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A Mountain Lion's Perspective |
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Posted on 08/21/2006 7:18:18 AM PDT by Marius3188
A couple of weeks ago, Kathy Robertson was driving near her home on Tiger Road in eastern Newton County when out of the field jumped a black panther.
“I had heard that they ate chickens around the area,” Robertson said. “But we no longer have chickens in our chicken houses.”
According to Robertson, the panther was long, beautiful, and weighed about 100 pounds.
“When he ran, you could actually see the muscles in him,” said Robertson. “He even had a long tail.”
This was not the first time that Robertson saw a panther. Back in March, she saw another one in a field a few miles away from her farm. Her and her husband, Richard, have lived at their home for more than 20 years.
“I have heard of other people in the area seeing the panthers,” Robertson said.
“I personally have never seen one, but we do get lots of reports that people have seen them,” Missouri Department of Conservation (Neosho office) Resource Technician Roger Schmidt said.
Although mountain lions, sometimes called cougars, pumas, panthers or catamounts, were common in Missouri and elsewhere in the Midwest prior to European settlement, they were eradicated during the 19th century. As the countryside was settled and developed, the large predators were shot. The last native wild mountain lion in Missouri was killed in 1927.
To address the sightings, a Mountain Lion Response Team was formed in 1996. The team responds to calls and collects and analyzes physical evidence of the presence of mountain lions in Missouri.
According to the department's Web site (www.mdc.mo.gov/ conmag/2006/06/20.htm), “we have had only a handful of confirmed mountain lions in Missouri, despite hundreds and hundreds of reports. There have been eight confirmed mountain lions since 1994. One of these was hit by a car near downtown Kansas City in 2002 and another one near Fulton in 2003.”
This is not the first time that rare animals have been spotted in Southwest Missouri. For example, not too long ago, a car struck a bear cub near Elwood Junction.
According to the Missouri Department of Conservation, the bears come from Arkansas.
If anyone sees a black panther or bears, contact the local Missouri Department of Conservation.
They are often a dark color, yet are a small cat in size. I dunno if they have them in MO.
http://dialspace.dial.pipex.com/agarman/bco/jundi.htm
I am from and raised in that area,,they are there
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A Mountain Lion's Perspective |
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ping
We had a black bear cub at the bird feeder in our yard three years ago. I called the local MO Conservation office and the guy asked, "Are you sure its a bear ?"
"Kathy Robertson was driving near her home on Tiger Road .."
Well no wonder.
was he chanting marxist slogans?
No, but he had his fist raised...........
Mornin' Eric.
The wife and I, along with several of our neighbors, have seen a large cat or cats here in SE Tennessee. Each time it was near sunset and each time it was in nearly the same place along Hwy 111. Judging by its gait there is no doubt it was a cat, but big, like the size of a large German Sheppard, with a long, thick tail. When I saw it it was difficult to determine the exact color, but I'd say it was dark, but not completely black like a Florida panther. The color was more like the winter coat of a Whitetail deer.
Some years ago I was building a cell system in East Kentucky, near Pikeville, for Bell. During the construction several folks I met up there said that large cats had also been seen in the vicinity. One person in particular related a story to me that occurred at his house during a family reunion party. During this event, the hosts dog, tied up on the opposite side of the house from the gathering, started barking and squealing as if it were being attacked. When everyone ran around the house to see what was going on they arrived just in time to see the dog, now lifeless, being dragged off into the woods by a large, panther-like cat. When they called the local game warden he laughed it off and told them that they couldn't have seen what they saw. Tell that to the dog.....
FWIW
And they'll add you to the list of "hundreds and hundreds" of obviously confused people who *think* they've seen something. I mean, the mountain lions were "eradicated during the 19th century" and Missouri Department of Conservation (Neosho office) Resource Technician Roger Schmidt has never even seen one!
/sarc
You've heard the story about the Missouri youngster who ran home to tell hid dad that there was an Arkansas bear caught in a trap...
Weird that they are black. All the mountain lions I've ever seen or seen pictures of are tawny. Do black ones exist? I thought only Jaguars and pehaps Leopards had black variations?
( No more Olmert! No more Kadima! No more Oslo!)
When I lived on the family ranch in Central Texas, I went walking in the field near a ravine about dusk one evening with my 2 year old on my shoulders. We weren't 10 minutes from the house when I heard a cougar scream. It IS the most hair-raising sound, just as I had always heard. Sounded just like a woman screaming bloody murder. I went right home & we walked (or cycled) the road thereafter.
I think I've been at "After Dinner" Is that in New Zealand?
And the Missouri Conservation Dept also kept pooh poohing reports of bear sightings around here until a young lady hit a two hundred pounder while driving to school...right smack dab in downtown Jackson, Mo.
Anybody else having trouble with formating? I can't get it to take paragraph breaks.
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