On the other hand the black panthers could be black leopards or jaguars escaped from captivity and now living wild, even breeding and raising young. Or the cats could be a species entirely unknown to science, or even possibly hybrids of pumas and black leopards or jaguars.

That thought leads me to wonder: do the Native Americans have any stories or depictions of black big cats, or have the sightings of black animals only occurred since Europeans came to the Americas? I did some very cursory searches yesterday and did not find any Native American stories of black cats. I did not have time to do much searching online yesterday though. Does anyone have any information or reference material related to Native Americans and black big cats?

This is a direect quote from the excellent website of http://www.bigcatrescue.org :

“In 2001 the Texas legislature passed a state law mandating that all counties either regulate or ban “dangerous” wild animals. A list of species considered dangerous contains nearly all felines, with only a few species such as geoffroy’s cats, jungle cats and asian leopard cats not listed. Each county must develop a plan to administer a registration process that requires a permit fee, caging standards, $100,000 liability insurance and veterinary care requirements as outlined in the state law. Many counties have chosen to ban rather then fund a county registration requirement. This is an irresponsible way to manage a state wide problem. There are more tigers in Texas than there are left in the wild. The state needs much tougher legislation to prevent the breeding, selling and often the shooting of exotic cats in canned hunts. If you are a resident, type your zip code into any box on this page to see what legislation is pending in your state and make a difference now!”

Texas has left loopholes that elephants can (quite literally) walk through in that state’s laws regulating exotics; they have left all regulation not covered by the weak existing USDA regulations up to individual counties. And Texas has been notorious for its private “hunting reserves” where people can pay a fee to shoot tame hand-fed animals for trophies. Things may be changing; recently Texas banned the “canned hunting” of some species such as bears and lions. But there are thousands of exotic cats living in the state, some in well-run, secure facilities, but many in roadside “zoos” and backyards.

I’m not just picking on Texas; there are several other states with exotic animal laws as weak or even weaker than those in Texas. Many of those animals could survive in the wild in an area that has plenty of prey and plenty of cover. The American South is such an area.