reply to post by Spiramirabilis
Oh, I am right there with you on there being big cats in a LOT more locations than they admit to! Not just cougars, but jaguars, as well. There is
NO reason they could not spread out all over the United State, and they are, after all, very stealthy hunters. Even the cougar is hard to locate in
the wold, in places where people LOOK for them. If they (the official folks) are not looking, well, they aren't going to find any save by sheer dumb
luck.
Fact is, there is a pretty good chance we have jaguars where we live, too. "Middle America" area. My younger son said he saw a really big cat (and
he's VERY familiar with all sizes of domesticated cats, and even bobcats) in a tree across the street from us. Now, there are supposed to be cougars
hereabouts, but this cat, he said, was spotted. Now, I know what he sounds like if he's making something up, and what he sounds like when simply
reporting something he saw. This wasn't some made up story. Looking at pics online, he said the spots looked closest to jaguars. I know, too, one
night when the teen and I were walking the dogs (two large ones we had at the time), something was stalking us around the neighborhood. The dogs were
both acting very antsy, and we could feel something watching. I am talking a predator here. So, yeah, I can fully accept that these cats are around!
Too many people have seen them, we have pictures and video that are verified to be way larger than domestic cats, and livestock taken out by them.
This track, though, I still think is that of a canine. it isn't just the claws, because those can, on occasion, show with a cat. it's more the pad
shape behind the toes. If you check those two links I posted, you can see that with cats, you have two lobes near the toes, and three at the back of
the "heel". The track found around those killings doesn't have but one near the toes, like a dog, and two at the back, also like a dog. Plus, it
looks just like the prints our old Rottie mix used to leave. Didn't someone post that they found two wild dogs roaming around there, too?
Still, I would not give up the idea of cougars, and maybe even jaguars, in those parts! Just because this track, and maybe this case, weren't caused
by them doesn't mean they aren't there. As I said before, I have a cousin in Kentucky that says she and others she knows have seen cougars. I have
been following the large black cat sightings for a long time as well. They are real, and they are NOT all mistaken house cats! Not even most, is my
bet. I think there are spotted ones about too.
When I was in high school, we lived in San Antonio. Visiting the Witte Museum there, one favorite room of mine was one they had set up (don't know
if they still do or not) as a large "diorama" of sorts. Trees, plants, etc, and stuffed real animals here and there all through the place. Local
animals, all. Birds, small mammals, javalinas, and even a jaguar. Walking through ,the challenge was to see if you could spot all of them. At the
end, they had a little diagram showing where they were. The jaguar, virtually NO ONE spotted walking through. Even looking at the diagram, it was
hard, and this was a stuffed one. When you did spot it, you would get a real chill, because that sucker was maybe three feet from the "trail",
behind only some low bushes. Very good camouflage! I think the fish and game people don't want to admit they are there, because then they would
have to take on more responsibilities. I do find it very interesting that, when some rancher reports one of these large black cats, they tell him
there aren't any there. Then, when the same guy says, so if it comes back, I can shoot it, right? Since it isn't real? Then, they tell him, no,
he can't, because they are protected. Non-existent cats get protection?
Anthropology, too (though I don't always agree with the mainstream consensus on some things). 
