Wednesday, December 30, 2015

Cougars in Alabama? Don't hold your breath...

This news item just came out about the possibility of Puma concolor in Alabama. The reporting leaves something to be desired and the comments section, as expected, is interesting. Apparently everyone has seen one and it's a government conspiracy that the state won't admit they are here. No, the truth is there are no confirmed sightings of a known wild cougar (panther, etc.) in the state for a half century. It is possible that they are in the state, of course. At least one seems to be in Tennessee. Over time it seems to be increasingly likely that the cats will be in Alabama, but probably coming from the west/northwest as the western population is clearly expanding eastward.

1 comment:

  1. I saw 1 in ranburne, al about 3 years ago & believe i saw it again night before last closer to home, in micaville,al. In ranburne, i have no doubt it was absolutely a black panther. It was 30 feet from the back patio doors & my brother in law managed to run out thru the barn by the "chute" they catch cattle in & snapped a blurry but informative photo. It had a 3 foot tail & its jawbone was huge & squareish & it had tufts of fur as though it were shedding...and all the cattle in the pasture had scattered to 2 seperate corners & my bro in law had noticed that as he & his uncle had driven over to help me get his grandfather up from the floor where he had fallen (i was his 1 of his caregivers at the time) i had heard thru the years about a black panther in cleburne count but who believes that stuff? Well, i do now. Beyond a shadow of a doubt & i believe night before last was likely the same one. I have heard that there was a mother & cub sighted just below my house several years ago--they were brown. And i have heard of skeletal remains in a nearby cave....believe it if ya want to, or not....but u wont get me in these woods alone much in the daylight & not a chance after dusk, alone or not! That one i saw was mozeying along in broad daylight like he owned the place. Heck once i even came back inside from dustin rugs on the front porch (both mobile home doors open) to find a full grown bobcat sittin on my stove! And yes i know a bobcat when i see one, we raised one when i was growin up that we had bought in Texas at an Exotic Pet Store for $500 & this one here was plenty healthy & quite large. I couldnt even make my legs move, thank God he went out the way he mustve came in--the back door,
    cuz i was standin in the front one & there wasnt room enough for both of us...

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