The mystery of black leopards in Kansas!? (similar)

[KsStorm]

Definiely cougars in Kansas. My husband saw one run right across the road in front of his truck about 3-4 years ago near Paola. My mom in Gardner swears she saw a black one run across the road in Gardner,and I had a woman call me to buy chickens tell me she had lost about 30 head of goats & sheep out by Williamsburg,& she & her brother saw one run right across her field. We are way out in the country in Franklin co., & I have seen HUGE paw prinks,about as big as my hand. Have heard odd screms in the woods,but those may be Bobcats.

[KsStorm]

Oh, I forgot to mention,about 10 years ago there was a huge house on 169 highway between Spring Hill & Paola,& they kept mountain lions & other big cats. There was a report that several of them had gotten loose,& they were unable to recover them,so this may account for some of the sightings. When we lived down there there were lots of reported sightings of big cats.

[psharpe]

I know of a man in Ks that won a tiny circus in a poker game in Oklahoma, he brought all he animals back to Ks and soon turned them all loose except the elephant. In the group of animals was a black leopard and a brown bear. What is to keep the black leopards from crossing with cougars

[debbiestevens]

I was at Milford Lake (close to Junction City Kansas) today with my sister, when we saw a large black cat walking down the road into the woods. We were very close. It was not a house cat. It was close to campsites and the boat ramp. We asked the park ranger if there had been other sightings. September 6, 2009 around 9:30 am just as the fog was lifting.

[cp1969]

That is a cool website.

People have been claiming to see big cats in Miami county for years (I have not seen any.). The Fish & Game department is always quick to dismiss them, though. I wonder why the F&G people are so convinced that the cats are not here? It seems no mystery to me that the cats would return somewhat paralleling the deer population which is one, if not the main, constituent in their diet. Deer are EVERYwhere now...why wouldn't the cougars have returned? It would be easy pickings for them.

[Lindsey_Mcfarren]

Originally Posted by cp1969

That is a cool website.

People have been claiming to see big cats in Miami county for years (I have not seen any.). The Fish & Game department is always quick to dismiss them, though. I wonder why the F&G people are so convinced that the cats are not here? It seems no mystery to me that the cats would return somewhat paralleling the deer population which is one, if not the main, constituent in their diet. Deer are EVERYwhere now...why wouldn't the cougars have returned? It would be easy pickings for them.

They have large cats over in Fort Myers, why couldn't they be over in Miami as well?? They have signs saying to watch out for them as you drive out to the Fort Myers airport. I know we have them here in the Orlando area as well. We also have bears, I saw one not 6 feet from me, running across the road, thankfully I was in my truck.

[kansas sky]

Originally Posted by Lindsey_Mcfarren

They have large cats over in Fort Myers, why couldn't they be over in Miami as well?? They have signs saying to watch out for them as you drive out to the Fort Myers airport. I know we have them here in the Orlando area as well. We also have bears, I saw one not 6 feet from me, running across the road, thankfully I was in my truck.

I imagine they're talking about Miami County, Ks.

My theory about why Fish and Game won't admit anything is that they don't want any idiot with a gun trying to trophy hunt these cats. There are plenty of deer around for them to hunt, and I've never heard of a problem with them. I'm absolutely certain there are cougars around and given Kansas' lax exotics ownership laws it wouldn't surprise me in the least if there were other big cats as well. I doubt any of them are interested in being near people at all.

[thriftylefty]

I have seen the cats as well as my kids on separate occasions, the rumor I heard was that they were introduced in Kansas to help with the deer population, Many deer hunters in Kansas are trophy hunting which encourages theses smaller deer to roam free in little herds you see all over

[WyoNewk]

Originally Posted by kansas sky

... There are plenty of deer around for them to hunt, and I've never heard of a problem with them. I'm absolutely certain there are cougars around and given Kansas' lax exotics ownership laws it wouldn't surprise me in the least if there were other big cats as well. I doubt any of them are interested in being near people at all.

It would be no surprise to me at all that cougars would wander through Kansas. My bil, who farms in west-central Iowa (near Shelby) saw one on his farm a couple years ago. It had been seen by several in the area, and IIRC it was also getting at pets in a couple towns. I think it was finally struck by a vehicle on the road. I'm not positive of the details, but I think the cat was quite old and not in the best health, and that's why they figured it was visiting the small towns for food -- it couldn't chase down a deer.

My daughter lives in Vale, AZ, a suburb of Tucson. Their yard is completely fenced with a 6-foot fence -- block on the sides and steel mesh along the back. The family's small dog was attacked and killed a couple years ago by a predator (before their Saint Bernard could chase it off). They have coyotes in the area, but the vet said the bite marks indicated it was probably a cougar. They don't mix well with people, and that's probably why they moved west in the beginning.

We're not supposed to have cougars in my part of Wyoming either (NE), but every few years we hear about one being shot by a rancher. That's been going on as long as I've lived here, 38 years. We also get black bears out here on the prairie every year or two. These animals roam long distances. Heck, you could be seeing Canadian wolves in Kansas within a decade, the way they're migrating away from Yellowstone.

I remember hearing about a cougar near our farm in NE Kansas when I was a kid in the early 50s.

I don't believe the "secretly introduced" theory. Big cats roam. What else do they have to do?

[quesera]

I just thought I'd tie this in to an older thread on a similar topic.

http://www.city-data.com/forum/kansa...ed-kansas.html