rumors of black panthers in ky

chad shelton

New member
i have heard all my life that black panthers are in ky but i have never found any proof of it no pic just hear say my back hills inlaws think i am crazy for not beliving in these tales can someone help me here. their got to be a way i can prove that this is a bunch of wise tales and that most people probely saw a black dog at night
 
In the Eastern part of the U.S. the only way to find Black Panther's is to trap a Bigfoot,because they always run in pairs!
 
chad shelton,
I know that there are cougars in Iowa and nebraska, so I would be surprised if Kentucky doesn't have it's share of cougars also. I have never seen a black cougar, but I would imagine that there are a few black ones out there alright. Most folks would immediately think PANTHER if they see a large black cat.
 
Hi Chad,

I assume when you are talking about panthers you are also meaning cougars,mountain lions,puma's,etc....

We have a healthy population of mountain lions here in Idaho with a long hunting season. A high percentage of lions killed are with the aid of dogs. On average, several hundred cats are killed each year. In all my years living here and talking with others who are older and have much more experience hunting lions, I have never heard of anyone killing or even treeing and taking a picture of a solid black mt. lion. I have heard the stories and rumors of someone supposedly seeing a black lion, but no one can ever come up with positive proof. I'm with you, most likely an old wives tale

If a solid balck cat were to turn up I'd bet it likely be someone's exotic pet that got away. It seems these black panther stories always come from the eastern U.S. where the cougar population at best could only be a fraction of what it is in the western U.S.
 
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I'm with Rich Cronk on this one. I'll bet that back there somewhere somebody saw a black cougar to get these stories started. I saw a "black" one in Washington State coming to a call, a silhouette against a background of snow on an overcast day. Had we shot it I assume it would have been the usual grey/tans/reds with maybe some black trim, or maybe a darkish variant of those.

There may be more black genes in some geographical gene pools, such as back east. For example, I've seen half a dozen white or partially white deer, all of them blacktails. All but one came from two counties in Washington State, most of them from an area 30 miles across. Within Washington and B.C. I've never seen anything but a black coloured black bear west of the Cascades, yet east of the Cascades they come in a rainbow of colours. There are lots of reds or cinnamon, some chocolates, almond white and a blue looking "glacier" colored one once in awhile, or even combos of those such as a blonde one with cinnamon or black legs and feet.

Black cougars must be super rare however or we'd come up with the body or pelt of one more often than we have. I've seen one all black elk, in Idaho, one white grizzly, and I mean snow white, in B.C., a black grizzly also in B.C.. I've seen a jet black possum in California (beautiful pelt)and a few other odd coloured critters over a lot of years of outdoor looking. Black "panther"? Possible, yes, but it must be an anomaly rather than breeding true.
 
Don't know about KY, but I was deer hunting in Franklin County, TN in 1985, in a tree stand, and watched a cougar (mtn lion, whatever) for about 30 minutes, He walked the valley below me and several times he stopped and looked my direction. I would have SWORN he was black, until he walked out into a sunlit area and I could see that he was a very dark tan/brown color. I really enjoyed watching him (after I calmed down!).
 
To date, there is not one proven sighting, carcass or photo of a black(melanistic) Mt Lion, or what others thru the country call panther,puma,or catamount. This has been one of those urban myths that just won't go away, besides who could call grandpa a liar:)
Falls into same category as bigfoot, seldom seen, but never found.
 
ChiliRojo,

Good post to set the record. Wow. I wondered if there was any record of a black one. I'm a little surprised that we don't even have one substantiated case of a black cougar, given that other critters turn out a melanistic one once in a great while. Mt. lion genes obviously have a strong resistance to any black combination. I wonder if there is any record of a black African lion, or a black tiger in India? I've never heard of one. I read once about a black leopard (or jaguar?) and saw pictures, and the critter still had spots, though you could barely see them since it was black on black.
 
Nope, no such thing as a black cougar. Woops, what the heck is THIS thing?
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lepblack.jpg
 
I'd bet it is either a leopard or possibly a jaguar. I think I read somewhere that it isn't uncommon for leopards to be solid black in color like the one above. I have also heard of captive leopards being bred to keep the black color more common.
 
That doesn't look like a mountain lion to me, though it wouldn't be my first mistake if it is. First impression is that the head is too big and muscular, but it could be that it is a heavy old tom or merely that the head is closer to the camera. Cougars have a lighter build, more lithe and finer in frame and muscle than jaguars and leopards, at least in my pretty strong impression. The one in the photo looks like it has spots also.
 
Doggonit Rich, you're getting us all worked up. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif

I still think it's a leopard. Jaguar's have real thick looking heads and necks, even more so than leopards. It's difficult for me to tell unless they are side by side though.
 
i have lived in ky 4 awhile till i moved to ohio but i had herad ppl swear up and dwn that they have witnessed black panthers here

anythings possible like the moose in oregon have u read that
 
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From what Ive been able to find in my searches, seems only the spotted cats have the gene to throw a melanistic cat at times. I recently had to print numerous documents for a buddy, who swore that hummingbirds migrated south, stuck by thier bills, in the necks of migrating geese. pincushion geese and black mt lions do not exist.
 
Chile,

About those hummers... My second cousin knows a guy who's dad shot a big canada goose will all kinds of hummers stuck to it's neck. I guess the thing looked like it had wood ticks!!!
 
That is the way I catch humming birds for my Mother's flower garden. Mother simply LOVE's watching humming birds. I simply catch a goose or two every spring and pluck humming birds out of their necks. I didn't realize that it was any kind of big deal or anything.
 
Rich,

I'd be careful of that. Geese are protected in the spring and you could be in a world of trouble for harrassing them in the spring. Instead of cheating like that, do like everyone else and collect the hummers in the fall and store them 'til spring.
 
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