Recently I watched a story on the History Channel about big black cats in East Texas area...?

Question

Was thinking could they be escapes from the canned hunts they do out there... I can see one of those places losing a animal or 2 and not reporting it to out of fear of the law cause lets face it the people running those places aren’t what I’d call moral…maybe Panthers or Jaguars

Answer 1

Quote by Jay Bug:
Jaguars and cougars have a melanistic phase. In other words, some of them are black. These could be found in Texas naturally.

Sorry to nip your cougar melanistic phase theory in the bud, but you are wrong my friend. There are no authentic cases of Melanistic cougars. In fact only 2 known cats have these recessive melanistic genes. The Leopard and the Jaguar (Black Panther). What people are possibly seeing in East and Southern Texas are Black Jaguars. At some time in the early 1900's Farmers supposedly hunted out all existing Jaguars into extinction. At one time they were found as far north as Colorado and as far west as California and far east as Louisiana. Just recently in Arizona, New Mexico and Southern Texas there have been Jaguar sightings once again. Actual pictures of these sightings are on record (See link to Arizona picture of Jaguar below). Scientists believe they are starting to migrate north again like they have for hundreds of years before man started settling the south west. Arizona recently passed a law that you can not hunt and kill any Jaguars. New Mexico is following suit soon as well. Haven't heard anything about Texas passing a law yet, but they should !!! Some theorize that some of the Jaguras were never realy killed completely off and some might have migrated as far as New York state, but this is just a theory. All the video tape of the Black Panther sightings were proven to be that of a large black house cat. These were all proven by depth of field comparisson of objects around them.

http://www.azod.com/topstory/Archive/2003/Q4/Jaguar%20Photographed%20In%20Southern%20Arizona.htm

Answer 2

Jaguars have been spotted recently in Arizona, so East Texas wouldn't be out of the realm of possibility - and jaguars do come in a melanistic (black) form. But your scenario is more likely, given how rare jaguars have become in the natural range, never mind in a hypothetical expansion area.

It is also possible that mountain lions could have a greater than normal percentage of melanistic (unusually dark or black) individuals in that area. These do occur naturally, but they are typically very rare. However, if the unusual pigmentation did not work against the animals, it is often a dominant mutation than can be passed to offspring.

Answer 3

Texas, along with East Texas are the domain of the North American Puma.

not that your scenario isn't possible either, but since most cats are active during twilight and night, a dark colored puma could easily look like a black panther.

Let's also not forget that many of these canned hunt parks have a history of buying "surplus" animals from public supported zoological parks. There is always blame to go around.

Answer 4

there have been reports of jaguars moving north into texas from central america but is more likely to be a domestic animal that has escaped. remember it's legal in tx to own these animals as pets so often people who have them as pets find that they can't handle them and the animals escape. could also be from a canned hunt facility too.

Answer 5

A tiger escaped and was killed in Simi Valley, California, in 2005. Its owners did not report the escape even after the cat was spotted in the area, and authorities were trying to track it down.
If they had assisted the police, it is likely the tiger would not have been killed, since they knew its temperament etc, and could have helped capture it alive. They were prosecuted in this case.
So, your scenario is not impossible.

Answer 6

Jaguars and cougars have a melanistic phase. In other words, some of them are black. These could be found in Texas naturally.

Answer 7

In Arkansas a black feline the size of a panther was photographed with a motion activated camera but the incident was discredited .