DuckSouth.com

If the formerly extinct ivory-billed woodpecker can still exist, I have no reason to doubt that we might have a few cougars out there, too.

This provides insight to why they may still be roaming around here:



I can't see why they would bottleneck down such that they could only possibly be in a few hundred square miles. There is too much habitat still left in the long time range of the cat for them not to have "pockets of resistance" up here in the hills and flatlands. it only takes two to tango...

ya'll just go ahead and put me in F&W's camp....w/ all due respect, just b/c the poster is convinced he's seen one, don't make a believer outta me...and i mean that in the nicest, most "feel-good", shoulder rubbin way possible

interestingly, here's the current range for the FLORIDA panther:



then we have a few quotes from doc's post:

The 110-pound cat, about 1 to 2 years old

that's a young cat (1-2) to be THAT size....interestly, you CAN go by this considering there WAS EVIDENCE by way of a carcass...

what about this???

Fewer than 100 Florida panthers remain in the wild.

so, fewer than a hundred, and one's gonna leave the everglades, THE ONLY DOCUMENTED locale of said beast to find love IN MISSISSIPPI???? really?

and this is something....

Car accidents are a leading cause of death for the endangered species. At least 45 panthers have died in vehicle collisions since 1972.

i find it VERY INTERESTING that this comment was made...in florida, 45 HAVE BEEN RUN OVER......wut, florida the only state w/ ROADS....that's funny, cause EACH AND EVERY year folks post up, "my grandma's first cousins kitchen elf done seen one, YEP!!! CONFIRMED.." but, still TO THIS DAY, not ONE PICTURE...AM-FRICKIN-MAZING...

welp, what about grip's postulation's??? i'd have to say that shrinking "range" was probably due to massive amounts of deforestation of so-called flatlands and hills...interestingly, it looks "as if" they've shrunk to AVOID people heading for the only uninteruptted PRISTINE habitat left....funny how they went to a place were they are SECLUDED...and where's all this habitat? heck, you can't go 5 miles from there to here w/out crossing an intersection...the habitat, i assure you, ain't what it once was...

oh, and just for kicks, here's what a FLORIDA panther looks like:

http://www.panther.state.fl.us/

that sucker looks an AWFUL lot like a cougar/mountain lion....check out the website....sorta neat and FILLED W/ FACTS...

oh and this quote from the florida panther society, folks who love and study them:

Where do the remaining panthers live?
Florida Panthers once roamed the entire southeastern United States; including Florida, Georgia, Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina and Arkansas. Now, the remaining population is isolated in South Florida where their habitat is shrinking due to over-development.

oops, another crazy FACT from the FLORIDA panther society:

Is there a “Black Panther”?
The term 'Black Panther' is quite often used in connection with large black cats - however there is no one distinct species of wildcat called a 'Black Panther'. Over the years it has become used as a common name that can be applied to any large black-coated cat. When you see a picture of a 'Black Panther' it is most likely that you are looking at either a Leopard or possibly a Jaguar with Melanistic coloration. The term Melanistic is derived from melanin, a dark colored skin and hair pigment. In cats, melanism results in the fur of the animal being very dark or black in color. In many cases the usual markings of the animal can be faintly seen through the dark fur, especially at certain angles in bright sunlight. Melanistic cats are commonly born into mixed litters along with normally colored siblings.

(Note: There is no documented evidence of the existence of a melanistic Florida Panther.

before anyone throws out ole peckerhead as a reference, IT'S A BIRD....it EATS like a bird....it don't need much in the way of "land" to survive, just a lil peace and quiet....i'd imagine a 110 lb animal needs alot of land and puts down some groceries...

look, i'd love it if it were true....ALOT more than that dam bird crap. but, until some chucklehead PRODUCES SOME PICS, it is a figment of imaginations....

ya'll carry on, me an grandma's elf gonna go back to work, gator

Well not to try and make a believer out of anyone.But I believe ya Walt. I saw one up that way a few years back cross Eagle Lake Rd right before the levee. I have seen one playing golf just north of Orlando. As for the one killed in between Tampa and St Pete it must have been on the Howard Franklin, Coutrney Campbell Causeway or Gandy Bridge because thats the only thing between Tampa and St Pete besides water.

Now I don't believe for one second that panthers even know how to play golf.

I've seen dead armadillos on the roadside holding beer bottles...and I'm a little skeptical that they can open the tops...what with no opposable thumbs and all.

The only black panthers I know of are Huey Newton and Eldridge Cleaver.

We have one in our camp in brandon. Although i have not personaly seen it, it will make a scream right at about 530 as every one is making there way down from the deer stand. i think everyone has heard it, and 2 have seen it while checking piplines in the mid afternoon. one of the people who saw it was a game warden who identified it as a panther. purty cool if ya ask me.

The sighting that I mentioned in the earlier post was definitely a cat.
I don't know what species or type it was but definitely a cat. I looked
to be more of a brownish color and had a long tail. I really don't care
who believes me. Myself and my hunting friend both saw this for about
a couple of minutes through our binoculars in clear daylight. We both
recognized that it was a cat at the same time. Take it or leave it! I don't
make it a habit of fabricating stories.

Oh, I believe it. Why not? We got bear sightings now. Years ago that didn't happen very often either. The old folks talked about panthers being around back in their time,could be a few left in particular areas. Would like to see a picture though.

The sighting that I mentioned in the earlier post was definitely a cat.
I don't know what species or type it was but definitely a cat. I looked
to be more of a brownish color and had a long tail. I really don't care
who believes me. Myself and my hunting friend both saw this for about
a couple of minutes through our binoculars in clear daylight. We both
recognized that it was a cat at the same time. Take it or leave it! I don't
make it a habit of fabricating stories.

I agree a picture would be more convincing. No more often than the
sightings occur greatly reduces the odds of having a camera with you
at the same time. Even if you were to have a camera with you, the
cat must present itself in a manner to be photographed.
I don't know why my posts are being sent out two times. I am
only submitting it once. Sorry for whatever might be causing this.

There are tons of websites dealing with cougar/Florida Panther sightings here's one showing an Arky kitty. http://easterncougarnet.org/

We have a stable population of black bears in south Alabama, this population is densest in Mobile county which is pretty populated and we have only very rare instances of sightings near roads or houses. So maybe panthers can be living in secret and then again these panther sightings (which we have here in Alabama too) are just escaped pet cougars. Or maybe this is the explanation.
http://www.anomalist.com/features/jag.html

I can't give any very credible stories in MS or LA, though I've heard many and even seen something I thought suspect once....

BUT, I seen one in Arkansas hunting, North Arkansas bought 10 years ago, and when I told the guys I hunted with up there, they thought it was no big deal. They said they seen and heard them regularly. I seen it plain as day 25 yards from me, and I was in a deerstand and it didn't know I was there, not for awhile anyhow...

Also, I graduated high school in Missouri, and a friend I graduated with hit and killed 2 during our senior year, both during baseball season, he was on our baseball team with me and I seen one of them with my own eyes...and he had pictures of it...

Now, both of those were very close to the Ozarks and that may not even be the same thing we are talking about down here. They called em Panther in Arkansas and the people in Missouri called it a Mountain Lion...whatever...I'm not sure about them in Mississippi, but I have heard 1000 stories around Natchez were I'm from about them, and I believe there bound to be a few here and there...

If I may, I would like to offer another possibility to the cat’s origins.
There are many people (morons) that think that keeping a wild cat (tiger, cougar ect.) is cool. At least they think that until the cat hit puberty. Then the cat becomes basically uncontrollable. At this point, many people just turn these cats out in the wild.

It is very possible that this cat was once a pet that was let out.

In December 1992 or 93 I walked up on a cougar on the way to a food plot after a drizzling rain with the wind in my face. This was in the Saratoga community south southeast of Magee, MS. The adjoining neighbors cattle had broken into the food plot and the cougar was just over the crest of a hill about 100 yards downwind of the food plot. I had a Rem 700 30-06. I spotted it at a distance of approx 20 yrds, sitting on its rear like a dog. It was facing the other direction and without me making any sound, it turned its head, looked straight at me, stood up and walked into the sage brush and started down a hill toward on old overgrown pond. The cougar's big tail was swishing back and forth as it walked away. Having killed numerous wild dogs over the years which actually killed 17 head of cattle on our farm one day, I knew how wounded dogs reacted and had no desire to shoot and wound a cat while on the ground. I watched it walk away and went the next day to Troy and Sandra Walker's home about 7 miles away to look at one they had in a pen. No doubt what I saw was a cougar. Could have been a former pet, but was definitely a cougar. I actually talked to Walt after he saw this by phone and talked to him in person at my office the next morning. Having been trained in over 120 hours of interview and interrogation, plus 16 years conducting interviews I can say I know when Walt is telling tales and when he is telling the truth, and I absolutely believe him when he says he saw what appeared to be a young juvenile cougar. But just remember Uncle Walt, we're still gonna rib you about it.