Wow Big mighty beautiful cats. I would never venture outside at night. I'd be the scardy cat. We do not have those big cats near, but the farming areas, especialy game farms, and the national parks also sport quite a variety of big cats. I'll admire from a distance in a vehicle. I can't imagine such a big cat on my front porch.
Lovely creature. I hope no harm comes to it. brandankinfortpierce I live in La. and DH and I saw a Florida panther cross the road in front of us. It is a sight I will never forget. He was magnificent. We did not tell anyone around here because they would have hunted it down to kill it.
While I have never seen one myself, we have 2 neighbors who's comments I trust, that both reported seeing a large cat, with a long tail crossing our lake road in nearly the same place. The sightings were both with in a week of each other. The cat was described as being close to the size of a large dog, with a very long tail. Both sightings were at night, and neither could determine a color. I do believe that there are cats in our woods, but I think that they are quite shy, and give people and homes a safe distance. Especially those with dogs, leaving their droppings and marking their territory. But if surprised or threatened, I believe they could be quite dangerous to adults and dogs alike. But as with the bears, wolves, coyotes, martins, fox, badgers, snakes and all the other creatures in the woods, use good sense and we can all coexist just fine. He is a beautiful animal isn't he. (or she) Tom
Wow...I hope they stay up by you! After reading your post, I went to the DNR site (http://dnr.wi.gov/org/es/science/publications/VertChklist/Mammals.html) which says there have been a handful of reports of them in the state. Here's a quote from their site... The last known Mountain Lion in the state was killed in 1908 (Lewis and Craven 1987), although the species once included all of Wisconsin in its range. Mountain Lions are considered extirpated from the state, but a handful of sightings is reported annually. Fifty-eight sightings were reported between 1975 and 1987 (Lewis and Craven 1987), and many additional reports have been made since. The DNR received a total of 34 probable and possible observations of Mountain Lions in 1999 from 14 counties (Wydeven and Wiedenhoeft 2000b). A large percentage of Mountain Lion reports are questionable. For example, only 6 of 39 Mountain Lion reports made in 1996 were classified as "probable," and only 4 of 41 reports in 1997 were classified as "probable" (Wydeven and Cervantes 1997, Wydeven and Boles 1998). It is extremely unlikely that Mountain Lions will be found naturally reproducing in the state.
Whoa . . . how scarey!!! You must live out in the wild. We still have some in our mountains. I knew an old woman who lived in Watauga County . . . she has been dead for years, but she was walking home from a neighbor's house with her little baby in her arms, and as she stepped down into her yard, and panther stood between her and the porch. She did not know what to do, as he was blocking her way to her front door, and she knew if she turned around to run back to her neighbors, he would overtake her. It took all the courage that she had, but she knew she had to protect her baby, so she let out an angry scream, and he jumped up on the rail fence, and disappeared into the night. I thought she was so brave as to do that.
WOW...I hope one never shows up by my door..I would be scared to go outside..I would not want to be lunch for one of the beautiful creatures...I would eat a lot of garlic so I smelled terrible and no one would want me...ha, ha..Thank you for sharing those pictures... this is the largest creature that I used to have on my deck...
