judgement. I will say that there have been cougars seen in Clark County Illinois.

I was surprised to learn, by reading this thread, that the North East no longer has a deer population.

it seems I am always reading articles about the deer-car accident statistics....

 

[JK Farm]

I'm guessing, yes, that is a panther.

Here in the county I live in, there's been rumors since before I was born about cougars and black panthers. Apparently someone kept them as pets and they got loose. I didn't really believe it until this past summer when my husbands' grandfather brought us a cast of an enormous paw that he found near his garden. The thing was twice the size of my hand. I'm still not necessarily a firm believer, but between that, the coyotes and the wild dogs that rule the area, I make sure that all the chores are done before night fall, just in case. I figure anything is possible.

 

[Netherworldtaken]

OK, "panther" is a catagory not a breed. The only panther in the america's is the jaguar. It has a black phase but that picture isn't a jag. The body structure isn't right. The cougar isn't a panther, despite what people in florida call it. It is felis concolor, meaning cat of one color. Cougar, mountain lion or florida panther, all the same cat and it has no black phase.

Panthers include, leopard, jaguars, lions etc. Believe it or not, the cougar is the largest of the small cats. Looking at the body structure it is either a large black cat or, highly unlikely a small escaped leopard.

 

[MNShepherdess]

Tail's too long for a bobcat

Quote:

 

[turney31]

I used to work on a 13,000 acre ranch. I was returning to the house after haying cows, Very large John Deere tractor. I saw something black walking down the fence line. I stopped and got the binoculars and watched as a very large black panther walked into a mowed pipeline right of way. I watched it for about 5 minutes. I have NO doubt it was a black panther. The Jaguar head would have been all wrong.

An oilfield worker reading pumps on the ranch called my DH and told him he saw a big black cat on the ranch, Fyi.

Very intellegent neighbor told DH he saw a black cat at his place 3 miles down the road.

Discovered a 100# calf with what appeared to be razor like claw marks down both sides of his back. His haunch on one side had a missing chunk of meat about the size of a grapefruit. Momma cow had a ripped nostril pouring blood.

There is no way in hades anybody could convince me I was mistaken in what I know I saw, PERIOD. I say, it is definately, the government wildlife agencys loss that they poo poo credible sightings. And lose the opportunity of discovery.

I do take offense when they say there is no such thing as what I have seen. I agree that tan cougars are better camoflaged, that black cat sticks out like a sore thumb.

About the op photo it looks like a housecat to me.

 

[MNShepherdess]

While I agree that there are likely cougars in all of your areas, even if the government doesn't acknowledge it, because their territories are HUGE, that photo is of a house cat, IMHO. For those who think it's not, please review this link

http://www.easterncougar.org/pdfs/Lankalis-Characteristics8-15-06.pdf

It shows the differences between cougar & domestic cats. Very informative

We have at least 2 cougars that roam our area, one is a gigantic male for sure, not sure of the sex of the other, though we're assuming female. We've had cattle with huge gashes, and heard the screams once, but that was back when the herd was very small, now they keep the kitties out. There is easier prey elsewhere rather than risking your life against 20 adult cattle

~Rayna

 

[Debbi]

When I was a teenager living in CT. at the time, there was a rash of horse killings and mutilations. Most of them were small horses or ponies, and foals. The Wildlife Dept. kept saying it was a pack of feral dogs or coyotes, yet each of these horses was attacked from the top side, and raked with claws from the withers down to the rump. People kept saying "big cats", yet nothing was done, until someone shot a cougar in their back yard!

Here in MO, we have had a lot of denial from the Dept. of Conservation about things people have reported. First it was Timber Rattlers (small rattlesnake), no they don't exist here. Really?? I just shot one in my front yard. Ordinarily, I would've let it be, but he was about 25 feet from my front door, and with kids and pets, he had to go. Then there were the reports of Black Bears, sightings popping up everywhere. DoC said, "nope, haven't been any here in 150 years". Really?? Tell that to the mother and two cubs that crossed the gravel road right in front of me and my daughter when driving home from town, in broad daylight! Then they denied Cougars were here. Kind of funny now, as with the invention of the Game Cams, people in the larger towns are sending in pics left and right to the news stations! We had some kind of big cat roaming around the house here about 12 years ago. My friend, my son, and I were sitting in the front yard, about 6pm in the summer. Friend asked me did the neighbor have any cattle running in the woods? No, why? I keep hearing something grunting. We listened and stood up and turned towards the direction of the sound. This thing ROARED!! Not like a cougar or a bob cat, or even a bear, it roared like an African Lion! We all ran inside, and I grabbed the 12 ga., thinking it had to be a bear, they usually move off to loud noises. I went back out and made some noise, fired a shot in the air, and it ROARED again!! Ok, so now I'm on the phone with the Game Warden, who smuggly tells me I'm imagining it?? Yeah, right, it was a mass sound hallucination? Get your butt out here! Whatever it was, paced up and down my fence line, just inside the treeline where we never did see it. He got out here about 3 hours later, now almost dark. He had to admit finally, that it very well may have been a Lion or Tiger. "Do you know that there are several Exotic Animal Preserves around here? There are 3 right here in your vicinity. You'd be very surprised what are showing up at the local Taxidermists around here!" Oh, how comforting. I just told him that if it showed it's face in my yard, I didn't give a rat's arse if it was the last one of it's kind on the planet, it IS going to die! He just nodded his head and told me I had a right to defend myself, family, and animals from an attack. Three days later, when I got home from work, my daughter stops me from pulling up to where I usually park. I can tell she's very excited, so I stop. Right there in the dust in the driveway, about 18 feet from my front door, is a huge, retractable clawed paw print!! For whatever reason, we have not seen or heard it since. No doubt out here, someone has a Lion head hanging on their wall! Now the Dept. has reintroduced Elk to an area about 130 miles from here. They deny they are in my area, yet some mornings, I can hear a Bull Elk bugling down on the bottom pasture below my house. We never had Armadillos here either, until about 10 years ago. Now, they are as common as dead Possums on the side of the road, and one frequents my yard every year, two last year! There have also been reports of a "Black Panther" here too. I've never seen or heard a Cougar here, but I do believe they are out here. Lots of bluffs, caves, and woods, and DEER for them to survive on quite easily. I lived out west for 10 years, and have seen Cougars before. I hunted these woods for years here, and am very familiar with the sounds that should be here. That big cat, whatever it was, wasn't from this neck of the woods for sure! Think I may get a Game Cam too!

 

[HorseFeatherz NV]

Quote:

I was surprised too. I am just wondering what my family has put into the freezer.......they are sure it was deer that they were hunting - looked like deer from the pictures. Just wait until I tell them that there is no deer population.


I say - house cat (or coat

). Within the last year, I have been up close and personal with some cougars - that kitty looks too small, even for a young cougar.





I also wonder..............that east coast cat that traveled from SD - how do they know? Did he have travel stickers stuck to him? Was he carrying a map? Did he ask for directions?

 

[Debbi]

Quote:

I was surprised too. I am just wondering what my family has put into the freezer.......they are sure it was deer that they were hunting - looked like deer from the pictures. Just wait until I tell them that there is no deer population.


I say - house cat (or coat

). Within the last year, I have been up close and personal with some cougars - that kitty looks too small, even for a young cougar.





I also wonder..............that east coast cat that traveled from SD - how do they know? Did he have travel stickers stuck to him? Was he carrying a map? Did he ask for directions?

I kind of wondered the same thing! Unless the cat had been tagged by an agency in S. Dakota, how would you know where it came from?? More than likely, it was the agent's way of placating the public, by saying it came from far, far away...

 

[littlecreekfarm]

i've watched the monster quest episodes for these..........................scary

and i do think they are real