Tigers in Dallas?
Posted by: Loren Coleman on July 21st, 2010
Tigers or bobcats? You be the judge.
Photo credit: Body Art by Pamela Shanteau
The Dallas Observer, July 20, 2010, noted that WFAA-Channel 8 and KRLD-AM reported [on July 20, 2010] that a few folks spotted tigers in downtown Dallas [on July 19, 2010] — two, specifically, near Union Station. This caused Dallas police spokesman Senior Corporal Kevin Janse to send the following information bulletin headlined by the subject heading “Bobcat sightings.”
Last night at 10:45 pm, Dallas Police, along with Animal Control Officers, responded to a call for service regarding several people seeing what they described as possible tigers loose around the Dart Train line and Union Station. The citizens went into Union Station and alerted security who called 9-1-1. Officers searched the area for several hours as well as utilized the police helicopter. No large cats were found. The circus, that will be in town soon, does not have any animals here yet and the Dallas Zoo did not have any animals get out. It appears that they may have been two wild bobcats. They were described as being knee high and weighing about 50 pounds. Officers made several homeless people in the area aware of what was seen for their safety. The case was closed at 12:25 am with no sighting.
TheDallas Morning News also mentioned:
Several officers and a helicopter patrolled the area overnight but found no sign of the 50-pound cats. Police contacted the Dallas Zoo and the nearby circus and said that no animals had escaped.
Police have no idea where the animals came from.
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Loren Coleman no longer writes for Cryptomundo. His archived posts remain here at Cryptomundo.
Looks like I should go investigate this sighting!
As a native Dallasite I heard about this yesterday and, at first, I thought the tigers were a possibility (as there are plenty of stupid people who keep large exotic cats as pets). But once you read the actual text of the call it becomes obvious that they were dealing with Bobcats. While I think this is a case of urbanites who have no idea about local fauna there is a more disturbing aspect to this story. Union station is inside the city of Dallas, not the heart of downtown but close enough. I have seen wild Bobcats and coyotes in the southern suburbs like DeSoto and Lancaster (well south) but for them to come this far into a major city?
While most people will talk about encroachment I have to point out that all new construction is happening 20 miles south, plus we’ve had a very wet spring and mild summer so there should be plenty of game…unless a new predator has been introduced into the region driving smaller cats in search of new habitat. I have had several friends tell me that they have seen mountain lions around Joe Pool lake, and if there was an actual population (not just one or two) then the smaller Bobcats would be driven out of their normal ranges by the larger intruders.
Or perhaps there is a new, unknown, predator migrating into the forest areas around Dallas, either way this could be the first account of a new and troubling trend.
It’s a trend that seems to be happening almost everywhere. Wild animals are making a go of it deep inside urban areas. Deer, raccoons, coyotes, skunks, cougars… I think the greening of cities has something to do with it. Some people might take offense at the idea but your typical city contains much more green space today than it did 40 or 50 years ago. The areas that were cleared for development back then are now mature and full of tall trees, flower beds, small plants of innumerable varieties, ponds, fountains, etc. Why is it commonplace for wild animals to penetrate deep into cities today when it was highly unusual just a few decades ago? I think the answer is, because they can. More than ever before, the concrete jungle tends to flaunt less concrete and more jungle.