RE: Strange Black animal in the woods.....
MO Archer,
Don't be so quick as to rule out a big cat. My father and I have one on video tape in IL. where we used to live. It was less than 200 yards from their house crossing a 40 acre cut bean field. This thing would walk about 20 yards and then sat down. The whole time he was being followed by at least 20 crows in the air. Evey time he would set down a couple of crows would take their turn dive bombing him. I can't say that it was a panther because it was not as big as a leopard. Besides, I don't think a leopard could survive winter conditions in South Eastern IL. This thing had a huge tail probably 4-5 foot long and was probably only a little taller than knee high. I would say it weighed between 60 to 80 pounds. Was dark colored but also had a lot of silver in it. May have been old. I had heard the rumors of panthers turned lose by the DNR to control deer heards also. But, I know what we saw and I know what is on that video tape. We have at least 10 min. of footage and it is definantely a big cat. We are not the only ones in that area to have seen this animal over the years there either. Just a little food for thought.