Black Panther

[TreeHugger]

There is really no way to judge size (IMO) by the pic - I can tell it's a cat of some sort.

About 8 years ago my sister said she saw a cougar in her backyard. She lives about 50 miles north of me in Missouri. Some of my family members (me included) said she was nuts. We joked about the gaint cat in her backyard ....until one was hit on the highway not far from her house a few weeks later and it made the local news. Oops.

 

[9Catsz]

Quote:
Nothing new there...Jaguars apparently are working at repopulating an area where they used to be before humans killed them all.

 

[chicken crazed 1o1]

OMG That is a pet cat how in this world do the press compare that to a Panther my Cat looks just like it. And panther would be way bigger

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[Harli50]

you guys are all crazy! we all know deep down thats a penguin

 

[GhostRider65]

There is no form of reference to scale for that picture, but on appearence, and shape looks like black house cat to me........ the tail is too swoopy, and leg size is too small...... Kim

 

[AR]

It is hard to say from the picture, but I would not count out a panther. We had a mountain lion on the back part of our property last weekend curled up in a ball sleeping. Our neighbor thought it was a hurt deer or dog until she was about 10 feet from it and it uncurled itself. Sometimes it is hard to tell exactly what you are looking at until you are right next to it.

 

[Ariel301]

There's not much in the photo for scale, but that cat has the carriage and body type of a domestic shorthaired cat. I've seen mountain lions, and they don't look like that. Neither do jaguars, (aka panthers) black or otherwise. They are heavier boned and longer tailed.

I don't doubt there are some black big cats still hanging around out there. And I'm not surprised that the police would mistakenly identify the animal or not think to look at tracks, if they're "town" people who aren't used to animals or the wild...it wouldn't even occur to them. I've seen people who haven't spent much time in the country get completely freaked out by coyote howls, thinking it was some sort of crazy monster. Now I don't know those police, so I don't know if it's the case, just saying...

 

[NovaAman]

I am in Michigan... Apparently we don't have panthers, lions, cougars .... Whatever, here either... But people see them. But we don't have them. They are all just super sized mutant pussy cats.

 

[desertdarlene]

You wouldn't be surprised at how many people around where I live mistake a bobcat or a large housecat for a mountain lion and mountain lions actually do live here.

 

[Ole rooster]

Now, does anyone have an opinion on this?