Alabama man recovering from panther attack

Oh wow that is nuts. :eek:
I live in the Tampa area, and Idk about black panthers, but we do have florida panthers around here..
edit: I've actually seen one dead on the ride of I-75. Which for me was very odd to see.
 
the DNR just finally admitted that we have cougars in indiana. friends and all types of people had trail cam shots and hair, they just kept denying it over and over. finally not to long ago they came out and said we now have cougars but only because someone bought them as a pet and released them and they are now breeding. on a side note they now have video footage of 3 leopards in arizona. 2 males and possibly a female with territory and possible breeding habits happening. pretty cool.

on with a story. i was stationed in ft polk LA and was driving my wife back to the airport in alexandria. i dropped her off and was on my way back. i was on the road out in the middle of no where when about 300 yards away i saw this big black thing run out to the road and turn and run back to the woods. i was like blah wasn't a big cat just my mind playing tricks. i get up to about 50 feet away and this huge black cat comes running out of the woods and literally jumps completely over the 2 lane road like it was nothing. it was very cool. never saw anything else but there were lots of reports in the area of them
 
I wonder if all the departments of interior, natural resources, state & local wildlife agencies, county extension agencies, etc. had a record of everyone who 3 or 4 years ago just had to have that cute, cuddly, adorable, & "little" at that time exotic cougar/panther/python/bobcat/black bear, etc . . . :confused:
And 3-4 years later when it was eating the family pet & tearing the hell out of everything else, they took it out into the country & turned it loose so "it would be in it's own natural habitat" . . .:)
Just a thought though . . .
Be safe.
 
I haven't seen any, yet, but apparently they are also in Ontario. In 2007 I went into an Indigo book store and was greeted with a whole rack of Canadian Geographic magazines with the cover story being about cougars being in Ontario.

http://www.canadiangeographic.ca/magazine/nd07/feature_wildlife.asp

If you search the Can. Geographic sites, there are a lot more stories.

There have been a few sightings around here, over the years, but are always dismissed by the local officials.

Doc
 
They are out in my state (Washington state), you can even get a tag for them here.

They, every once in a while, attack and hurt people up here.

Quite a while ago, there was a small lady hiking or trail running. One jumped her from behind. Mauled her pretty bad. She ended up killing it with a long pair of tweezers through the eye. If I remember correctly she had 400 plus stitches, and the Dep. of Game took the carcas, but there were some sweet pics.
 
scotchleaf said:
I'm glad they are coming back - there are certainly enough deer to support em.
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That's a helluva good point, and in fact, I'm surprised we don't hear more stories about cougars moving into my area (CKY). The black bears have made it up here from the mountains of SE KY, so why not the big cats as well? Our whitetail population would be like an all-you-can-eat buffett.
 
I don't know about black mountain lions, but I saw a normal tan one in Alabama near the Georgia border. When the economy was good I used to own a dual sport motorcycle (BMW F650). I went exploring around the talledega national forest all the time. One day I was coming around a corner and a Mountain line was standing right in the middle of the dirt road. I was not going fast at all so I was able to stop on the dime. He stared at me for about 3 seconds and then leaped from the middle of the road into the forest on the side :eek:. I am talking about something like 10 feet in a single bound with no running start. As soon as it went into the bush it literally disappeared. But.. I knew he was still lingering because I didn't see any movement of the bush that he disappeared into. So he jumped in there and pretty much was watching me.

Took me a second for my brain to comprehend that he was still sitting 10 feet from me in the bushes... I gunned the throttle and was out of there. Was an odd experience. But it definitely was a mountain lion. It was right in front of me, very big, and had the long tail that identifies one.
 
R.A.T. said:
Typically around here when one of these stories get out it's because someone is either making white whiskey or harvesting marijuana. Black panther and bear stories will be started to keep people out of the woods. It's an old tactic.

With that said, Jimmy Dunn and I tracked a black bear in Little River Canyon and the bear has been spotted several times since. Never seen a cougar/ panther though.

As a side note, there are in fact large black cats such as cougars. I've seen a few in captivity.
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Years ago there was a theme park called "Canyonland Park" that had a chair lift down into the canyon and rides and such. It also had a zoo and when they closed, someone opened some of the cages and some of the exotic cats and a bear or two were released. Fort Payne is my home town, in fact, I went to school with Jimmy Dunn. I spent a lot of time down in that canyon and I've hunted and fished all over Lookout Mountain. Just thinking about it makes me homesick....
 
cewl. i have black bear, m00se, coyote, fox, and fishercats near my place, but so far, no large neko neko.

anyone get the phone number of that "cougar" that was "stabbed" twice? :) pictures!
 
tidefan said:
Fort Payne is my home town, in fact, I went to school with Jimmy Dunn. I spent a lot of time down in that canyon and I've hunted and fished all over Lookout Mountain. Just thinking about it makes me homesick....
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I remember that now that you mention it... good story. :thumbup:

And as far as homesick goes, I'll finish you off...... :D
We had a "White Christmas".

It's the first real snow on Christmas Day, that covered things besides a "dusting"; that I have seen in my 58 years here in Gadsden.

Take care........ :)
 
Here in the "Dark Corner" of SC, we have reports of panthers every year. DNR says, "No way." I've talked to a few old woodsmen that I tend to think know the difference in a bear and a cat but I also know there are those that have an interest in keeping folks out of the woods too.

R.A.T. said:
Typically around here when one of these stories get out it's because someone is either making white whiskey or harvesting marijuana. Black panther and bear stories will be started to keep people out of the woods. It's an old tactic.

With that said, Jimmy Dunn and I tracked a black bear in Little River Canyon and the bear has been spotted several times since. Never seen a cougar/ panther though.

As a side note, there are in fact large black cats such as cougars. I've seen a few in captivity.
Click to expand...
 
Incahiker said:
I don't know about black mountain lions, but I saw a normal tan one in Alabama near the Georgia border. When the economy was good I used to own a dual sport motorcycle (BMW F650). I went exploring around the talledega national forest all the time. One day I was coming around a corner and a Mountain line was standing right in the middle of the dirt road. I was not going fast at all so I was able to stop on the dime. He stared at me for about 3 seconds and then leaped from the middle of the road into the forest on the side :eek:. I am talking about something like 10 feet in a single bound with no running start. As soon as it went into the bush it literally disappeared. But.. I knew he was still lingering because I didn't see any movement of the bush that he disappeared into. So he jumped in there and pretty much was watching me.

Took me a second for my brain to comprehend that he was still sitting 10 feet from me in the bushes... I gunned the throttle and was out of there. Was an odd experience. But it definitely was a mountain lion. It was right in front of me, very big, and had the long tail that identifies one.
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That was one of our trained, token panthers that we imported to keep folks away from our marijuana plants. It worked, didn't it?
 
shotgunner11 said:
I saw a big cougar here in east Tx with mine own eyes.
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This thread seems to have split and it looks like your gonna have to specify "2 legged" or "4 legged". :)

I am sure East Texas could be either & both. ;)

But I think I remember your post when this was up a while back SG11 and you did state you saw one. :confused: Or, maybe that was the coyote thread I am thinking about????? :confused:

Either way.... they are around. ;)
 
teacher said:
I remember that now that you mention it... good story. :thumbup:

And as far as homesick goes, I'll finish you off...... :D
We had a "White Christmas".

It's the first real snow on Christmas Day, that covered things besides a "dusting"; that I have seen in my 58 years here in Gadsden.

Take care........ :)
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I've been in Florida for 10 years now...what is this "snow" you speak of??:D
 
Lakeland. I'm a CC paramedic here. They said it was EMS in paradise, but it's more like purgatory...must have got off on the wrong floor!
 
Copy that.... :thumbup:

I hope it gets better for you.... .. Take care and be safe out there. ;)
 
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