Arkansas’ big black cat report

Thanks to all who sent me comments in response to my big black cat column, in which I asked for sighting of these cats in Arkansas. I received so many comments that I couldn’t possibly acknowledge all of them.

Here are a few excerpts from the emails I received: Lee County: “It was a big black cat with a tail about two feet long with a total body length of six feet …” Perry County: “Standing on a knoll and looking south, I saw a large black cat cross the fence line …” Newton County: “I have lost count of the times my family spotted these big black cats …” Boone County: “I am convinced it was a black panther or mountain lion. Since that time I have heard of at least three more credible sightings …” Cross County: “The cat was less than 10 feet from my truck …” Union County: “West on Southfield Road there was a black panther walking down the side of the road …” Stone County: “We have seen several mountain lions and three big black cats.” In total, I received 26 very creditable reports.

Mountain lions have been reported from New England to southern California’s Beverly Hills. From comments made by experts in the field, migration from Canada and the Rocky Mountains puts cougars in a large number of states. Arkansas is among those seeing an increase in cougar sightings, as well as reports of big black cats.

Some of the sightings in our state have been of a black cat and a cougar of normal color as a pair, and another of a big black cat with two kittens. It seems, based on the sighting in Arkansas and from various experts around the country, about 20 percent of the sightings are of black cats, and their sizes and shapes, whether normal or black, are similar to normal colored cougars.

In the South, the term “black panthers” is commonly used to describe most of the black cat sightings; the average person would think the big black cats are black mountain lions.

Could the mountain lion association be wrong? Based on data from dozens of sightings, some with photographs, the big black cats might be black mountain lions.

Sometimes bedrock opinions such as the denial of the existence of black mountain lions or even admitting there are mountain lions in an area can become so ingrained that denial is automatic.

If someone asked me if the big black cats are mountain lions, I would answer: Maybe. To me that’s the best possible response, but the deniers will tell you black Labrador retrievers and long-tailed feral cats have been misidentified as mountain lions.

The only other possible conclusion is that these big black cats are jaguars, and that is a stretch to have jaguars in Florida and other areas so far away from their ranges in Mexico and Central America.

Also of interest is the sighting of a pair of cats, one the natural tawny-gray color of a cougar and the other black. It seems logical that they are a breeding pair. Sometime in nature exact conclusions are difficult, and this is certainly one of them.

I had a backyard bit of Arkansas wildness a few weeks back.

I live in the city limits of El Dorado, bordering a heavily wooded area with two small one- to five-acre ponds. About three weeks ago three dogs, German shepherds and larger, showed up and settled in about 50 yards south of our house. We figured the dogs had gotten out of their yards since they were wearing collars.

Then a day or so later something came out of the woods and killed one of the dogs, leaving traces of a bloody fight. I don’t have a clue what it was, but a 60- to 70-pound dog would be hard for a 35-pound coyote to take down. It would take an animal much bigger. I believe either a bear or more likely a cougar killed the dog. The owner of the dogs came by later to pick up the other two dogs.

Based on these reports, I have increased my estimate of cougars upward toward 150 to include the big black cats. They could be jaguars, black cougars, or a mix of cougar and jaguar. The pairing up, the coloration, and the the roars and screams at night make it difficult to pin down a name for them. So I’m going to stick with what folks have called them for at least the last 100 years: Black panthers.