Black Panther

[123ChickieLou]

From Denham Springs here! I don't think it's a house cat. There was one shot in the video that resembled a house cat, then another shot of the animal walking next to a truck. That's one HUGE house cat, if it is one, lol! One person in the facebook thread below the story even insisted that it is a DOG! Goes to show what people will see in a photo.

As for the grass and bushes, as another poster said, do get pretty tall around here. This wasn't in someone's backyard, the areas such as the one this was shot in have grass/brush about four feet tall and bushes/shrubs 8-10 ft. So calling "short grass" doesn't rule out the size of the animal.

There have been a few people down here that have owned these "exotic" animals, legally and illegally and no one's to say none were turned loose when they couldn't be fed by the owner, or that they didn't escape.

I don't think people realize how small a panther is in comparison to other large cats, what they would expect to see when images of a large cat are conjured in one's mind. Perhaps the actual size is a bit of a let-down when one thinks they're about to see a "big" cat. They're a heafty species and still weigh heavily for their dimentions, but not exactly large like a tiger or lion.

Sorry, it's just not a house cat.

 

[tangled]

I saw this post earlier, and now my wife just happened to stop by my office with "Caesar Kleberg Wildlife Research Institute: current research 2009-2009" and I was reading it because of the quail on the cover and got to page 24 where there is a picture of a black cat that looks like a panther. It is the jaguarundi and is in TX, though considered native to norther Mexico. If its here, I could easily see it being in LA or NM...

 

[geoff40]

The still photo is a house cat. Unless pine needles are a foot or more long.

 

[woodmort]

From Wikipedia: "Jaguarundis have also been sighted in the U.S. state of Florida since the early 20th century. Here, the species is thought to be introduced, but it is not known when the introduction occurred. Their presence in Florida is said to have been the work of a writer who at some point imported the animals from their native habitat and released them near his hometown of Chiefland and in other locations across the state. No live or dead specimens have been found, but there have been many sightings considered credible by biologists. The earliest of these occurred in 1907, and was followed by various additional sightings throughout the Florida Peninsula from the 1930s through the 1950s. The first official report was released in 1942. There were significantly fewer reliable sightings after that, and by 1977 W. T. Neill concluded in a report that the population had declined. However, sightings have continued.[9]
There have also been sightings of jaguarundis in the coastal area of the U.S. state of Alabama. This may be evidence of the Florida population migrating westward."

 

[OldGuy43]

I'm thinking melanistic jaguar. The body looks way to long for a house cat. Jaguars were free roaming in North America until they were nearly hunted out in the 1960's.

 

[RHRanch]

Quote:
Thats a crazy looking "housecoat"

 

[chickened]

Please see the "grammar/spelling " thread.

or just proof read your posts.
Quote:
Thats a crazy looking "housecoat"

 

[geoff40]

Quote:
Thats a crazy looking "housecoat"

Yep. Sometimes technology bites, like the auto-word spell on this iPad. I don't know how to shut it off, and I don't catch all ofthe errors it makes. Total PIA (that's pain in the ....) is all it is!

 

[geoff40]

If you look above the house cat (not housecoat), you can see a pine, either a red or white, it looks like to me. Compare the size of the pine needles to the cat. If you figure the dry/dead grass is 2 to 3 feet long, unmowed by all appearances, the true size of the house cat (not housecoat!) is quite obvious.

 

[greenfamilyfarms]

I've actually seen on crossing my grandfather's pasture a couple years ago. It will make you about pee your pants.