These reports should generate renewed interest as they come on the heels of the Fox News report out of Montgomery County earlier this week that detailed attacks on horses by some sort of big cat.
8/13/13
“Had a few sightings at our ranch in Washington County a few months ago. Our neighbor says it was a large feral domestic cat. To me it seemed to be too large and too fast. Was only about 2.5 feet long but jet black with long tail. Seemed, to me, that it might have been a juvenile larger cat? There has been quite a bit of talk in the area of larger black cat sightings and the local HS mascot is actually named The Panthers. Old-timers in the region call them "swamp cats" cause they say you used to be able to find the around the creek beds.”
- Anonymous
TCH Comment: While it is possible the witness spotted a juvenile cat, I can’t dismiss the possibility of a large domestic/feral cat in this instance. They can get quite large as the photo below of a feral cat shot in Australia shows. Having said that, I believe people, especially those who’ve had a good long look or multiple sightings, know a domestic/feral cat when they see one. A jaguarundi in dark-phase must also be considered for this sighting. One last thing to keep in mind is that Washington County sits just South and East of Montgomery County where there have been some very interesting “black panther” related events (see link above).
8/16/13
“The ones I've seen are a very dark shade of brown and it could be described as a charcoal brown color, the cats were seen and heard twice in 2011 and many more times in 2012 just North Cooper Lake, all the ones I've seen was while I was in my tree stand just before dusk or just after the sun set, I'm always in full scent free camo gear and its during deer season.
I've only told a few people about it and I don't think they really believe me, all I can say to the non-believers is, if you only knew how real the danger is, you wouldn't be going in any woods in Texas without a gun in hand.
Take care...”
- Anonymous
TCH Comment: The witness did not mention the size of the cat(s) he has seen but if the cats were not huge a jaguarundi must be considered as a possible suspect. These cats are most often a rusty reddish-brown color but the charcoal color is not uncommon. Mountain lions can also be an almost charcoal color as seen in the photo below of a cougar taken in far West Texas.
8/25/13
“I saw a large black cat run across Alamo Parkway in San Antonio on Saturday, August 23rd. It ran across the road in front of my car about 100 feet in front of us.”
- Anonymous
TCH Comment: Few details here but be careful about dismissing a report that comes from within a large city like San Antonio. Alamo Parkway is located on the far West side of San Antonio outside of Loop 1604 and not far from the Government Canyon State Natural Area. The area West of San Antonio is sparsely populated and remains pretty wild so a large cat of some kind venturing in from this area is not far-fetched at all.
9/2/13
“I lived in San Felipe, Texas a quarter mile from Stephen F. Austin State Park and the Brazos River from 1998-2007. Spotted large black spotted cats on several occasions when we camped on the river bottom. Once we watched a female with two kittens walking the bank across the river from us in broad daylight for several minutes with five witnesses. Stunned us all, the general consensus was it was a jaguar.”
- Anonymous
TCH Comments: Reports of large black cats have been common up and down the Brazos River for decades. The area near San Felipe is not heavily populated and the river could provide a travel corridor for a large predator. Another interesting fact is the proximity of the sighting to the Attwater Prairie Chicken National Wildlife Refuge. I think the description of “black spotted cats” is interesting. If this description is accurate, I can see why the witnesses believe they saw a jaguar.
9/28/13
“Northeast Texas, Fannin County. This area known as "The Wildcat Thicket" and also for Sam Rayburn home in Bonham and the Lee - Peacock fights near Trenton, TX. We have seen this black cat with a tail as long as its body on Sept. 25th at 10pm and about a year ago. We also see bobcats, which have longer legs and a different walk.”
- Anonymous
TCH Comment: Another report without a whole lot of detail but the witness does clearly differentiate between the black long-tailed cat he saw and the more common bobcats that make the area their home. The area North of Dallas-Fort Worth up to the Red River is an area that has become a real hot spot for sightings of large black cats.
9/30/13
“I know all of these sightings are mostly in Texas, Arizona and New Mexico. However, I live on the Oregon coast and have been seeing what sounds to be the same type of cat. The cat i have seen is about 100 to 120 pounds, i reference this by comparing to our golden lab at about 80 pounds and the cat was considerably larger. The tail was at least 3 feet long and this thing is all black. I first saw it at about 100 yards in the timber and first thought was it was a bear. Then i got a better look at it and knew it was no bear, i grabbed some binoculars and got it in my view just as it disappeared in the trees and all i could see was mid body back. My wife seen it also but without the binoculars. We have been trying to research what it was and everybody tells us large black cats don't exist in Oregon. Well, my wife's folks are visiting us from Washington and we were telling them what we had seen from our back deck and they were receptive but skeptical, until she saw it at about 75 yards on Friday and now she believes us. Her description was at least 5 feet long with a 3 foot long tail and large head and all black. We have a camera set up just waiting to get a photo. Anybody have any ideas?”
- Anonymous
TCH Comment: I’ve included this report even though it originates far outside of the region in which I live. I think it is important to show that black panthers are not solely a “southern thing.” I appreciate this witness taking the time to share his experience. Please let me know if those cameras catch anything.
10/1/13
“I'm not sure if there is the right place to post a sighting, but this is what I saw.... On September 26, 2013, approx. 6PM, I was almost at a complete stop in my truck as I was going to turn into my property in Bishop, Texas, I noticed something dark moving slowly in the field right across from my location. The field is used to grow corn and cotton( but it has been cleaned for awhile now). The large black panther looking animal, approx. 3 1/2 feet long and about 18" in hieght, continued to walk across the street, right in front of me while I was in my truck, and he came into my property. I say he because the face was very masculine with a flat box top of head, it was not curved from ear to ear, his head was flat, the ears were short/little and pointy, his fur was full/thick, and tail was long and thick from end to end as the width was too. He was black, black, no spots or dark brown. He did not resemble a bobcat. He looked in my direction as he crossed in front of my truck and it appeared his eyes were light in color.
I have 2 dogs, 1 Great Pyrenees and a 1 Catahoula. They were barking and running from one end of the 5 acres I have to the other. The next morning, I had a hen missing and feathers were scattered. What exactly is what I saw??”
- Monika XXXXXXX
TCH Comment: The descriptors the witness uses include a “flat head,” a “dark” color, “small pointy ears,” and an animal “approximately 3.5 feet long and 18 inches high.” This is a classic description of a jaguarundi. The witness also states that the sighting took place near Bishop which is located in deep South Texas very close to the very limited accepted range of the jaguarundi. I’m guessing that is exactly what this lady saw.
Posts
I'm not completely sure that the large dark feral cat shot in Australia is a feral cat. Please note that I am no expert, and merely have a fair knowledge of cats. I was looking at the picture for the first time, and the color of the paw pads struck me. They were pink, not black or dark grey like the paw pads of a black cat. And then there is the fact that the cat looks slightly mottled black and dark red/brown. Black cats tend to look reddish or brownish when they have been in the light for a while, and all cats have faint tabby markings to some extent or another. But this picture appears to be taken in the dark, and rigor mortis appears to have not yet set in, so how could the cat be showing the red/brown seen in light? The final things that makes me think is the body shape. The tail and hind legs point to a cobby or substantial body shape, but the front legs point to semi-foreign and the head points to oriental. As I said earlier, I am no expert, so I could be entirely wrong and angles, my computer screen, and an unusual cat could be what is actually there.
ReplyDeleteI live in Mt. Vernon, Tx in Franklin County. We had the most amazing beautiful cat that was gray and white with long hair and a Bob tail. Well tonight He was found to totally mutalated. There was nothing but his head and front legs attached to the head by skin. I've heard that there are panthers in this area and have actually heard the screams but never witnessed one. Could a panther have done this to my baby boy?
ReplyDeleteThis morning I saw a dead black medium sized puma?! It was on Masterson Road on the outskirt of San Antonio. Later in the day, it was gone.
ReplyDeleteFor many years I led nature tours to Central and South America and have experience with jaguarundis. Many of the descriptions listed in Cryptid Hunter fit jaguarundis well. They can be solid black, charcoal, gray, chocolate brown, rusty, tawny, and sometimes for some reason have faint spots especially at night in a spotlight on the dark animals. A jaguarundi screams a hair-raising bloody murder. Food is anything catchable that is smaller than themselves. They are found in a variety of habitats, are fond of secluded riparian growth, are diurnal and nocturnal, climb trees, can be seen in pairs especially during breeding times, and are found in Argentina well south of 35 degrees and up to 8000'. According to available habitat, their range should include the southern states in the US at least as far as 35 degrees north. I have come across records from people in Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana, Arkansas, Tennessee, Mississippi, Alabama, Florida and Georgia. Specimens and photos of wild jaguarundis are extremely rare due to their usually being skittish. Very few records for road kill, the ones I have come across are from southern Mexico. Thus, government officials and academics are resistant in accepting only sight records, although almost every bird recorded on Audubon Christmas Bird Counts for over a century is a sight record accepted and studied scientifically. I have perhaps fifty believable records of jaguarundis from Oklahoma and come across land owners frequently who know jaguarundis by experience and call them "little black panthers." There are a few Indian legends about them. Literature from before and after 1900 list the range as from southern Texas southward and that has been repeated ever since without any scientific study. At least two researchers (one each in TX and OK) found them in their studies but arbitrarily threw them out believing the unproven lore instead. Anyone wishing to contact me directly, please respond in this blog.
ReplyDeleteMy name is Bob Cooksey and I am a fossil hunter operating out of Austin, Texas. Most of my weekends/time off are spent traveling around Texas, and when I'm "in the field" I get lots of local people from the various rural towns stopping by to talk to me. Since I'm a wildlife lover, I love to ask ranchers if they've ever seen a mountain lion in their particular area as I am very interested to know how big the population is here in Texas. To my shock, I can tell you that I've had at least ten people tell me that they have seen "black panthers." Now, I never prod this information from them, I ask specifically about standard mountain lions, but these people are certain that they saw large black cats, larger than bobcats, with long tails. Most of the times the ranchers don't even seem to know that there is "no such thing" as a black panther in Texas. To them it's just another animal they just happened to glimpse. After hearing these stories, I tend to ask a lot of questions about whether it was really dark when the cat was spotted, or dusty, or whatever else could make a cougar look like a black panther. They were all certain of what they saw. In fact one woman told me she'd seen one dead in the road fifteen years ago near Florence, Texas. Nearly all the sightings, however, occurred in areas NW of Dallas, near the border--so when I stumbled on this site by accident I found it interesting that people were mentioning the Sherman, Texas area.
ReplyDeleteI have a BS detector from hell and know when people are yanking my chain--but I never felt that from any of these rural Texans. Mistaken identity? Possibly. But these people know the animals they live around. They are not city people who wouldn't know a bobcat from a lion.
So anyway in my travels to West Texas (Kent, Big Bend) when the natives say they've seen a big cat, their descriptions are obviously of standard, tan mountain lions. But for some reason, from Florence Texas all the way north/northwest to the Texas border, I hear about "black panthers."
I brought this subject up on a fossil forum, one of the posters, who lives near Paris, Texas, told me she'd seen a blank panther and two cubs walking down a river bank where she usually hunts for fossils years ago. She spends all her time in the outdoors, so I trust her as a witness.
So what are people seeing? I am not sure.
In the summer of 2009, I was out spotlighting for hogs in a large pasture near Lovelady Texas, NE of Huntsville. I saw some reddish eyes in the tall grass so I motored my Jeep on over. I panned my spot light to the right and then to the left. I witnessed a long black creature, very low to the ground with a long black, pipe like tail, scuttling away from me. I distinctly saw the shoulder blades gliding past each other as the beast crept away. The animal was about 25 yards away and appeared to be 6-8 feet from tip to tail. My 3 million candlepower spotlight lit up the scene very well. Fast forward to the summer of 2014. I'm riding around with the owner of the land as we investigated the new pipeline being constructed. He casually mentioned his son "swears up and down he saw a big black cat" out on the property. I leapt up and told him "I DID TOO!!!". I recited my story of where I saw it and he went on to relay his son's sighting. It was in the very same pasture. He then told me of a conversation he had soon after with a lady in the Lovelady hardware store, that saw a "big black cat, followed by three cubs". I asked him where she saw it and he pointed to the property adjacent to his. These were three individual, unconnected sightings of a BIG BLACK CAT, in the same location. These cats must be incredibly elusive, but they are definitely out there.
ReplyDeletePEOPLE YOU ARE NOT CRAZY. WE JUST BOUGHT 19 ACRES OFF 1280. HAVEN'T MOVED OUT THERE YET, BUT OUR FRIEND IS THERE IN HIS RV, WE BEEN WORKING THE PROPERTY. LAST WEEK HE SENT 3 PICTURES OFF HIS PHONE TO US HERE IN HUNTSVILLE,TX. 1ST PIC WAS 3 BUCKS,2ND PIC WAS 4 DOES, 3RD PIC WAS A BIG CAT WITH A LONG SWAYED TAIL.LOOKED LIKE A MOUNTAIN LION.ALL 3 OF THESE PICTURES WAS TAKEN RIGHT OUT HIS RV DOOR. FEW DAYS LATER MY HUSBAND, THE MAN WITH RV AND A ANOTHER MAN, HAD GOT OFF THE TRACTORS STANDING AROUND SHOOTING THE BREEZE.ONE GUY LOOKS ACROSS OUR PROPERTY AND SAYS THERES THAT CAT AGAIN, OF COURSE NONE OF THEM HAD A GUN ON THEM, BUT IT WAS AT DUSK.WE WILL BE MOVING OUT THERE SOON. I WILL BE BRINGING MY CHICKENS AND LIL HOUSE DOG'S. FOR THIS REASON I;M SCARED FOR THEIR LIFE.ONE NEIGHBOR SAYS YES THERE IS A BIG CAT ROAMING OUT THERE. I HOPE SOMEONE KILLS IT SOON OR I WILL.
DeleteMy husband works across the highway (loop 410) from the San Antonio airport and last night he came home around 8:30 p.m.. He told me he heard ALOT of noise such as falling leaves and birds flying around which is not usual at all coming from a wooded area next to his job. When he looked in that direction he said he saw what he's positive to have been a black panther about 3 ft long on a large branch as if it were hunting birds! It REALLY frightened him and decided to call it a night at work since he works outdoors.
ReplyDelete