I did not get a photo of it- but my neighbors, Mr. Davis and his wife up the hill got it on video.
They were interviewed on NOLA.com
He has security cameras all over his property on poles.
http://videos.nola.com/times-picayune/2011/02/video_black_panther_caught_on.html
I called her immediately to confirm and also to say thank you!
I was so grateful that someone had captured it on video!
My husband started to believe me, but was still unsure.
It sounded like a really loud cat was in the yard late one night that week too.
It was only after I cast the tracks left in the mud
and we compared them to the size of our dogs' prints,
that my husband began to believe me.
I sent the large image files to Pon Dixson at the Wildlife and Fisheries
and also to Dr. James " Skip" Lazell-(a biologist and founder and president of the Conservation Agency, a scientific, nonprofit corporation specializing in research, exploration, and education on biodiversity, biogeography, and ecology. He is on the staff of the Museum of Comparative Zoology at Harvard University and the Peabody Museum of Natural History at Yale University. He is the author of over 230 papers and articles and four books, most recently, Island: Fact and Theory in Nature )
who quickly and kindly verified that they were definitely big cat tracks and probably a melanistic jaguar or leopard. This is what that cat that I saw looked like only it wasn't sitting. It was standing and it moved very low to the ground when I shooed it away. It had a very, very long tail and very intense lime green/ yellow eyes. http://bp0.blogger.com/_EqQZrgoXvqM/SIkn4p0bjxI/AAAAAAAABjs/dyB4JGNJs2U/s1600-h/Black+Leopard.jpg
It was beautiful really!
I haven't seen it since then. I think it has moved further north.
You see, every Late February , and early March,
I loose some of my chickens or Geese in the yard.
The " Old-Timers" say that the predators move down the creek beds and follow the waterways down to the lake in Winter for warmth and for food. After the winter- they go back to where they came from.
In other words...the big wild cats move through my yard on their travels once a year.
The Wildlife Agent also told me that the Bobcats mix with local house cats and we get lots of crazy mixed up wild cats.
I sent him this link to an image from an earlier post to verify.
http://dasblauhaus.blogspot.com/2009/03/big-black-cat.html
It is the only cat that I have seen in the yard other than the big one that came through this year.
All I know is I just don't want them to eat my geese or cats or dogs,
and I don't want it killed either.
I just want it to go about it's business somewhere else.
I am very grateful that I saw it though.
Even if no one believes me-
Not many people are fortunate enough to see
a magnificent animal like that in their own backyard!
They were interviewed on NOLA.com
He has security cameras all over his property on poles.
http://videos.nola.com/times-picayune/2011/02/video_black_panther_caught_on.html
I called her immediately to confirm and also to say thank you!
I was so grateful that someone had captured it on video!
My husband started to believe me, but was still unsure.
It sounded like a really loud cat was in the yard late one night that week too.
and we compared them to the size of our dogs' prints,
that my husband began to believe me.
I sent the large image files to Pon Dixson at the Wildlife and Fisheries
and also to Dr. James " Skip" Lazell-(a biologist and founder and president of the Conservation Agency, a scientific, nonprofit corporation specializing in research, exploration, and education on biodiversity, biogeography, and ecology. He is on the staff of the Museum of Comparative Zoology at Harvard University and the Peabody Museum of Natural History at Yale University. He is the author of over 230 papers and articles and four books, most recently, Island: Fact and Theory in Nature )
who quickly and kindly verified that they were definitely big cat tracks and probably a melanistic jaguar or leopard. This is what that cat that I saw looked like only it wasn't sitting. It was standing and it moved very low to the ground when I shooed it away. It had a very, very long tail and very intense lime green/ yellow eyes. http://bp0.blogger.com/_EqQZrgoXvqM/SIkn4p0bjxI/AAAAAAAABjs/dyB4JGNJs2U/s1600-h/Black+Leopard.jpg
It was beautiful really!
I haven't seen it since then. I think it has moved further north.
You see, every Late February , and early March,
I loose some of my chickens or Geese in the yard.
The " Old-Timers" say that the predators move down the creek beds and follow the waterways down to the lake in Winter for warmth and for food. After the winter- they go back to where they came from.
In other words...the big wild cats move through my yard on their travels once a year.
The Wildlife Agent also told me that the Bobcats mix with local house cats and we get lots of crazy mixed up wild cats.
I sent him this link to an image from an earlier post to verify.
http://dasblauhaus.blogspot.com/2009/03/big-black-cat.html
It is the only cat that I have seen in the yard other than the big one that came through this year.
All I know is I just don't want them to eat my geese or cats or dogs,
and I don't want it killed either.
I just want it to go about it's business somewhere else.
I am very grateful that I saw it though.
Even if no one believes me-
Not many people are fortunate enough to see
a magnificent animal like that in their own backyard!
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