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John N. Felsher's Other Adventures
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Occasionally, some things really do
go bump in the southern nights
go bump in the southern nights
Legendary blood-curdling screams punctuated nights in the wilderness
long ago.
Early settlers knew that the night sounds came not from imaginary
goblins, but from real toothy creatures. Florida panthers, also known as
mountain lions, cougars, catamounts, pumas and many other names,
lurked just beyond the shadows of feeble campfires in the endless cypress
swamps and forests of early Louisiana. Some people claim the big cats still
lurk in the shadows or recently returned to their ancestral homes.
Cougars can weigh more than 200 pounds and roam over hundreds of
square miles. They can easily bring down deer, elk, cattle — or humans!
During the past two centuries, intensive predator eradication programs tried
to exterminate cougars and other toothy creatures. Habitat loss and an
expanding human population also devastated big cat populations. By early
in the 20th century, cougars largely disappeared from most of the eastern
United States.
Florida panthers, one of about 30 subspecies of cougar, once ranged
throughout the southeastern United States including all of Louisiana.
Fewer than 100 Florida panthers still fight against extinction in the
Everglades of extreme southwestern Florida. The eastern cougar, another
subspecies, roamed over most of North America east of the Mississippi
River. Eastern cougars allegedly became extinct in the 1940s.
Or did they? Since the Endangered Species Act passed in 1973,
existing cat populations in the United States began increasing nationally.
Expanding populations may force young cougars to spread out to find and
establish their own home ranges.
Now, hunters in nearly every southern and eastern state, including
Louisiana, describe seeing big cats in the forests and fields every year. In
2001, the Cougar Network received 510 cougar sightings from 27 eastern
states and four Canadian provinces. In about 21 percent of the cases,
investigators found additional hard evidence such as droppings, hair
samples or tracks.
In his book, “Mammals of Louisiana and its Adjacent Waters,” George
Lowery described several Bayou State cougar encounters. In November
1965, two Caddo Parish deputies killed a cougar 13 miles from Shreveport.
In January 1971, two deer hunters spotted a cougar estimated to weigh 150
pounds crossing an open field in Madison Parish. Two months later, a
person reported seeing a cougar in the same vicinity.
In the spring of 1972, a person spotted a lion in Webster Parish. In
October 1972, people reported seeing one in St. Tammany Parish. In 1972
and 1973, reports of a cougar with young came from Concordia and
Catahoula parishes.
In 1977, state biologists investigated cat tracks in Concordia Parish. In
December 1986, someone saw a cougar in East Baton Rouge Parish. A
month later, people reported seeing a cougar running along the Amite
River in Livingston Parish, said Ines E. Maxit, a Louisiana Department of
Wildlife and Fisheries zoologist.
In the past several years, reports became increasingly more frequent.
Most reports come from hunters who venture into wilderness areas or
private leases to pursue their sport. Deer hunters, especially those in the
thick forests and fields of northern Louisiana and the vast Atchafalaya
Basin, probably report more sightings than others. However, scientists
cannot prove or disprove the presence of cougars simply based upon
eyewitness accounts, which may or may not accurately reflect what those
people really saw. Biologists require hard evidence.
“We don’t have any evidence of a breeding population of cougars in
Louisiana,” Maxit said in 2004. “It is possible that they could pass through
the state on occasion. They would be very rare. If they are moving across
Louisiana, they are not very common.”
The most convincing report in recent years occurred in April 2002.
Then, Mike Carloss, a biologist for Lake Fausse Pointe State Park near
New Iberia, and his wife spotted a cougar in the park. They also found the
first hard evidence of cougars in Louisiana for many years. Some feces
they collected at the site tested positive for cougar DNA.
“We don’t know if it was a wild cougar or a released cat,” Maxit said.
“We just know that the droppings were made by a North American cougar.”
Between May and July 2002, residents near Cutoff spotted a large tan
cat several times. State biologists investigated the first call, but found no
tracks or droppings. Later, area residents found tracks and droppings and
called the LDWF, but officials didn’t return to investigate further.
“We have 70 acres of mostly cattle pasture,” said Mary Ann Loupe of
Cutoff at the time. “My son has a crawfish pond and saw the tracks and
droppings on the levee. In May, my son-in-law saw it running across the
levee. My daughter-in-law saw a big tan cat on the porch. It was going
after my cats. In July, my neighbor saw it running across the road.”
One cat could account for both the Lake Fausse Pointe and Cutoff
sightings. An adult male cougar may roam over many miles looking for food
and a mate. With few other adult cougars in the area, it might wander a
long distance looking for love.
Louisiana may or may not harbor a permanent breeding population, but
animals could certainly pass through the state on occasion. Hunters in
Mississippi, Arkansas and Texas report seeing big cats each year. More
than 30 people reported seeing a cougar near Gulfport, Miss., on Sept. 3,
2004. Cougars live in both Arkansas and East Texas. Texas holds a
hunting season in the western part of the state with about 190 animals
harvested legally each year.
“At one time, mountain lions occurred everywhere in Texas,” said John
Young, a Texas Parks & Wildlife Department biologist. “We have
populations in southern and western Texas. We’ve had reports and road
kills in central and East Texas. In East Texas, they are very uncommon.
The breeding population extends from about Corpus Christi to Austin to
Dallas and westward and southward.”
From 1983 to 2001, Texas officials recovered seven dead cougars in
East Texas. In 1990, people found a dead cougar near Texarkana, Texas,
only a few miles from the Louisiana and Arkansas state lines. In November
1991, a hunter shot an adult male cougar weighing 125 pounds in Newton
County just west of the Sabine River and south of the Toledo Bend Dam,
Young said. A big cat could easily cross the Sabine River into Louisiana.
“It’s highly possible that cats from Texas cross into Louisiana,” Young
said. “I’d say the mountain lion population in Texas is stable.”
In Arkansas, cougars remain mostly in the Ouachita or Ozark mountains
in the western part of the state. However, a few cats occasionally stray into
southern Arkansas, said Blake Sasse, the non-game mammal program
coordinator for the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission. Individuals also
own about 150 pet mountain lions in Arkansas.
“I think it’s likely that a few mountain lions, probably less than 10, roam
Arkansas,” Sasse said in 2004. “In the 1940s, two mountain lions were shot
in Arkansas. In about 1974, another mountain lion was shot. The ones
from the 1940s could have been a remnant from the original Florida
panther population, but the one in the 1970s was probably a pet. At least
eight times in the past several years, pet lions escaped. All eight that we
know about were either shot or recaptured.”
In June 1996, people videotaped an adult cougar about two miles south
of Amity in Hot Springs County, Ark. In October 1998, researchers found
scat in Hot Springs County. In January 1999, an Arkansas Game and Fish
Commission wildlife officer reported seeing an adult female cougar with two
kittens south of Lake Winona on the Saline/Grand County line. In
November 1999, a U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service biologist
reported seeing a cougar along a highway in Garland County, Ark.,
according to Cougar Network officials.
Each year, biologists in many states receive reports about “black
panthers.” “Panthers” do not exist as distinct animals, but people often call
mountain lions “panthers.” No documented cougar in history ever had
black fur, although bobcats sometimes occur in black or melanistic phases.
In fact, the scientific name for cougar, Felis concolor, means “cat of one
color,” Young said.
In Africa and Asia, people sometimes call tigers, leopards and a few
other cat species “panthers.” These animals occasionally occur in
melanistic phases. In North and South America, rare black jaguars and
jaguarundis may occur. Jaguarundis, small long-tailed South American cats,
range to south Texas, perhaps farther, and have been released in Florida.
Ocelots, another South American cat species sometimes called a panther,
can look dark when viewed in the shadows.
“We don’t answer reports of black panthers,” Maxit said. “Someone
could possibly see a long-tailed cat at a distance and report a cougar that’s
really a jaguarundi, but to my knowledge, there has never been a confirmed
jaguarundi sighting in Louisiana.”
People would not likely see jaguars, jaguarundis or ocelots in Louisiana
today. Jaguars and ocelots once ranged into southwestern Louisiana, but
disappeared in the 19th century. Newspapers reported a 200-pound
jaguar shot on June 1, 1886, in Ascension Parish. Arizona reported 64
jaguars killed since 1900, the last one in 1986, but jaguar reports have
increased in recent years.
Texas historical records indicate jaguars killed as far east as
Beaumont. The last confirmed Texas jaguar death occurred in the 1940s.
Never very common, jaguarundis probably reached their northern limit in
extreme southern Texas. In 1986, a car hit a jaguarundi in Texas.
“We estimate about 100 to 120 ocelots live in extreme southern Texas,”
Young said. “At one time, ocelots roamed throughout Texas and into
Louisiana. Today, the primary population is on Laguna Atascosa National
Wildlife Refuge. In the last 20 years, ocelots have been seen as far north
as Kingsville.”
People reporting “black panthers” may actually see Labrador retrievers,
raccoons, small bears, big house cats, feral pigs, foxes, coyotes, otters or
even rare melanistic-phase bobcats. They could possibly see a genuine
cougar in silhouette or in shadows. Many big cat reports occur during night
or low-light conditions when distinguishing colors becomes difficult and
everything looks black. Animals at a distance often appear black.
Sometimes, a person seeing a genuine tawny cougar might simply
remember it as black because that’s what he or she wants to believe.
Reported “panther screams” usually come from screech owls or barn owls.
As an endangered species, eastern cougars fall under federal
protection with stiff penalties for anyone who shoots one. In areas with
hunting seasons, they fall under the game laws of that state. Anyone in the
eastern United States who spots a cougar should call the state wildlife
department.
long ago.
Early settlers knew that the night sounds came not from imaginary
goblins, but from real toothy creatures. Florida panthers, also known as
mountain lions, cougars, catamounts, pumas and many other names,
lurked just beyond the shadows of feeble campfires in the endless cypress
swamps and forests of early Louisiana. Some people claim the big cats still
lurk in the shadows or recently returned to their ancestral homes.
Cougars can weigh more than 200 pounds and roam over hundreds of
square miles. They can easily bring down deer, elk, cattle — or humans!
During the past two centuries, intensive predator eradication programs tried
to exterminate cougars and other toothy creatures. Habitat loss and an
expanding human population also devastated big cat populations. By early
in the 20th century, cougars largely disappeared from most of the eastern
United States.
Florida panthers, one of about 30 subspecies of cougar, once ranged
throughout the southeastern United States including all of Louisiana.
Fewer than 100 Florida panthers still fight against extinction in the
Everglades of extreme southwestern Florida. The eastern cougar, another
subspecies, roamed over most of North America east of the Mississippi
River. Eastern cougars allegedly became extinct in the 1940s.
Or did they? Since the Endangered Species Act passed in 1973,
existing cat populations in the United States began increasing nationally.
Expanding populations may force young cougars to spread out to find and
establish their own home ranges.
Now, hunters in nearly every southern and eastern state, including
Louisiana, describe seeing big cats in the forests and fields every year. In
2001, the Cougar Network received 510 cougar sightings from 27 eastern
states and four Canadian provinces. In about 21 percent of the cases,
investigators found additional hard evidence such as droppings, hair
samples or tracks.
In his book, “Mammals of Louisiana and its Adjacent Waters,” George
Lowery described several Bayou State cougar encounters. In November
1965, two Caddo Parish deputies killed a cougar 13 miles from Shreveport.
In January 1971, two deer hunters spotted a cougar estimated to weigh 150
pounds crossing an open field in Madison Parish. Two months later, a
person reported seeing a cougar in the same vicinity.
In the spring of 1972, a person spotted a lion in Webster Parish. In
October 1972, people reported seeing one in St. Tammany Parish. In 1972
and 1973, reports of a cougar with young came from Concordia and
Catahoula parishes.
In 1977, state biologists investigated cat tracks in Concordia Parish. In
December 1986, someone saw a cougar in East Baton Rouge Parish. A
month later, people reported seeing a cougar running along the Amite
River in Livingston Parish, said Ines E. Maxit, a Louisiana Department of
Wildlife and Fisheries zoologist.
In the past several years, reports became increasingly more frequent.
Most reports come from hunters who venture into wilderness areas or
private leases to pursue their sport. Deer hunters, especially those in the
thick forests and fields of northern Louisiana and the vast Atchafalaya
Basin, probably report more sightings than others. However, scientists
cannot prove or disprove the presence of cougars simply based upon
eyewitness accounts, which may or may not accurately reflect what those
people really saw. Biologists require hard evidence.
“We don’t have any evidence of a breeding population of cougars in
Louisiana,” Maxit said in 2004. “It is possible that they could pass through
the state on occasion. They would be very rare. If they are moving across
Louisiana, they are not very common.”
The most convincing report in recent years occurred in April 2002.
Then, Mike Carloss, a biologist for Lake Fausse Pointe State Park near
New Iberia, and his wife spotted a cougar in the park. They also found the
first hard evidence of cougars in Louisiana for many years. Some feces
they collected at the site tested positive for cougar DNA.
“We don’t know if it was a wild cougar or a released cat,” Maxit said.
“We just know that the droppings were made by a North American cougar.”
Between May and July 2002, residents near Cutoff spotted a large tan
cat several times. State biologists investigated the first call, but found no
tracks or droppings. Later, area residents found tracks and droppings and
called the LDWF, but officials didn’t return to investigate further.
“We have 70 acres of mostly cattle pasture,” said Mary Ann Loupe of
Cutoff at the time. “My son has a crawfish pond and saw the tracks and
droppings on the levee. In May, my son-in-law saw it running across the
levee. My daughter-in-law saw a big tan cat on the porch. It was going
after my cats. In July, my neighbor saw it running across the road.”
One cat could account for both the Lake Fausse Pointe and Cutoff
sightings. An adult male cougar may roam over many miles looking for food
and a mate. With few other adult cougars in the area, it might wander a
long distance looking for love.
Louisiana may or may not harbor a permanent breeding population, but
animals could certainly pass through the state on occasion. Hunters in
Mississippi, Arkansas and Texas report seeing big cats each year. More
than 30 people reported seeing a cougar near Gulfport, Miss., on Sept. 3,
2004. Cougars live in both Arkansas and East Texas. Texas holds a
hunting season in the western part of the state with about 190 animals
harvested legally each year.
“At one time, mountain lions occurred everywhere in Texas,” said John
Young, a Texas Parks & Wildlife Department biologist. “We have
populations in southern and western Texas. We’ve had reports and road
kills in central and East Texas. In East Texas, they are very uncommon.
The breeding population extends from about Corpus Christi to Austin to
Dallas and westward and southward.”
From 1983 to 2001, Texas officials recovered seven dead cougars in
East Texas. In 1990, people found a dead cougar near Texarkana, Texas,
only a few miles from the Louisiana and Arkansas state lines. In November
1991, a hunter shot an adult male cougar weighing 125 pounds in Newton
County just west of the Sabine River and south of the Toledo Bend Dam,
Young said. A big cat could easily cross the Sabine River into Louisiana.
“It’s highly possible that cats from Texas cross into Louisiana,” Young
said. “I’d say the mountain lion population in Texas is stable.”
In Arkansas, cougars remain mostly in the Ouachita or Ozark mountains
in the western part of the state. However, a few cats occasionally stray into
southern Arkansas, said Blake Sasse, the non-game mammal program
coordinator for the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission. Individuals also
own about 150 pet mountain lions in Arkansas.
“I think it’s likely that a few mountain lions, probably less than 10, roam
Arkansas,” Sasse said in 2004. “In the 1940s, two mountain lions were shot
in Arkansas. In about 1974, another mountain lion was shot. The ones
from the 1940s could have been a remnant from the original Florida
panther population, but the one in the 1970s was probably a pet. At least
eight times in the past several years, pet lions escaped. All eight that we
know about were either shot or recaptured.”
In June 1996, people videotaped an adult cougar about two miles south
of Amity in Hot Springs County, Ark. In October 1998, researchers found
scat in Hot Springs County. In January 1999, an Arkansas Game and Fish
Commission wildlife officer reported seeing an adult female cougar with two
kittens south of Lake Winona on the Saline/Grand County line. In
November 1999, a U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service biologist
reported seeing a cougar along a highway in Garland County, Ark.,
according to Cougar Network officials.
Each year, biologists in many states receive reports about “black
panthers.” “Panthers” do not exist as distinct animals, but people often call
mountain lions “panthers.” No documented cougar in history ever had
black fur, although bobcats sometimes occur in black or melanistic phases.
In fact, the scientific name for cougar, Felis concolor, means “cat of one
color,” Young said.
In Africa and Asia, people sometimes call tigers, leopards and a few
other cat species “panthers.” These animals occasionally occur in
melanistic phases. In North and South America, rare black jaguars and
jaguarundis may occur. Jaguarundis, small long-tailed South American cats,
range to south Texas, perhaps farther, and have been released in Florida.
Ocelots, another South American cat species sometimes called a panther,
can look dark when viewed in the shadows.
“We don’t answer reports of black panthers,” Maxit said. “Someone
could possibly see a long-tailed cat at a distance and report a cougar that’s
really a jaguarundi, but to my knowledge, there has never been a confirmed
jaguarundi sighting in Louisiana.”
People would not likely see jaguars, jaguarundis or ocelots in Louisiana
today. Jaguars and ocelots once ranged into southwestern Louisiana, but
disappeared in the 19th century. Newspapers reported a 200-pound
jaguar shot on June 1, 1886, in Ascension Parish. Arizona reported 64
jaguars killed since 1900, the last one in 1986, but jaguar reports have
increased in recent years.
Texas historical records indicate jaguars killed as far east as
Beaumont. The last confirmed Texas jaguar death occurred in the 1940s.
Never very common, jaguarundis probably reached their northern limit in
extreme southern Texas. In 1986, a car hit a jaguarundi in Texas.
“We estimate about 100 to 120 ocelots live in extreme southern Texas,”
Young said. “At one time, ocelots roamed throughout Texas and into
Louisiana. Today, the primary population is on Laguna Atascosa National
Wildlife Refuge. In the last 20 years, ocelots have been seen as far north
as Kingsville.”
People reporting “black panthers” may actually see Labrador retrievers,
raccoons, small bears, big house cats, feral pigs, foxes, coyotes, otters or
even rare melanistic-phase bobcats. They could possibly see a genuine
cougar in silhouette or in shadows. Many big cat reports occur during night
or low-light conditions when distinguishing colors becomes difficult and
everything looks black. Animals at a distance often appear black.
Sometimes, a person seeing a genuine tawny cougar might simply
remember it as black because that’s what he or she wants to believe.
Reported “panther screams” usually come from screech owls or barn owls.
As an endangered species, eastern cougars fall under federal
protection with stiff penalties for anyone who shoots one. In areas with
hunting seasons, they fall under the game laws of that state. Anyone in the
eastern United States who spots a cougar should call the state wildlife
department.