Posted on 10/06/2006 9:11:45 AM PDT by MrNationalist
(Adams County-WANE) After NewsChannel 15 aired video of a big cat sighting in Adams County, the Indiana Department of Natural Resources and the Adams County Sheriff's Department received phone calls from people who also claim to have seen the mysterious cat.
The big cat sightings have been taking place for about a year. Now with the existence of video of the animal, there appears to be proof the cat really exists. An Adams County resident and her daughter videotaped what appears to be a big cat on two separate occasions. They're not sure if it's the same animal because one of the video sightings is very shaky.
NewsChannel 15 showed the video to an expert at the Fort Wayne Children's Zoo. Mark Weldon says the animal could be a cougar or a leopard. Kevin Pensinger, an officer with the Indiana Department of Natural Resources agrees the animal is a large cat, but he's not certain what kind. The animal could have been someone's escaped pet. Law requires people to register wild animals like cougars, but if someone had such an animal and it got loose they might not report it to authorities.
They have no credibility up here either.
Then I reach for my rifle - the Garand,or U.S. M 1917, .54 Hawken, .50 caliber Hawken, .577 Caliber Enfield, or various other assorted toys I have and as long as it is just passing through - fine.
Otherwise, shoot, shovel and shut up.
"Another local claims that he lost a calf, and later found the remains. In a tree..."
Maybe he should put locator collars on his cattle. (sarcasm)
You'll really like this.
Actually, cougars are very good swimmers. Also, if it gets cold enough in winter, rivers freeze over, especially in places they don't flow fast. And big cats are smart enough to use man-made resources such as little used railway bridges dams and spillways, locks, etc. Think about a cat's natural ability to climb, and using an old railroad trestle bridge makes sense.
DNR says there are no cougars in MI, either, in spite of numerous sightings.
There have been sightings of cougar right here in lower mid-Michigan as well. My neighbors watched one for 20 minutes or so a couple years ago.
But, DNR says there are no cougars in MI.
I thought I saw a putty tat.
Labs don't lower themselves to ballroom dancing. At least that's what my Lab tells me!
This is what she does.
Also this.
She's been moderately successful.
There was a rash of cougar sightings in Santa Fe awhile back, until somebody up there who has been outside for something other than navel-gazing pointed out it was a bobcat.
They need to be checked on that. Sounds like liberalthink to me.
I never figured out how a cat could cross either the Missouri or Mississippi river that border the state to get here......
They could actually walk there without ever crossing either river, from Montana and northern Idaho, down the right bank of the Missouri, or come down from the lake country in Manitoba and from the Canadian Rockies through Minnesota.
If called by a panther
Don't anther
I had a similiar experience several years ago with Coyotes. I had just hunkered down on a pitch black morning and turned my flashlight off. I was sitting in some thick brush all nice and comfy overlooking a good sized ravine with about three runs converging at about 40 yards away. My back was to a large,dense thicket. I thought I kicked up some deer getting into position from that brush and was kind of upset about hearing the movement and thinking it ran away. The second I settled and got quiet, I heard some rustling behing me. Hard to tell how close in the woods, but as you know, in the quiet of a pitch black morning, everything sounds close. Then, I heard the distinct howl of coyotes. And they sounded very close. Suddenly thoughts start running through your head....I am trying to smell like a deer, my gun is not loaded, are they eating and calling or calling the hunt? Then it occurred to me, I really had to pee. I fumbled around trying to shove shells in my gun, turned my flashlight on scooted around.....I was a mess.
Not surprisingly, I saw no deer that morning.
Figure I'll have a clear shot at Mr. Cougar as he climbs the tree.
That's also why I wear a sidearm while deer hunting.
(is it for real?)
I used to have a Siamese cat who would crouch on top of doors in the house and wait for unsuspecting people to walk underneath. Then he'd drop on your head. I had to crate him up when we had company, or people would have been ambushed on the way to the bathroom . . .
I have indeed heard that unforgettable sound, and from inside a tent rather than the comfort and safety of my home. I was camping in the mountains of Arizona about twenty years ago when a lion circled our camp and shrieked half a dozen times.
I've spent many, many days in the outdoors and have never been spooked by wild noises in the night. Owls, coyotes, whatever, I find them all charming and not the least bit scary. But a mountain lion's scream is a whole different matter. I have never had a bigger adrenalin rush in my life.
Imagine a loud women screaming in childbirth, but amplify it, and have it directed at hear husband watching a football game on Sunday after not cleaning out the garage. Truly a nightmare.
Yeah, something like that. All of that, plus someone was carving her guts out of her body with a red-hot knife, and her husband was screwing her best friend.
-ccm
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