I have seen this type situation on TV in my youth. There is this group of teens with a talking dog that cruise around in a van called the Mystery Machine. What they do is go investigate situations like this. It usually ends when they catch it and pull off it's mask...only to reveal it is actually a neighbor that wants to buy your land and is trying to de-value it with a monster creature type scare. So nothing to be worried about!...LOL

House cat!!!

West Virginian's see a lot of things that are not real. There is a black gene in the everglades sub species but a black one has never been documented. I cannot believe that the black Puma post made the TFF. I guess someone got tired of the same reactions on the THF.

This pic was posted a good while ago on the THF.

^^^
Black panther. That's just a big ol' house cat.

just a plain old cat

A dead cat is the best cat

Properly prepared they are tasty too.

I wouldn't be as skeptical of the cougar sightings if they weren't nearly always black.

The map below presents all confirmations documented by The Cougar Network to date. It provides an excellent illustration of the increasing phenomenon of verified cougar presence outside the species' recognized range in North America. Click on the map below to enlarge the image.


http://www.cougarnet.org/bigpicture.html

Western cougar populations have been increasing since the 1960s, largely due to increased legal protection for the cats and to the growth and expansion of prey populations. Dr. Maurice Hornocker, a prominent cougar expert, was recently quoted as saying, "There may now be more mountain lions in the West than there were before European settlement."


The evidence that The Cougar Network has collected to date suggests that the species is beginning to emerge in several of the adjacent prairie states, and possibly even some of the Midwestern and Southeastern states as well. The origin of cougars found farther east is less clear.
Detailed analysis and documentation for all of these events can be obtained from our Confirmations page.

http://www.cougarnet.org/bigpicture.html

I believe there are plenty of cougars out there, even some in East Texas. But black ones? Not so much. But what do I know?
I've seen things that folks wouldn't believe.

Mountain cat~~

Hands down it is the "Manther". 4th pic down you can clearly see the "Manther" is about to land yet another 14 lbs bass.

Most likely its just a big domestic cat -- if you look at the hind legs they are longer than the front, and the legs are truncated to body size -- I SERIOUSLY doubt that once a WILD cat was aware you were around you would have seen it any longer than it would have taken you to blink.

I own some domestic/exotic hybrids -- it possible that the cat MAY have some mixed genetics, it not a jaguarundi for sure, not a mountain lion, not a black phase "true" wild cat of any kind

Its ears even give it away further as a domestic breed , short and close to the skull.


Why shoot what you are not going to eat? Wild cats are disapperaing in their ranges , be a pretty piss poor ecosystem without them !!!