Panther Myth

[SpencerSS]

I'm posting this because I'm tired of hearing the lies.

To start here's a few facts:

-The Florida Panther Puma concolor coryi is a subspecies of the mountain lion. It is tan in color, NOT BLACK.

-Black Panthers are the melanistic "black" phase of Leapard.

-There are puma, cougar, mountain lion, painter, catamount or panthers in LA. It is unsubstantiated whether they are Florida panther lineage or from the western stock.

-These animals are extremely rare in LA. Yet every other hunter here has seen two or three, last year.

I'm not saying it's imposible for there to be a large black cat in the wild in LA; but it's not a florida panther, and it escaped from a zoo or a circus. And I doubt he or she has visited half the hunters in LA.

 

[SpencerSS]

Like this

 

[SpencerSS]

P.S. The one they shot in Sreveport last year is mounted and on the fourth floor of the LDWF headquarters in BR.

 

[kz45]

I'v seen one years ago, and black bear also

 

[SigArmed1]

I saw one that looked exactly like the one in your pic about 12 years ago in the middle of a VERY ISOLATED pipeline ROW near the Mississippi river around St. James LA. At the time, I was flying a pipeline patrol and I flew right over him circled back and took another look. Beautiful animal and absolutely no doubt that was what it was. The main thing I remember was that his/her tail looked as long as the body. When I got home I called the LDWF and gave them the approx. location but they told me that we didnt have any of those in LA. anymore. I was like well, I just saw one so you better check again!!

 

[Cat]

We were talking about this a few days ago. My husband suggested the black myth started because in the dark, they can appear black themselves. As the old proverb goes, when the candles go out, all cats are grey.

I cringe whenever I hear everybody swear they saw a panther while hunting. I agree, I think they're extremely rare and cats are elusive by nature but with more and more people mounting game cams, we will definitely hear and see more confirmed digital sightings.

Sig, those kind of stories I do believe. If you told me you walked up on it, no way. But flying over, absolutely. In general I think somebody has to have a real special set of circumstances to be able to see one.

 

[BobKaro]

I don't believe there are black panthers. I do believe that there are wild cougars in Louisiana. I haven't seen one in person but I know/knew people who have. I've seen cougar prints and my uncle had some casts he took of them.

This was over by Lake Dauterive and a couple years later LDWF had DNA confirmed cougar scat from nearby Lake Fausse Pointe.

 

[buddy_fuentes]

There is no point in telling you that me, my wife, and son saw a black panther at our camp off of hwy. 1215 on Toledo Bend. Either, three of us had the same dream or it really was a black panther. My son and I both got a real good look at him/her and it was black. Mountain Lion, Cougar, or whatever...he just wouldn't stay around long enough for me to introduce myself and ask.

Just because you haven't seen one doesn't mean that they don't exist.

Buddy

 

[Chiodos]

There is no point in telling you that me, my wife, and son saw a black panther at our camp off of hwy. 1215 on Toledo Bend. Either, three of us had the same dream or it really was a black panther. My son and I both got a real good look at him/her and it was black. Mountain Lion, Cougar, or whatever...he just wouldn't stay around long enough for me to introduce myself and ask.

Just because you haven't seen one doesn't mean that they don't exist.

Buddy

well, if there was no point then why did you tell us? i believe that you saw a panther, many people have. but what you saw was brown at best, maybe it was wet. the truth is in the scientific name of puma concolor coryi. puma is the family, concolor means ONE COLOR, coryi is the last name of the guy who named it. that one color is beige to darker brown. a true black panther has never been spotted, EVER. i know your response to this is "you dont know what i saw". well the truth is it wasnt black. a brown panther that just came out of the water would appear to be dark but once that fur dries it is no where near black. the ONLY posibility of what you saw was a big black cat would be that many people speculate that there may be a small breeding population of jaguars in the Louisiana Bayou. but then again that has never been confirmed that jaguars could even survive there with the shrinking of habitat and the huge territory of just one jaguar (usually 60 mile radius but has been proven up to 200 miles). but there is a big difference between the two cats. they are not even of the same genus! puma and panthera. but how would a jaguar get to louisiana? their habitat is the rainforests in south america! on a side note, breeders are able to express every trait in whatever animal they are breeding but no matter how hard they try, they have NEVER produced a black(melanistic) puma concolor coryi. and i am sorry for making this an awful introduction but i decided it was time for this myth to be put to rest.

 

[Wolfgang1952]

We have a female that lives in the area. I have seen her several times in the past 20 years. I had castings of hear paw prints. I contacted BR and was told to destroy them. They didn't want to know about her. So I did so. Three years ago we saw her and a Tom. One night I hit one on La25 just North of Bonner Creek Rd. and it was BLACK. No mistaking BLACK for brown. Black ones are hear.

Wolf

 

[Wolfgang1952]

Delete

 

[Yrdawg]

well, if there was no point then why did you tell us? i believe that you saw a panther, many people have. but what you saw was brown at best, maybe it was wet. the truth is in the scientific name of puma concolor coryi. puma is the family, concolor means ONE COLOR, coryi is the last name of the guy who named it. that one color is beige to darker brown. a true black panther has never been spotted, EVER. i know your response to this is "you dont know what i saw". well the truth is it wasnt black. a brown panther that just came out of the water would appear to be dark but once that fur dries it is no where near black. the ONLY posibility of what you saw was a big black cat would be that many people speculate that there may be a small breeding population of jaguars in the Louisiana Bayou. but then again that has never been confirmed that jaguars could even survive there with the shrinking of habitat and the huge territory of just one jaguar (usually 60 mile radius but has been proven up to 200 miles). but there is a big difference between the two cats. they are not even of the same genus! puma and panthera. but how would a jaguar get to louisiana? their habitat is the rainforests in south america! on a side note, breeders are able to express every trait in whatever animal they are breeding but no matter how hard they try, they have NEVER produced a black(melanistic) puma concolor coryi. and i am sorry for making this an awful introduction but i decided it was time for this myth to be put to rest.

LOL.....there are multiple reports from around here, I live in the middle of many hunt leases and my property borders at least two .

Theres several guys here will tell you they have seen black..not wet or dark or moonlit but BLACK

Hope to be watchn when someone tells them they're wrong

Had 3 eye wits last year to a black panther sighting, I guess these are all UFO cats

I've seen 2 brown cougar/panthers/painter/jaguar/ very large cats, over 50 lbs w long tails in the last year

AND none could ever possibly be black ??

 

[Win1917]

If you told me you walked up on it, no way.

I haven't lived in the south long enough to know anything about this black panther debate but I grew up on a ranch on the west coast and I've walked up on mountain lions several times so even though it's a very rare occurance I wouldn't automatically dimiss it happening to someone else.

 

[Akajun]

but then again that has never been confirmed that jaguars could even survive there with the shrinking of habitat and the huge territory of just one jaguar (usually 60 mile radius but has been proven up to 200 miles). but there is a big difference between the two cats. they are not even of the same genus! puma and panthera. but how would a jaguar get to louisiana? their habitat is the rainforests in south america! QUOTE]


There are documented game camera photo's of Jaguars in Northern Mexico, south texas, and arizona that have sprung up the last few years. Also around the turn of the century, jaguars were reguarly killed in those regions. It is not a stretch that these animals could roam that far.

As far as a "Black panther". if it is a melanistic cougar, is it not still a large black cat? Melanisim is not that rare in wild animals, I have personally seen black bobcats and deer in the St. Francisville area and use to belong to a hunting club in Rhama where you could kill a limit of melanistic squirells. Have I ever seen a cougar in Louisiana, no, however I know people who have who have hunted cougars or grown up around them and know the difference between them and bobcats and their tracks.

Lousiana has a breeding population of cougars, the evidence of the one killed in shreveport, the infamix game camera pics from Kisatche, and the scat confirmation at Lake Fausse Point prove this. I personally believe that the LDWF chooses to ignor it for a very good reason, they do not wish to be force to follow federal guidelines for an endangered species which may restrict other game hunting and tie up more of thier already small budget.

 

[buddy_fuentes]

well, if there was no point then why did you tell us? i believe that you saw a panther, many people have. but what you saw was brown at best, maybe it was wet. the truth is in the scientific name of puma concolor coryi. puma is the family, concolor means ONE COLOR, coryi is the last name of the guy who named it. that one color is beige to darker brown. a true black panther has never been spotted, EVER. i know your response to this is "you dont know what i saw". well the truth is it wasnt black. a brown panther that just came out of the water would appear to be dark but once that fur dries it is no where near black. the ONLY posibility of what you saw was a big black cat would be that many people speculate that there may be a small breeding population of jaguars in the Louisiana Bayou. but then again that has never been confirmed that jaguars could even survive there with the shrinking of habitat and the huge territory of just one jaguar (usually 60 mile radius but has been proven up to 200 miles). but there is a big difference between the two cats. they are not even of the same genus! puma and panthera. but how would a jaguar get to louisiana? their habitat is the rainforests in south america! on a side note, breeders are able to express every trait in whatever animal they are breeding but no matter how hard they try, they have NEVER produced a black(melanistic) puma concolor coryi. and i am sorry for making this an awful introduction but i decided it was time for this myth to be put to rest.

Sir, I'm sure that you are a very intelligent individual and aren't stupid enough to believe that there aren't some freaks of nature. I've seen albino squirrels, humans, deer, and other animals. Heck there are snakes with two tails, humans with two heads and a multitude of other abnormalities in nature. But no black panthers....

And the reason I mentioned it was because I didn't know that you, the last word in genetics, would be on here to tell me what I saw. I am so thankful you were here to save the day.

By the way, spell check available through Google.

Thanks for getting me straight and telling me what I saw.

Buddy

 

[Cat]

We have a female that lives in the area. I have seen her several times in the past 20 years. I had castings of hear paw prints. I contacted BR and was told to destroy them. They didn't want to know about her. So I did so. Three years ago we saw her and a Tom. One night I hit one on La25 just North of Bonner Creek Rd. and it was BLACK. No mistaking BLACK for brown. Black ones are hear.

Wolf

Well... If you ever get a seemingly black house cat in the sunlight through a window and push back the fur, alot of times it's actually a dark chocolate brown.

 

[SeventhSon]

Black Panthers do exist.....

Seriously though, I have seen a black panther on the family land in Florida, but never here in Louisiana.

 

[jphilp87]

I've seen Sasquatch in Mississippi... i mean hell... uh... disregard.

Lol, I believe they have cougars out here. They have always been around. There have been plenty of well documented incidents. Who is to say that there isnt a male running around with a genetic mutation that causes a predominantly black color? Sounds plausible enough to look into. Might be pretty cool. There is a Louisiana Black Bear. I've never seen one but I've seen the proof that they are still around.

Cheers

 

[charlie12]

Back in the early 90's when I was talking on the CB alot seems like everybody that lived in the country had one behind their house. Never in front.

I've never seen one and don't think there are any out there. Wish somebody would run over one in the road so they could prove it.

My buddy that worked for LSU and studied the Florida Panther in Florida while working on his phd laughed when people started talking about them.

 

[charlie12]

I've seen Sasquatch in Mississippi... i mean hell... uh... disregard.

Lol, I believe they have cougars out here. They have always been around. There have been plenty of well documented incidents. Who is to say that there isnt a male running around with a genetic mutation that causes a predominantly black color? Sounds plausible enough to look into. Might be pretty cool. There is a Louisiana Black Bear. I've never seen one but I've seen the proof that they are still around.

Cheers

My girlfriend saw two black bears in Port Vincent about a year ago.