2003

Black Mountain Lion in Arizona?
At 6:15 in the morning of October 2003 Terry Colvin and a friend were driving a radio test truck in the east range of Fort Huachuca, when one hundred feet up the road, a large black cat the witnesses felt was a melanistic mountain lion crossed the road from right to left. This area in in Cochise County, Arizona, and is fairly remote. The animal never turned it's head and was described as four feet in length plus two feet of tail. The sighting lasted less than ten seconds and the cat was one hundred percent black. The ears are described as rounded; and the cat did leave prints. Both witnesses feel that the animal was lanky with a loose pelt that reminded them of a mountain lion; and are sure that it was not a jaguar. As a possible counter argument, jaguars have been spotted in Arizona and neighborhood states on numerous occasions. They were once quite abundant in Arizona, and melanism is common in jaguar populations. I feel that the jaguar hypothesis has to remain open due to the location; but nonetheless this is not the first time that I receive reports of large black cats that witnesses are certain are melanistic mountain lions. From the Providence (RI) Journal: September 12, 2003

Black Panther Sighting in Missouri - 2003 - Via Alex Mistretta

I received this report from Missouri about a large black cat sighting in 2003. The following is the description of the sighting from the witness, Randolph Merrill.

"It took place in 2003 as I was driving my sons home from school in Frohna, Missouri. It was near sunset, and we had just turned north on Hwy 61 toward Longtown. A mile or two ahead, the road was flanked bon both sides by woods, and as my vehicle approached that point in the road, I observed what looked to be a large black cat emerge from the foliage on the right side of the road and proceed to "slink" across the highway to the opposite side, where it disappeared into the undergrowth. The creature appeared to be about 4' long, not counting the tail, and 18" to "24 high at the back. As I mentioned before, it didn't walk or trot but rather "slunk" along, like cats tend to do. It paused briefly in the center of the road as my high-beams caught it, then moved quickly to the other side. I asked the boys if they saw what I did, and they responded, "yeah, what WAS that?" The next day I mentioned what I'd seen to my students, and they immediately began recounting sightings their dad's (mostly farmers or hunters) had of large cat-like animals in the area over the years and of livestock killings that did not appear to have been the work of dogs or coyotes.
Postscript: When my wife told her supervising teacher what I'd seen, she said that her husband, a state-licensed trapper, was already aware of a creature like I'd described being seen in the area, and that he and other trappers were on the hunt for it."

On the report he also mentioned that the tail was at least 2 feet in length and that the animal was black with no visible markings. He felt the animal may have been a black leopard or a large unusual feral cat. The sighting lasted for 5 to 10 seconds at a distance of 100 feet.
I was able to contact the witness and he gave me a little more information. He added that he felt the cat was heavier-bodied than a mountain lion. He also mentioned that local hunters and trappers are aware of this animal and have attempted to trap it in the past with no success.

From the Providence (RI) Journal: September 12, 2003

DEM Says Reported Panther is Really a Coyote

By Erin Emlock
NORTH KINGSTOWN -- Terry and Steven Kelly are still traumatized by what they saw take place in the backyard of their Saunderstown home this week.
At about 12:30 a.m. on Wednesday, they were jolted awake by a loud, horrible scream. As the two ran downstairs to see what was going on, the scream was repeated several more times.
Steven Kelly says at first he thought the noises were coming from a person, but as they continued he realized they were the sounds of an animal being attacked.
When he looked outside the window, he saw "a big, black creature, tearing and ripping apart a body."
The victim of the attack turned out to be a young deer. As for the predator, Kelly says he is convinced it was a large cat, such as a cougar or a panther.
"I could tell by its features, and the way it was standing and moving," Kelly said.
But the state Department of Environmental Management, which sent a biologist out to the Kellys' home to look into the incident on Wednesday, maintains the deer was attacked by a coyote.
"We found no evidence of a large cat," said DEM biologist Lori Gibson. "There were tracks from large dogs, coyotes, deer, raccoons, but no felines of any kind."
Gibson said that the DEM hears about coyote attacks happening around the state on a daily basis. She said that while people should take measures to protect their pets -- especially cats -- from coyotes, there have never been any reports of coyotes attacking people. She said pet cats should be kept indoors if possible and dogs should be in an enclosed area or on a leash when they are outside.
They Kellys live on Miner Road, near the Saunderstown Post Office. They moved to North Kingstown in March 2002 from Montana.
"I have seen coyotes," Steven Kelly said. "This was not a coyote."
Kelly said that when he turned on the light in his backyard during the attack, the animal went into a crouched position.
"That move is typical of a cat," he said. "It gave no sign that it was afraid that people were around."
Kelly says the predator he saw on Wednesday is capable of killing a human, and noted that he is frustrated by the DEM's response. "This is a very serious situation," Kelly said. "For whatever reason they are trying to say it didn't happen."
Kelly says he feels compelled to warn others that the kind of animal he saw is in the area.
"This beast is powerful, it's dangerous and it's not afraid of humans," he said.
From the Providence (RI) Journal: September 12, 2003

Late August 2003: Mississippi / USA
Craig Misenti, - anonymity not required
I now live in Maine and work at the Portland, Me. airport. At the time of the sighting I drove a truck for a large national truck carrier.
Higway 78,just on the Mississippi side of the border from Alabama. I was traveling north to Memphis from Atlanta.
Coal Black, not dark grey or dark brown just jet black.
The tail was long, almost appearing to be too long for the body of the cat. It was long and straight until it reached the ground area and then it curled up another 3 to 4 inches in a semi circle toward the sky.
It was a large cat much too large to be considered anything domestic or any of the other known wild species of cat that inhabit this area. I would say it was comparable to any of the mountain lion photo's I have seen in the past in size and weight.
It was about 75 ft. that I first noticed the cat standing at the edge of the highway. I was traveling at roughly 60 mph. when the cat crossed in front of me. I would say at the closest point I was within 20 ft. of the animal.
I was driving a large commercial truck from Atlanta to Memphis one night in the summer of 2003.I am guessing it was in late August. I had just crossed the Mississippi border and had that feeling of being home again, as often occured when you drive all over the U.S.
I was familiar with the area only in passing as I had grown up some 100 miles from where the sighting had occured. I still recognized the names on the signs and felt good that I was finally close to home. It was somewhere in this stretch before you reach Tupelo, that I was driving about 3:00 O'clock in the a.m. I seemed to be the only traffic on the hwy at this hour traveling northbound.
Yes there was the occasional big truck traveling the opposite direction, but it was early morning and not much traffic. My lights were on bright and it was a clear night.
I noticed an animal standing on the right side of the hwy looking to cross in front of me. I hadn't at this time determined it was a cat. I continued without slowing as I noticed the animal dart in front of me. It seemed startled, Yet not in a full sprint across the road. It was because of this I noticed the characteristics of this animal. It crouched down closer to the ground with its hair standing straight up on its back. It was large and it was jet black. It only took a second to cross the two lane hwy on the north side but it wasn’t in full sprint. It was quick but it did not hurry. I remember the unusually long tail the big head and the darkness of its color. I slowed somewhat when I realized this wasn’t something I had seen before.
I can only tell you that this animal was the prototypical black panther I have seen growing up as a child in books and in zoo's. I don’t mind telling anyone of my sighting although the people I have told seem somewhat skeptical. From the Providence (RI) Journal: September 12, 2003

Randolph Merrill - anonymity not required
Missouri
Three witnesses
Three witnesses - large black cat sighting / no visible markings.
Highway 61 north between Frohna and Longtown, Missouri
Tail: long, more than 2 feet
Height & length: 4' long, not counting the tail, and about 18" to "24 high at the back
Witness describes the cat as being either a jaguar or a large unusual feral.
Duration of sighting 5-10 seconds;at a distance of 100 feet
It took place in 2003 as I was driving my sons home from school in Frohna, Missouri.
It was near sunset, and we had just turned north on Hwy 61 toward Longtown. A mile or two ahead, the road was flanked on both sides by woods, and as my vehicle approached that point in the road, I observed what looked to be a large black cat emerge from the foliage on the right side of the road and proceed to "slink" across the highway to the opposite side, where it disappeared into the undergrowth. The creature appeared to be about 4' long, not counting the tail, and about 18" to "24 high at the back. As I mentioned before, it didn't walk or trot but rather "slunk" along, like cats tend to do. It paused briefly in the center of the road as my high-beams caught it, then moved quickly to the other side. I asked the boys if they saw what I did, and they responded, "Yeah, what WAS that?" The next day, I mentioned what I'd seen to some of my students, and they immediately began recounting sightings their dad's (mostly farmers or hunters) had of large cat-like animals in the area over the years and of livestock killings that did not appear to have been the work of dogs or coyotes. Postscript: When my wife told her supervising teacher what I'd seen, she said that her husband, a state-licensed trapper, was already aware of a creature like I'd described being seen in the area, and that he and other trappers were on the hunt for it.

NOTE: The Illustration I have uploaded is a recreation of what we saw, and is not being represented as an actual photograph.

Black Panther Sighting: August 2003 Mississippi

Former truck driver Craig Misenti was driving down Highway 78 in Mississippi close to the Alabama border when he spotted a large cat he described as coal black; "not dark grey or dark brown just jet black". The following is the description of the event in his own words:
"I was driving a large commercial truck from Atlanta to Memphis one night in the summer of 2003. I am guessing it was late August. I had just crossed the Mississippi border and had that feeling of being home again, as often occured when you drive all over the U.S.. I was familiar with the area only in passing as I had grown up some 100 miles from where the sighting had occured. I still recognized the names on the signs and felt good that I was finally close to home. It was somewhere in the stretch before you reach Tupelo, that I was driving about 3:00 O'clock in the a.m. I seemed to be the only traffic on the hwy at this hour traveling northbound. Yes there was the occasional big truck traveling the opposite direction, but it was early morning and not much traffic. My lights were on bright and it was a clear night. I noticed an animal standing on the right side of the hwy looking to cross in front of me. I hadn't at this time determined it was a cat. I continued without slowing as I noticed the animal dart in front of me. it seemed startled, Yet not in a full sprint across the road. It was because of this I noticed the characteristics of this animal. It crouched down closer to the ground with its hair standing straight up on its back. It was large and it was jet black. it only took a second to cross the two lane hwy on the north side but it wasnt in full sprint. It was quick but it did not hurry. I remember the unusually long tail, the big head and the darkness of its color.. I slowed somewhat when I realized this wasnt something I had seen before. I can only tell you that this animal was the prototypical black panther I have seen growing up as a child in books and in zoos's. I don't mind telling anyone of my sighting although the people I have told seem somewhat skeptical."

While he was unable to describe the animal's ears he did get a good look at the tail. Which he described as appearing to be too long for the body, and added that it was long and straight until it reached the ground where the last 3 to 4 inches curled up in a semi circle towards the sky.
Craig also mentioned that the cat was comparable in size and weight to a mountain lion; at least based on pictures of mountain lions he had seen. In any case, he deemed the animal much to large to have been a domestic cat or any other wild specie of cat that he is aware off in the area. When he first saw the cat he was about 75 feet away, and at its closest point the cat was only 20 feet away

Black Panthers in Alabama

Talladega panthers remain phantoms
Darryl Raye
Lottie Haynes wants to make one thing clear: "There was no circus train, there are no elephants in Westgate, there is nothing."
The supervisor of Talladega's animal control has been inundated with calls since Wednesday afternoon, when she responded to a resident's call of a bobcat behind a house in Talladega's Westgate subdivision. The caller said she saw a "black, large, cat-type thing."
Since then, television reports have fueled rumors of a derailed circus train that sent five black panthers on the loose inside the city limits, and residents have reported seeing as many as five.
Don Embry of Era Scott Circle even said he shot at one about the size of his mixed-breed husky dog. "I shot and all the cat did was look at me, didn't even run," said Embry.
"I can't say what (Embry) shot at," said Talladega Police Chief Alan Watson, "but we've had the wildlife people and there is no evidence, no evidence whatsoever. I don't care what somebody saw; there's no footprints, no paw prints, of a panther."
Two conservation officers with Alabama Wildlife & Freshwater Fisheries searched the area Thursday for about two hours and came away empty.
"It wasn't much of a search," Sgt. Andrew Howell said. "We didn't find any tracks, any feces, any hair, nothing."
He said he and fellow officer Jerry Fincher had been told of a cave near the area and had envisioned a possible den. When they arrived, however, they discovered the Westgate area to be mostly mobile homes, a railroad track and very few woods.
"The people are seeing something and it's got them rattled," Howell said.
The black panther is not indigenous to Alabama, he said, but it's not impossible that one had been illegally imported as an exotic pet.
Keith McCutcheon, a biologist with the department, agreed it's highly unlikely a black panther is in the area. More likely but still a remote possibility at best, he said is that a jaguarundi, a small panther about 14 inches tall and 40 pounds, has migrated from its native Latin America.
McCutcheon said that although no panther sightings have ever been confirmed in Alabama, his department receives about a dozen calls a year from across the state.
"If they're that common and they're in every community, ... then we should be finding them, but we haven't," he said.
Birmingham News: 12th July 2003

'Panther' Sighting in Cool Springs is Latest in Tradition of Weird Animal Calls

FRANKLIN — Connie Scheitlin is still stunned by what she swears she saw walking through her back yard last week.
''I know it was a black panther,'' Scheitlin said. ''It was just lurking.'' 'Panther' Sighting in Cool Springs is Latest in Tradition of Weird Animal Calls .
Scheitlin's panther sighting is just one of many exotic wild animal reports that Williamson County wildlife experts have received over the years. Some reports turn out to be true, but most are dismissed as figments of the imagination or unlikely possibilities. .
There have also been several cougar sightings and even reports that an Asian lynx was pawing around the Williamson County Soccer Complex in Franklin. .
The panther sighting occurred last Thursday afternoon at Scheitlin's home in the Carronbridge subdivision in Cool Springs. Scheitlin was looking out the window while talking on the phone when she says she saw a giant black cat no more than 100 yards away. Not believing her own eyes, she quickly grabbed a camcorder and used the zoom feature to take a closer look. .
''It had a beautiful, black, shiny coat,'' Scheitlin said. ''It was big and very muscular. I had a really good look at him and I know what I saw.'' .
Unfortunately, her camcorder was out of tape. And by the time Scheitlin returned with a still camera, the animal had disappeared into the woods. .
Sure of what she saw, Scheitlin keeps a close watch on the tree line while her 7-year-old twins play in the driveway. ''I've been very paranoid,'' she said. ''This thing could eat my kids. When they play in the yard, I'm out there keeping my eyes on the woods. It's been very unsettling.'' .
Scheitlin called Terry Jackson, owner of AAA Animal Removal, who came out and searched the area for tracks but didn't find any signs that the beast had been there. Jackson said he believes Scheitlin saw what she said she did. .
''There have been several reports of some sort of animal that resembles a black panther over the years,'' Jackson said. ''TWRA (Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency) doesn't believe it. Their answer is it's a big black Lab.'' .
Jackson's brother, Jim Jackson, said he once saw what looked like a black panther and two cubs walking at the edge of the woods on Snowbird Hollow Road, near the Goose Creek bypass. .
Tony Fortner, a state wildlife officer and director of Williamson County Animal Control, said reports of wild, dangerous animals lurking in the woods are fairly common. When there's proof, the TWRA will investigate, but without a photograph, track or piece of hair, most bizarre animal sightings are dismissed. .
''There's always a possibility. I'm not saying it's impossible,'' Fortner said. ''We're always getting calls. I once got a call for a bear and when I got there it turned out to be the biggest groundhog I've ever seen in my life.'' .
Several years ago a number of Brentwood residents reported seeing a small bear. Animal control officers located the animal on someone's back porch with its head stuck in a plastic feeder. The ''bear'' turned out to be a large, furry dog, weighing more than 125 pounds, Leddy said .
Fortner said he knows there are people keeping exotic animals as pets. If there really is a panther out there, he thinks it probably escaped from somewhere nearby. .
Leddy said animal control officers have helped capture a moose that escaped from someone's farm and a lost wallaby, an Australian creature that looks like a small kangaroo. Several years ago, an emu ran loose in the town of Nolensville. .
While there is no species of wild cat called a black panther, the term is commonly used to describe a leopard or jaguar with dark skin and dark hair. .
Jsonline: 17th March 2003

Helen White 'Cat Attack.' / East Virginia

Ms Helen White shows wounds which wildlife experts believe were inflicted by a young black leopard in January 2003.

Mysterious panther found in Miramichi?

Farmer Latest NBer To Report Sighting Of Cat Believed To Be Extinct.
So, was it or wasn't it?
Barry Campbell is convinced that the sleek, black animal he saw lurking around his property was an eastern black panther.
Whether it was or not is yet to be proven, since the animals are extremely rare in New Brunswick so rare they're widely believed to be extinct and passed on into the world of myth.
Campbell owns a beef cattle farm in Maple Glen located about eight kilometres (five miles) outside Miramichi city limits.
Earlier this month, Barry and his brother Peter were going back to work after having lunch when they saw something dark sauntering along in the distance.
"I just saw a black cougar," Campbell said. " It was a big black cat with a big, long tail."
Campbell believes he saw an eastern panther, also known as an eastern cougar.
"My brother spotted it and we watched it for about 10 or 15 minutes," Campbell said. "It was walking across the field at the top by the woods."
The animal was about 250 feet (75 metres) away and kept its distance, not touching a thing on the farm.
Campbell used the scope on his rifle to watch the animal as it continued to stroll along to his neighbour's land.
Campbell has seen several wild animals find their way to his property so he wasn't shocked to see it. "You can see anything these days, but it was nice to see it." Brian Hatch, regional director for the Miramichi Department of Natural Resources and Energy (DNRE), says Campbell reported the sighting that day. "He mentioned the sighting so the rangers asked him to fill out a form," said Hatch. "The eastern panther is considered endangered and may be extinct, so we have a system where we do follow-up on reports." Campbell says DNRE officers went to the property to see the tracks the animal left and found a hair sample to send to their biologists.
Hatch says the black colouring is a genetic colour phase of the eastern panther. Most panthers are born with a brown colouring but sometimes a few are born with a black coat. "Based on the lighting in a situation when an animal is seen, it can look darker then it actually is based on how close it is and what the lighting like," said Hatch. "It can seem to be black but on close inspection it may not be."
But Campbell says there no doubt in his mind that the animal was black since the sighting took place in the early afternoon. "People have reported sightings but to find solid evidence, we haven't really found any here in 30 years," Hatch said. While Hatch says there's no proof of them now, the eastern panther was here once upon a time. "Probably before Europeans settled here, it would have been part of the natural range for the animal but probably not large numbers." Hatch says people are still hopeful the animal is present here, but there's been no sign of breeding since the 1930s. Hatch says reasons for the animal's disappearance include human settlement, change in the natural forest environment and hunters. Now, many believe its existence in New Brunswick is only a myth. Campbell says the animal hasn't been back since but he's not ruling out another visit.
From the New Brunswick Telegraph Journal: January 2003.