Comments on: New “Black Panther” Sighting in Decatur

By: onihunter

onihunter — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 16:46:41 +0000

I have been misunderstood. Panthersville is an area southeast of Decatur. It is near the I-285 and I-20 intersection.

By: Hoytshooter

Hoytshooter — Sat, 20 Mar 2010 03:06:55 +0000

“Black Panthers” have always interested me because outside of domestic cats there is no black member of the cat family. There are melanistic variations of several large members of the cat family but none which would be found in the United States, outside of possibly some black jaguars in the southern parts of the country. Most reports of “black panthers” match cougars/pumas in description, except for the color, but there has never been a report of any sightings of a black cougar/puma in the wild

Making it even more interesting is Australia, which has no large wild cats, also has had numerous reports of “black panthers’. Is it possible “black panthers” are a feline version of our beloved Sasquatch/yeti/Yowie, the only difference being the cats seem to be more commonly seen?

By: Loren Coleman

Loren Coleman — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 09:56:34 +0000

Let's remember that just because someone writes into this comments section disputing a "recalled" event does not make their debunking factual. Illinois has a documented history of puma kills. See my new posting on this, here. The Chicago puma, April 2008.

By: patience

patience — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 07:10:01 +0000

Dawgvet, onihunter is mistaken. Decatur is not, as far as I am aware, referred to anywhere as “Panthersville.” However, there is a suburb of Atlanta south of Decatur that IS named Panthersville. I expect this is where the confusion comes from.

By: Shelley

Shelley — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 03:57:40 +0000

Thanks, scotty425! I knew there would be somebody on this list from that area that would know whether that was a real IL cougar or not. Somebody should write to FT and tell them, as they do not like to get caught with their editorial shorts down.

No argument from me about the possibility of cougars in southern IL. There are some pretty remote and wild areas around here and plenty around here to eat. With all the guns, it’s only a matter of time before one of them is really shot by a hunter. Since they don’t legally exist here, it can’t be illegal to shoot one.

Shame about that beautiful and huge cougar, no matter where he came from.

By: Apache

Apache — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 02:39:30 +0000

I have seen four cougar in the past five years in Central Illinois. That includes two black panther. Most of my neighbors have had sightings through the years as well. Lots of deer and lots of wooded streams.

By: scotty425

scotty425 — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 01:44:20 +0000

Shelley,
Being from Centralia, I can safely say that photo/news story was a hoax. There was no listing of any one with that name in the local phone book. I have a good friend who lives right where the cougar was supposedly killed and he knew nothing about it or the people involved. I want to say that the internet photo was later traced to Wyoming, but not sure.

On the other hand, do I believe believe Illinois has a growing cougar population? Let’s just say I am less skeptical than I used to be.

By: dawgvet

dawgvet — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 19:53:46 +0000

onihunter, I had not heard that Decatur, GA is called Panthersville; this interests me because I was born in Decatur and many of my relatives still live there.
As for black cats in southeast Georgia, my step-father and my mother both saw a large black cat (near Richmond Hill, south of Savannah) in a rural area more than once. Other people in the area have seen it also.

Since this Illinois sighting has such a specific location, has anyone checked for tracks?

By: Shelley

Shelley — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 16:43:02 +0000

This isn’t recent, but did anyone see the pictures of the huge cougar that was killed near Centralia in 2008 in the most recent Fortean Times? It was stuffed and is still owned by the people who accidentally hit it with their car. Even though this is within the coverage area of our local paper and the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, I don’t remember hearing anything about it. Anyone else?

I don’t know about the Decatur area, but the deer population around here is getting so heavy that it could easily support a breeding colony of big cats. If the equally large colony of coyotes would let them in. We’ve lost all of our feral cats and the neighbors keep losing their outdoor pets.

By: Outdors21

Outdors21 — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 15:45:28 +0000

I have family in the southeastern portion of the state of Georgia who swear that ‘big black cats’ are very common in their area, and well known locally. Every hunter and/or farmer knows they are there. This is the Vidalia area, I’m speaking of.