Saturday, December 26, 2015

Fresh Reports of Black Panthers in Texas

I have been on something of a hiatus over the last couple of months. There are a lot of reasons for this but have found myself in a slightly better position as far as actually having time to write of late and am itching to get back to it. Please understand, my lack of activity of late does not signal a lack of interest on my part. Now, having said all of that, let’s get to it.

Reports of anomalous black cats, large in size with long tails, continue to pour in to me via email, comments to posts, Twitter and Facebook. I need to catch all of you up on these reports and thought I would work backwards to do so. What I mean by that is that I will be presenting the latest reports to you first and, over the next several weeks, get you caught up on the backlog.

Before we begin, let me repeat a few things that I have said before. I know that there is no such animal as a “black panther.” The known big cats that have been given this moniker are either African leopards or New World jaguars exhibiting melanism. So, when I use the term “black panther,” realize it is a colloquialism, a catchall phrase, if you will, that is commonly used in Texas and the Deep South to describe any large, black or very dark, long-tailed cat.

Now, on to the reports.

12/22/15

“I live near Danbury,Tx near a bayou, while on my tractor recently I thought I saw a black Labrador retriever, but when it moved I thought it was a river otter which I've seen on occasion. The animal crossed in front of me and was definitely a large cat with a long tail, now I know it was a Jaguarondi.I have talked with several old timers here and many have seen as kids and called them simply the big black cats with long tails. Several lived near Liverpool,Tx and spotted the cats near rice fields. Hopefully they are making a come back."

- Anonymous


TCH Comment: I really like this kind of report. This witness saw something unusual and did his own research to find out what it was he had seen. From his description of the appearance of the animal and the otter-like movement described, I have little doubt that he is correct in his conclusion and did, in fact, see a jaguarundi.

Danbury sits in Brazoria County along the Texas Gulf Coast and on the edge of Flores Bayou (I assume this is the bayou the witness mentioned in his report). This area is farther north than the generally accepted range of the jaguarundi but not so far as to be out of the question. Certainly, the habitat is adequate to support a small population of these cats. Personally, I feel the jaguarundi roams much farther north and away from the coast than officials believe. This report seems credible and I will add it to my black panther distribution map.


12/17/15

“So, I live in Shepherd Tx and come home from work every night between 3:30 & 4:30 am. I live literally right next to Sam Houston National Forest. On my way home tonight, I had just turned off of hwy 2025 onto fm 2666 and saw a large black cat in the grass between the road and the forest. It was clearly a black cat but I could not see its face. It did have a long tail. Could this have been what I would call a panther? Do they live in the national forest here?”

- Anonymous


TCH Comment: I am a bit dubious about this report, not because I do not believe the witness, but because, in my opinion, the possibility of mistaken identity is strong in this case. The witness states it was clearly a large black cat but admits to not having seen the face of the animal. This makes a positive identification of the animal all but impossible. I assume the witness is basing his belief that what he saw was a cat based on other factors such as the way it moved and the long tail described. Certainly, many people can detect the difference between the way a feline moves and the way a canid moves but the fact that the head and face of the animal was not clearly seen clouds the identification.

Having said all of that, the Sam Houston National Forest, and east and southeast Texas in general, have a long history of black panther sightings. To the locals, these cryptid cats are not mysterious at all and are just a part of the region’s fauna. This witness may very well have spotted one of these phantom cats but, due to the factors mentioned above, there remains a large enough possibility for misidentification that I will leave this sighting off of my black panther distribution map.



12/9/15

“I was walking with my daughter on a walking trail (inside the city limits) of Jacksboro Tx,January 2015, we had wandered off of the trail for about 45 min when we returned to the trail something caught my eye about 75 yards up the trail, I watched it as it was moving away from us up the trail, it was not running but it was walking fast, I yelled at it and it turned sideways looked at us, took about 6 steps toward us and ducked into the bushes, we both got a good look at it it was black as coal and has no fear of humans, I assume that we had disturbed it in the woods and we're lucky enough to see it when we were leaving, as with most people who have had a similar sighting I was blown away by what I saw and didn't get a chance to take a picture, it was not a miss identification, it was in broad daylight, with plenty of time to watch it as it moved, anyone who says that these animals are not real are wrong, and most people in my situation probably wouldn't take the time to try to take pictures, these are powerful animals that can easily kill you.”

- Anonymous



TCH Comment: Jacksboro is the county seat of Jack County and sits roughly 60-70 miles NW of Fort Worth. U.S. Highway 281 bisects the small town that was established between the Lost Creek and the west fork of Keechi Creek. Jack County is sparsely populated with an average of only 10 people per square mile according to the 2000 census. In addition to the two creeks mentioned above, the West Fork of the Trinity River cuts across Jack County diagonally from northwest to southeast and provides the main drainage for the county. Many other creeks cut through the county, which is also home to Lake Bridgeport and Lake Jacksboro. So, despite the county sitting in a relatively arid part of the state, there is ample water in the county to support a wide variety of wildlife. There is also much more forest than one might expect, especially along the various waterways. Dominant trees are mesquite, live oak, blackjack oak, post oak, elm, pecan and walnut. These hardwoods provide a rich environment that supports a healthy white-tail deer and feral hog population which a large predator could prey upon.

This witness failed to give a lot of detail about the animal he saw but seemed impressed enough with its size to make a determination that it was no domestic cat and it was possibly a threat to him and his child. I have had several interesting accounts concerning cryptid cats come out of Jack County in the past and this one is fairly typical of the experiences of the other witnesses. What was it? The witness stresses it was black as coal and that it was broad daylight. Certainly, that would seem to take a mountain lion out of the equation. Jaguarundi? Possibly, but the witness seemed rattled by the size of the animal. While he doesn’t say so explicitly, this would likely indicate something larger than the typical jaguarondi. That being the case, I will add this sighting to my black panther distribution map.


I will continue to update the blog with the backlog of reports at least weekly until I get all of you caught up. In the meantime, please keep me informed of any sightings out there. I really would like to get to the bottom of this black panther mystery in 2016.

Let’s make that happen.

*ADDENDUM* - I will be updating my black panther sightings distribution map shortly. Once it is ready, I will post it here online. In addition, I plan on going back and making a separate map showing sightings by county. This will dial in the areas of sightings a bit more and, hopefully, allow some patterns to emerge.

17 comments:

  1. Always enjoy reading your insites into common and uncommon phenomenon. Sure do hope you can revisit your old stopping grounds in SHNF.Sawbones has some ideas cooking.Hope you can make it.

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  2. I encountered one in the Florida everglades it jumped out in front of my suv and it's tail hit my mirror. On Jane s scenic drive. Near Copeland in fakahatchee state drive. I drove right behind it for 25-30 seconds

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  3. My nephew outside Hughes Springs, TX recorded a panther [cougar, mountain lion, etc] wandering on his folks property sometime between Thanksgiving and Christmas. It is an entrancing recording.

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  4. I saw what I think was a panther a couple of days ago. Came out of the woods and walked down my driveway. I live in southern Wood county.

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  5. Twice on Fort Hood training areas, I've seen a massive black cat roaming around.

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  6. My neighbor and me were doing some fence work and we saw a rottweiler sneak from another neighbors pasture on to mine. I jumped on the ATV to go scare him off and he ran toward my friend who yelled out to me so I raced back and he said it's not a dog it's a cat! I said cats have long tails, and he said it had it tucked under him and was power stalking quickly. It didn't fear him and just avoided me and the ATV. That night one of our neighbors dogs came back scratched up and I lost a house cat that refused to come in for the night. I also found an old dog food can with fang holes punched throughout the can on the other side of my fence between my property and the where the dog got scratched up. My cat was sleeping on our porch on a lawn chair about 15 feet from where out Golden Retriever sleeps. These cats are not in fear of humans like coyotes or deer are and will come up to your house. This happened Nov. 18th 2016 just outside of La Grange, TX.

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  7. Before Bush Intercontinental Airport was built, there was a lot of thick woods in Aldine.And we saw black leopards quite a few times. We also heard their mating calls & screams in the night. The airport & cutting down all the woods ran all wild life off. I hate that airport.

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  8. I grew up in rural northeast Texas, roughly southeast of Tyler. My extended family has lived on family acreage there for three generations. Various family members and a friend have seen very large cats, in colors from dark brown to black. Two sightings were in early, bright daylight, and the others were at night in car headlights when the cats crossed the road. One was a young cat on a remote dirt road. All of these people know the difference between wildcats, feral hogs and big cats, which are present in the area. All of these sightings were big cats, not bobcats or hogs, within 50-100 yards, and were not "something big running through brush" in poor light conditions. One instance three family members were returning from a football game near Henderson, and a large very dark/black cat bounded across the farm to market road in front of them in two hops. Extremely large tail, they estimated it to be 7-8 feet long. I have seen their unmistakable tracks only once, but have never seen one or heard it scream. I am getting on in years, and I sincerely hope to see one in East Texas at some point.

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  9. 2014 and we were camping in Garner State Park in Hill Country. As we were preparing to leave I pulled the Jeep into a campspot to allow the motorhome to pull out. While sitting there, an extremely large black cat with long tail and indistinct spots on it's hips crossed the camp road to my right. It was running at a gallope. Made a cat-like twist and disappeared into the woods. Very shocking at the time.

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  10. I saw a panther looking cat today south of cotulla at FM 133 and ih-35. The large cat (about 3ft long not counting a long tail) crossed the west side frontage road and disappeared into the high grasses in the median

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  11. I went to college in E TX. On a road trip to see the SFA vs Sam Houston football game in Huntsville, I saw a big black cat run across the road. I was shocked by the size and the black fur contrasting against the road. It made it across the road in a few trots. I asked the girl driving next to me if she saw the same thing and she stated she did. It definitely was no house cat. But the midbody dip and long tail was very cat like. Just putting my experience out there.

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  12. I live in Blue Texas a very rural community north east of Elgin. When I first moved here in the fall of 2015, my husband(who grew up on this property ) was regularly warning me about the "black cats" living in the woods and creek bed behind our house. He described them as being larger than our chocolate lab, jet black with large yellow eyes, silently stalking him from the underbrush along side the hiking trails. I repeatedly informed him that there are no animals in this part of the world that fit that description, that it was probably just a bobcat with darker than usual markings, that scared him and childhood imagination turned it in to his monster in the woods.

    In the spring of 2016, I was coming home from a night shift around 4am. As I turned in to my parking space and there were 2 large yellow eyes starring at me from the bushes to large and far apart to be a possum or racoon, the dog is in the house, coyote maybe. So I honked at it, then a dark gray cat that stood between 3 an 4 feet tall, and around 6 ft long including the tail that was almost as long as it's body darted across the yard and in to the woods. Told myself I need to get more sleep, and went to bed. Then I saw it again 3 more times that week and on my day off was woke up by what sounded like a woman being murdered outside my bedroom window.

    I have young children so none of this was ok with me. Cougars are really awesome but not that close to my home, time to do some hunting. Her tracks were easy to find and follow, the surprise was the 2 sets of identical tracks (aside from being half the size) that started showing up, once the house was out of view. As I walked on occasion crawled down the game trail, there was a dead tree that looked like a scratching post and a sandy clearing very reminiscent of a litter box. The trail ended at an 8ft almost straight down drop-off into the creek bed with thick brush along the bottom, a jump I wasn't willing to take.

    So feeling defeated and possibly delusional, I just sat there and enjoyed the view for a few minutes, and there they were. Sleeping in the brush up against the bottom of the steep bank about 20 yards to my left, my friend from the driveway and her 2 black kittens. To beautiful to kill I fired a round in to the opposite bank and watched them run away. We didn't hear or see any sign of them for about 4 months.

    There back now and have been for a while. The kids no longer play behind our house and we see them regularly out the window around dawn when getting ready for school. The descriptions Jaguarundi are an exact fit for the juveniles, but the adults are much larger than what my research says is typical. Whatever people choose to call them, they're living and breading in Blue Texas. They're beautiful and honestly the coolest neighbors I've ever had.

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  13. I live in Shepherd, Tx. Recently moved here. I was on my porch tonight and seen a dark large figure with 4 legs run suoer fast to the woods behind my house. I thought maybe it was my dog but then remembered my dog is across the street and can't run THAT fast. I got nervous and went to check with my flashlight. I saw two NEON GREEN eyes staring back at me with its eyes lowering to the ground. Needless to say I hauled tail back home. I was told it was probably a black panther and that they have been sighted here a lot. Thats what led me here. I am totally freaked out.

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  14. I used to live in Blackwell, Texas (Nolan County)about 50 miles southwest of Abilene. I worked in Sweetwater, and often was on hwy 70 at any time of night or very early morning. Ranchers in the area had always said there was a black panther in the area. In the 13th year of traveling back and forth to and from work, I came upon a black panther crossing the road right at the intersection with hwy 153. It had just started to cross the road as my headlights (it was about 4am) hit it. I slowed and watched from about 20 feet away as it slowly walked across the road and into the tall grass. It was black as midnight, about the size of a large German shepherd (although it was every bit a cat). It never turned to look my way, and it never picked up the pace. There are a lot of deer in this area as well as cattle.

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  15. I used to live in Blackwell, Texas (Nolan County) which is about 50 miles southwest of Abilene. I worked in Sweetwater and would be traveling Hwy 70 at all hours of the day. Ranchers in the area had always claimed there was a black panther in the area. One morning (about 4am) in my 13th year of traveling this highway, I saw an animal at the edge of my headlights. It was about to cross the roadway right at the intersection of Hwy 70 and Hwy 153. I slowed and got near enough to plainly see a black cat about the size of a large German Shepherd (although clearly a cat). It never looked my way but continued to slowly saunter across the road about 20 feet in front of me. When it got to the edge of the road it disappeared into the tall grass at the road's edge. There are a lot of deer and cattle in this area.

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