That is some of the best proof I have seen, Hudbone!

Yep.

Definitely see it now.

Black as it can be.

Deer picked it off though.

I have a black panther that lives on my back porch. I feed him Meow Mix so he won’t kill my dogs.

^^^That's one cool cat.

Agreed......!

There was a black cat that lived next door when I was in college. Next door was all jazzers, most of them in the North Texas 1 o'clock Lab Band (many went on to pro careers). They named him Miles. The thing was, if he was in the middle of the street and a car came up and slowed, he'd turn and look at the car exactly like Miles would look at the audience...with contempt and disdain. 'Course, that cat was probably so high all the time he could hunt ducks with a rake.

It doesn’t appear to be doing that in the OP’s pic, but if you squint thru the shadows it looks like it’s wearing a T-shirt that says: “By any means necessary…!”



SFH

Mud can turn about anything black. Cougar are not afraid of water and therefore may like a mud bath now and again.

Don't know if that explains any claims of black Cougar sighting but I think it possible.

Jaguarundi, no doubt.

I have plenty of doubt in that idea.

Looks kind of tall for jagurandi

Mountain Lion......just on the shadow side of sun, just like the cactus behind it.

Was on my Texas Panhandle facebook page today.

BLACK PANTHERS SPOTTED ON THE TEXAS PANHANDLE
About three years ago I was pulling my backhoe, following Plumbing Contractor Terry and Charlotte Shoffner out to the jobsite to install a new septic system and to clean out a large cattle guard. We went through Tell headed to a ranch South of Turkey.
A large black Puma/Cougar ran across the road in front of them. When we got to the ranch it was mentioned to the Rancher. He said several other people had seen it and they had lost several calfs in that area. Didn't think it was unusual as I had seen a cougar out at the CeeVee farming community while hunting back in the late 60s and seen many tracks through the years out on the Jones property, now the Whilhite property, South of Childress. Also one crossed 287 in front of me about 2 miles North of Childress about where the Drive In theater used to be in the late 90s.
The reason I'm bringing this up is I just watched a documentary stating there are no black cats in the State of Texas or any area North of the Mexican border, actually North of Central America. They had the State Biologist of Texas and Oklahoma both making this statement. They claimed if you thought it was black was because it was seen at night and you just thought it was black.
The sighting I previously mentioned South of Turkey was at around 8:15 on a bright, clear, sparkling morning.
The documentary stated the chances of a black cougar , melanistic, is about one in a million and anyone claiming to see a black cat is just mistaken. Also stated all Jaguars had been killed out in the U.S. by the 1880s.

Not again..............

https://texashuntingforum.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/topics/1304504/all/Black_Panther

Black panther is a misnomer for a black jaguar, black ocelot or the smaller jaguarundi. Having worked and hunted in remote areas of Central and South America for many years, I have seen much of the wildlife that seems to be quite abundant in Texas according to reports. I have seen pumas, jaguars, ocelots and jaguarundi in one or more of the following countries: Panama, Colombia, Bolivia, Paraguay, Peru, Ecuador, Argentina and Brasil. The "black panther" at the old Fort Sherman Zoo in Panama looked almost identical to the puma in the cage next to it. However, it was in fact a small female jaguar (proven by tests). The only other "black panther" I ever saw was also in Panama. It came to check out the salt lick where I was bow hunting for javelina or brocket deer. It was definitely a large black ocelot or a small black jaguar like the one in the zoo. The Kuna Indian with me agreed.

But I do enjoy hearing all the reports of sightings here in our great state.

Safe hunting and Happy Christmas

I guess black panther could be a misnomer for some, such as mountain lions (also a misnomer as they aren't lions) and ocelots, but not for jaguars (Panthera onca). Black panther for New World jaguars is actually an alternative common name for those that are particularly dark. It also seems to be incorrect applied to the likes of margay and ocelot as well, but these are in a different sub family from jaguars and leopards (Felinae vs. Pantherinae). Of course, they are not to be confused with the black panthers of Africa (such as Panthera pardis) or mythical melanistic mountain lions of North and Central America (at discussion here). Part of the reason for the Linnean binomial nomenclature system was to specifically nail down individual animal types to a particular species name. This made possible the separation of multiples of animals called the same common name that seems to cause so much confusion (e.g., black panthers). On the other hand, the system also helped work out when multiples of common names were applied to a particular animal, such as with our mountain lion. Just look at the list of common names for mountain lions...

cougar
puma
mountain lion
panther (not actually a panther either, LOL)
catamount
mountain screamer
mountain cat
painter

And about 34 other common names all for the same exact species.

And don't forget that when you say "black panther" is a misnomer, countless people claimed to have seen black mountain lions (Puma concolor). The issue isn't with the name so much as the eyes. They aren't seeing Panthera oncas and they aren't seeing jaguarundis. If they are, there are many thousand of them running around Texas that people keep seeing, but nobody seems to be able to ever actually kill one, not even on the highway. Lots of hunters see them in Texas, but none ever kill them. Mone are ever shown to wardens or scientists, nor are any ever photographed uniquivocally. People who have claimed to have killed them always have done so under mysterious circumstances that explain away how it is that they don't have pictures, body parts, or a completely body. This always amazes me, like claims of kills of Bigfoot, somebody could claim to be the first, to have the first known specimen, and yet it gets left in the woods for some reason.

DNS,

within the last couple of years, I had a ranch contact me to turn over two dead jaguarundis that a ranch hand killed thinking they were young mountain lions. The ranch tried to do the right thing understanding the importance and significance of jaguarundis. The USFWS supervisor for South Texas and retired head of law enforcement for USFWS tried to help work out an agreement to not prosecute the ranch hand. Tragically, the LEO running law enforcement for USFWS in the area would not agree. So the two carcasses were not turned over and the ranch hand returned to Mexico last I heard. I can share more examples of how politics drives TPWD and USFWS in Texas to not protect these cats or ocelots either. A refuge manager for one of the South Texas refuges reported seeing a jaguarundi on his refuge and he wanted to put out game cameras. He was given a strong re-education speech that he did not see a jaguarundi and they were not to put out any cameras. Those are just two fairly recent examples and there are more.

Politics has thoroughly infested wildlife protection and research just as it has medicine, law, and so many other areas.

The success of the ESA act is both glorious and sad at same time. It’s become profit center for many eco-terrorist lawyers. Sad because it’s done some great things

Bobo,

I am friends with a man that was a Whitehouse staff lawyer for Richard Nixon who helped write the ESA. We talk sometimes about how it has turned into a massive industry of consultants that burn massive amounts of money with only slivers of the funding going to actually protect wildlife.

It is hard for the younger folks to realize, the Endangered Species Act, Clean Water Act, and Clean Air Act are relatively recent laws that made huge leaps forward in improving where we and wildlife live. All three were signed into law by Richard Nixon, which is not that long ago.

Personally, just my two cents, we need to start looking at new models for wildlife that will keep the common wildlife common, rather than waiting until they are on the brink of extinction.

The single biggest crisis facing wildlife in this state right now is the rapidly diminishing quantity and quality of water that is safe for them to drink or live in. That same crisis also is looming for people in this state, yet no politician will dare say there is no more room for more people and businesses to move here.

Guest and myself were driving way back in the pasture in broad daylight when we both thought we saw a bobcat cross the sendero about 25-30 yards in front of us. We weren't drinking. Done said, "Look a bobcat!", only there was a noticeable pause between a and bobcat. We stopped briefly with both of us trying to process what we just saw.

Whatever we saw, it was definitely feline. No doubt there (zero). It was about the same height as a large bobcat, but the body was about one and a half times as long, larger and deeper (ie: belly closer to the ground). It did not have the powerful shoulders of a lion nor did it walk like a bobcat. It was longer and still a slender creature. The colorings were somewhat of a greyish brown with the brown being more dominant. The tail did not curl and was somewhat akin to a broom stick. On the proceeding me and Done are in mutual agreement. Where we disagreed on was the length of the tail. I believed it to be 12 - 14 inches with some thinking it was closer to two feet.

Came back to camp where another hunter claimed to to have had a brief glimpse of the same animal a week prior two miles east of that spot, but was "afraid" to bring it up. No idea here - totally clueless (as usual). Yes, we googled jaguarundi and do believe there are similarities there, but each of us are not willing to make that assertion.

Not sure why you wanted to inform me of this, but okay...

Politics has thoroughly infested any endeavor that involves the government spending money on it. Strange how people don't realize it until they find something they don't like about it, LOL. Politics has been involved in every public park that has been established or wild animal species that isn't or is not afforded protection by the government. This is a given at this point in history, not a revelation.

So what you are telling me is that the government isn't protecting cats. Okay.

Apparently, they do.
https://www.vcstar.com/story/news/l...y-killing-mountain-lion-p-38/3857687002/
https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/9296830/hunters-mountain-lion-wyoming-yellowstone/

Politics, LOL
https://www.cbsnews.com/colorado/ne...pitol-riot-hunting-mountain-lion-arrest/

Again, I am not sure what this has to do with black panthers



So bring back the grizzlies and wolves! I am right there with you! We also really need to re-establish the native range of alligators while we are at it. Definitely need to see more black bears. More elk would be nice as well.

Well we went from decent conversation on jaguarundi’s and the need for ESA changes to California ballot biology and non/ threatened Mountain lions and hunting in National parks.

If you get the chance to go thru Bearizona in Williams AZ, they have a couple beautiful jaguars there. One normal one, and the other is almost pure black. Up close, you can just barely make out the rosettes, but they are still there.

Believe this or not but my crew spotted a black panther by the Melissa landfill, Then a year later we saw a big long tail cat about 5 miles east of there towards Blue Ridge.