British Big Cat Sighting

All my life I've heard the stories about the big black and brown cats in our area. My grandparents and great-grandparents lived on the Tennessee River, along the TN and KY state line before the formation of Kentucky Lake. There was no doubt in their mind that big cats lived in that area. They called them panthers. There are even creeks, ridges, etc., called "Panther Creek" because of the population of big cats. These were heavily wooded areas that had never been cleared for farming due to the nature of the topography.
They knew the cats were there because they saw the damage done to livestock by them. They knew that bobcats couldn't do that sort of damage to cattle or horses.
Fast forward about 50 years and a schoolmate of mine was living quite close to my family's homeplace. Several of his neighbors were reporting having seen a very large black "panther" crossing the road in front of them at night. My school pal heard the stories and made six kinds of fun of the reports. He talked to the Fish & Wildlife guys. Of course, they all told him that such critters simply didn't exist in our area. He believed them---right up until he was driving home late one night and saw one carrying a young fawn in its mouth, crossing the road. He was driving very slowly because of the deer population and there was no doubt in his mind that what he saw was the legendary black panther. His wife has seen one at least twice along the same stretch of road.
I know I wouldn't go walking in that area after dark!

a reply to: Kester

No, I hadn't read that one. Lot of info! Will have to check it out. I could see that, though. Some very smart people from those parts. No reason big cats couldn't be there, either, all considered. There is enough prey, and ancient people did use ships.

originally posted by: Kester
a reply to: LadyGreenEyes

I'm almost surprised by the strangeness of this.
*snip*

Notice again nonchalance and unwillingness to really hurt a human. It isn't just my ancestors who live in partnership with the cats.

Interesting! Especially since big cats do attack people, it's something else when they easily could, and don't. Maybe they aren't hungry, or maybe it is something more. That cougar I saw could have taken me down easily, but it didn't. Never felt a threat at all from it. The one we didn't see; that was threatening! Still, even staked, it didn't attack. Have to wonder......is there some genetic component that they could recognize?

originally posted by: Kester
a reply to: LadyGreenEyes

Befriending an adult big black cat, which eventually brought a cub along and made it clear it was being introduced, and the cub took food from the mans hand as the adult watched, has been reliably reported.

I can believe it. Big cats can be dangerous, of course, but there are cases of them being handled and even befriending people.

originally posted by: starswift
In the part addressed to my post.
That is the policy, as I knew the son of the State Fish and Game department head.
The don't have the resources or manpower so it would be an unfunded mandate.
They were hunted to near extinction in the past.
Out west you can shoot them as they are considered varmints that threaten livestock
and sometimes have predator hunting jamborees where they kill all coyotes, cats, wolves, and anything else they can find. a reply to: LadyGreenEyes

Well, there does seem to be a real mix of laws on the animals - HomeLocal NewsStory Cougar shot on southwestern Minnesota farm; legal action possible

Hunting Cougar in Oregon

...so, that's one thing. Some places, they are protected, and some, you have to have a license to shoot them. If a state can issue permits, or make it illegal, then another state can do the same. When a F&G person tells someone they don't exist, but then tells them it is illegal to shoot them, that's a very mixed message. Not saying that isn't a reason they might give some places, but it doesn't make sense. All sorts of species are protected, and poaching is addressed, and hunting, so why would one added species make such a cost difference? All that would change would be that people could be informed on how to stay safe, and watch for signs of a big cat in the area. Plus, in areas they might actually be endangered, shooting them could be legally prohibited. How they could claim they aren't there, yet are also protected, makes zero sense. How could they prosecute someone for shooting an animal that isn't there?

Did your dad ever talk about these cats? The cougars in places they officially aren't, or the large black cats? Appreciate the details.

The latest. www.westernmorningnews.co.uk...

In Britain 75% of the reports are of big black cats, but the unanswered question is what they are.

a reply to: Kester
Wow! To my eyes that is a cat, a big one. We have a fox family living on our farm and our outdoor cameras pick them up on a nightly basis. They don't look anything like that creature.
Thanks for the link.

originally posted by: Blazemore2000
a reply to: AnuTyr

Sorry, but my sighting was too close up to be mistaken identity. One of the others was as well. Whatever the odds, I saw what I saw.. doubt if you like... it makes no nevermind to me.

I remember a recent Monsters and mysteries in america episode where an old timer was interviewed, and he told about a big black panther that attacked him while he was fixing his car. I think it was 1973 he said. The odd thing he remembered was when someone drove up as he was being scratched up by the cat, that it took off, but it was walking on it's hind legs like a person, bipedal.

as funny as it sounds, that is what he swears it did. The police at the time did not believe him either, and they thought it was a wolf, but this guy said not a chance was it that. I think this attack happened in southern Illinois state.

I think a lot of dog-man sightings are panthers on their hind legs.
They probably can go near vertical temporarily or attain that posture travelling over steep terrain rapidly or going vertical on terrain or even in attitudes of rest if supported. The eyes also play tricks with panthers as they can move so fast and leap so high, moving up cliffs, dropping off bluffs, being seen from odd angles, the mind interprets as it sees fit, etc.
a reply to: NoCorruptionAllowed

a reply to: NoCorruptionAllowed

Fascinating. That brings up the shapeshifting human idea.

a reply to: starswift

We don't get a lot of snow here so one winter after a snowfall I said to the children, "Should we go up to the woods and look for leopard tracks?" I was joking of course. You can imagine how I felt when after ten minutes we found leopard tracks. Parenting fail.

The feature that convinced me that the indistinct widely spaced big round prints were from a big cat was the way they went up a very steep slope without breaking stride.

Three years ago in Ohio an hour outside of Cincinnati, my husband and I went down into a creek to hunt fossils. I saw some really large Cat paw prints in the water and the soil at the creek. The paw prints were much bigger than a large dog's. I was on alert looking the prints. As we worked our way down to the road bridge, I notice a half eaten deer carcass and a big Crow's carcass near the bridge. I looked up at the bridge and thought it was perfect for a shelter area for a big cat. We finished up and left. I told my husband's mother, she said someone in the MT Orab area lost or released an exotic pet. I looked it up on the internet and it was true. No one had caught it or shot it either. These big African cats will search out the North American Mountain lions and mate. The Mountain lions here may now be part African lion. Chilling to know this!

I think your on to something ; )
I have been puzzling as late over a case of a cryptic immaculate conception and ice age portals, UFO's, undines. The deeper I look the odder it gets. It would make too good a story.
a reply to: Kester

Watch out when they are up slope.
Or even watch up ; )
So they are called leopards in the British Isles then.
a reply to: Kester

a reply to: starswift

It's possible that the footprints I saw in the snow were left by a cougar. But it is far more likely at that location it was a leopard. To be more accurate a leopard type. No one is really sure what the big black cats here are. One expert even thinks that someone is breeding hybrids and turning them loose.

GHASTLY FOOTAGE.

DON'T WATCH IF YOU'RE SENSITIVE.

This one is for all who ask, "Where are the roadkills?"

After all that it still had to be shot afterwards. In this country big cats hit on roads often crawl away into the undergrowth. You want to go looking for one? Good luck. It's the dead ones that get up and kill you.

a reply to: Kester

I should add here the leopard is said to have been very old. It's teeth were worn out and it hadn't eaten for a long time. Allegedly it had TB. And it had been attacked by another leopard shortly before, the injuries show in some of the still images of the start of the drama.

With all that it was still capable of dragging itself away after being run over. That's where your roadkills are. Far away hidden in dense undergrowth or underground.

a reply to: Mandroid7

That's a cane corso from About Time's Cane Corso not a Presa.

originally posted by: diggindirt
All my life I've heard the stories about the big black and brown cats in our area. My grandparents and great-grandparents lived on the Tennessee River, along the TN and KY state line before the formation of Kentucky Lake. There was no doubt in their mind that big cats lived in that area. They called them panthers. There are even creeks, ridges, etc., called "Panther Creek" because of the population of big cats... I know I wouldn't go walking in that area after dark!

I grew up south of you, near the TN-GA-NC intersection. My generation calls them cougars, but the old folk called them panthers or "black painters." A saddleback passage through the mountains was called "Painter Gap" because they were spotted so often in the area, and you couldn't pay the residents of the area to walk through the gap at night. Of course, the local TWRA (Tennessee Wildlife Resource Agency) agents say there are no big cats in TN for the last 200 years, and any sightings are misidentified smaller animals or escaped/released illegal pets. And, of course, there is absolutely no truth to the rumors that the TWRA has released captured cougars or wolves from other states in an attempt to reintroduce them to the area to control deer or coyote populations.

BTW, a cougar's cry can sound like a woman screaming, and can make for a sleepless night for a 10 year old!

a reply to: TroyCheek
"Painters" was exactly what they were called by my great-grandmother. Her home sat two ridges from one called Panther Ridge. When my eldest sister was about 4 years old, she and my parents lived with Grandma in that house. One of my sister's memories of living there was the screaming of the "painters," as Grandma called them.
As far as I know, we don't have any in our immediate area but we do have bobcats. When the river bottoms where they normally live get flooded, they migrate up to the ridges.
You haven't lived until you've been awakened by a bobcat screaming just outside your open bedroom window!