Panthers consist of three main species of cat: the leopard, Jaguar and cougar. (Actually a cougar isn't even really a panther) The most common black phase of the three is the Jaguar from south america followed by the leopard. There has never been a known case of a black cougar, known in the U.S. as the North American Black Panther (NABP). There have been reported sightings in Nebraska, Kansas and Eastern Kentucky but none has ever been photographed in the wild, shot or even bred in captivity. Basically there has never been one sigle documented case of a black cougar ever existing anywhere. This is why I have my doubts. I can see a regular cougar sighting and believe it no problem but when we start talking about an animal that has never existed it gets a little tougher to swallow.

Lol, I dont use photoshop for anything. BUT if you want, go ahead. Yours will be fake though lol.

Actually, I think the last confirmed case of a black panther in North America may have been named Huey Newton...

FELINE black panthers...??... Yeah.. Right... I think a bunch of them were released by those little green men in Roswell, New Mexico...

They are just about as believeable... I know... I KNOW.... Neil Armstrong never landed on the moon, either... AND there was never a holocaust in Europe in the early 1940's...And on and on...yada...yada...yada...

We have a black panther on our property in Varnville, SC. I was on my four wheeler riding down the edge of one of our fields when he ran out about 75 yds in front of me. About a week later, my little cousin and my uncle were coyote hunting when they saw him lazily walking on the power line. There are also plenty (some killed) at the Weapons Station in Goose Creek, SC.

Believe it or not, SC also has mountain lion. I was given the specail opportunity to rabbit hunt 3000 acres of managed private property last year. Not to far from that area, someones trail cam caught a picture of a mountian lion stalking a 6 pt. whitetail a couple of feet behind him. Maybe you've seen this picture on the internet

There have been reported sightings all my life in SC. The men that saw them would whip your a$$ if you called them a liar. A number of years ago at our state fair, a man had a black "panther" cougar and a regular tan one on leashes as pets. The black one was somewhat smaller than the tan one. I couldn't get any of the black to rub out of its fur so I'm convinced thatblack was it's real color. Don't know where he got them from but so much for the experts'OPINION that they do not exist. You know what they say about opinions.

And that would make it true?

People reporting sightings are not necessarily lying - just mistaken for the most part. I am always amazed that such outstanding woodsmen and hunters have never been able to collect any real proof of their sightings - not in the 4 years I have been reading about them here has one picture or other shred of real proof been posted.

Steve

Unless this "house cat" that I saw weight over 100 lbs, then i'd say it was a black panther. Also, hunters always say they see black bear out at the weapons station; which is supposed to be untrue. But, someone hit one with a car there.

Well, I don't give a #### if anybody believe me or not about my sighting of a big black cat, regardless of its genetic makeup. Just because I didn't have a camera in my hand doesn't mean I didn't see it. Actually a friend of mine was about 100 yards down the draw from me and the big cat trotted by him just before it came my way.

Believe me...I'm not doubting the existance of large black cats. There are plenty out there. It's just that every one of them is either a leopard or a juaguar and not a cougar. In fact leopards have been selectively bred to be black in captivity for the pet trade. You have to admit it's a little tough to swallow when someone says they have seen a blackCOUGAR yet every known biologist, zoo and large cat expert in all of North America collectively have yet to see a single one. Either wild or captive. As for the guys who would whoop my a$$ for calling them a liar...well...that's a whole other thread. All I'm saying is that if someone says they saw a large black cat then they saw a large black cat...it's just that I feel the odds are in my favor that it's not a cougar.

Here is the picture of the black cat that they saw.