Former Newnan resident sentenced for killing endangered panther (Georgia)

Times Herald ^ | 8-25-11

[SJackson]

If you’d like to be on or off this Outdoors/Rural/wildlife/hunting/hiking/backpacking/National Parks list please FR mail me. And ping me is you see articles of interest.

This guy I've no sympathy for. There was no threat to anything, he knew what he was shooting and, my guess, he knew it was illegal.

[mardi59]

federal wildlife laws /

They will enforce FEDERAL wildlife laws while Obama runs amok trampling the Constitution, and illegals trample our laws. Go figure.

[beebuster2000]

agree with you, and pls put me on your list.

[E. Pluribus Unum]

This is the kind of guy who gives hunters a bad name, shooting anything that moves.

[org.whodat]

Some people hunt to kill, they are the kind that would kill the last animal and say look how great I am.

[Kinzua]

This guy shot the cat knowing exactly what is was. Quite different from shooting anything that moves.

If these animals are going to extend their range in the East, I know a lot of folks who would shoot one on site. Probably wouldn't get caught like this guy. These animals would probably prefer to stay away from adult humans but this is much harder in the Eastern US.

Besides, we would prefer to be the chief predator of the deer in these parts. Coyotes are bad enough.

[driftdiver]

The official counts are wayyyy low but there was no need to shoot it. Had one eating the hogs across the street for a short time. It ended up getting hit by a car.

[Marie]

One summer night in Georgia (Ft Stewart) I was having trouble sleeping. It was about 2AM and I stepped outside to have a cigarette.

There, standing about five feet from me by our garbage can, was a black panther.

He looked as surprised to see me as I was to see him. We just stood there, looking at each other for a few minutes, then he casually walked away. Zero hostility.

Nobody believed me. Even my husband doubted me. He didn’t know that there were panthers in Georgia. “Must’ve been a big cat.”

Uh, yeah! Big like the size of a big dog! (longer, but closer to the ground.)

I finally called the fish and game service to have them confirm that, yes, there were black panthers in Georgia and, yes, that’s probably what I saw.

And he was FAT and healthy. He’d probably been living pretty well off garbage.

Prettiest animal that I’ve ever seen.

[AAABEST]

After he's done with his probation, I'd like to hire him to come to Florida to kill every damn one of these useless exotic species.

There's no such thing as a "Florida Panther."

The original panthers were sparely populated Florida in the early part of the last century were simply smaller America cougars/panthers - or "mountain lions" if you will. All of our game - deer, squirrels, hogs etc. - is smaller here because of the warm climate.

These original panthers became interbred with a bunch of South American cats that got loose from someone who brougt a bunch here from overseas. The "new" breed of cat didn't fare well, especially with all of the inbreeding as a result of the sparse population. Fast-forward; enviro-idiots get the bright idea to in a much larger and more agressive cat from Texas to interbreed for the purpose of the species going.

So now we have a Florida, South American, Texas, inbred mess of a cat that is used as a political excuse for lefties to grab (literally) thousands of acres of farm land and private property, in addition to a bunch of rights-trampling rules that only Mao could love. No building fences, roads, protecting livestock etc.

F*** the "Florida" panther. Every time I hear of one getting hit by a car, getting shot or getting eaten by one of their own (they do that often), it brings a smile to my face.

[E. Pluribus Unum]

This guy shot the cat knowing exactly what is was. Quite different from shooting anything that moves.

My point stands.

The kind of guy who gives hunters a bad name.

Guess you're one of those two.

[bigheadfred]

Florida runs out of cats they can have some of ours. I think the wolves would LOVE the idea. But not as much as we LOVE the idea of having wolves.

[tickmeister]

Any panthers show up on my place, I will give hunters a bad name, shovel, and shut up. They are hard on livestock.

[yarddog]

Around 15 years ago, I saw what I thought was a panther in a remote area right where a bridge crosses the Altamaha River in South Georgia.

When I first saw it, I thought it was a large yellow dog eating road kill. It didn’t see me for a little bit then took off like lightning.

I phoned the local wildlife biologist and reported it to him. To my surprise, he took me seriously. Although he said there were not supposed to be any Panthers that far North, the place I saw him would be exactly the right place for one to be.

He asked me about it in great detail and said he would go out and check the place the next day. I thought it probably was mis-identification by me but now I think it really was one.

[arderkrag]

One summer night in Georgia (Ft Stewart) I was having trouble sleeping. It was about 2AM and I stepped outside to have a cigarette.

There, standing about five feet from me by our garbage can, was a black panther.

Yep. Apparently, there's a handful of black ones running around in the state. A local guy I know caught a couple on his game cams attacking his horses. We think they might be related to a couple that escaped from Riverbanks Zoo over in Columbia years and years ago. As far as I know, no one's ever managed to bag one, or if they have, they kept it quiet.

As far as the guy in the story, I have absolutely no sympathy for anyone who knowingly breaks a game law unless they or their property is already under duress from the animal. If it attacks my horse, yeh, I'll shoot it. But not just to do it unless a statewide hunt is annouced (reference SC announcing a free-limit gator hunt a few years back). As always in matters like this, YMMV.

[GladesGuru]

That a man can be given a criminal sentence by an American court when the basic science involved is known to be false should disturb all Americans. What has occurred here is a travesty of both science and law.

All puma in the USA, Canada, and Mexico are known to science to be the same subspecies. The DNA research based paper titled The Genomic Ancestry Of The American Puma states “the fifteen previously identified sub-species are not affirmed”. The paper further stated that all such cats in Mexico, USA & Canada were the “genetically homogeneous”.

For those not familiar with scientific-ese, the sum and substance of the above paragraph is: The cat shot is not a scientifically justifiable “endangered species”.

The Persecutor for the USFWS knows this, and is therefore guilty of withholding exculpatory evidence. He is, IMHO, guilty of quite an array of other felonies. Ditto for the member of the USFWS “Armed & Rangerous” who arrested the hunter.

[BerryDingle]

Fast-forward; enviro-idiots get the bright idea to in a much larger and more agressive cat from Texas to interbreed for the purpose of the species going.

I remember a case came up around 25 years ago in Florida, a man was charged with killing a Fla. Panther. An anthropologist or some other expert testified that it was a western Mountain Lion.

[Georgia Girl 2]

I believe you. We live in in a subdivision in Lilburn a suburb of Atlanta and Monday night about 1:00 AM our Chihuahua started barking out the front window. The fiancee’ went to see what she was so crazed about and there were two juvenile Black Panthers waltzing down the middle of our street. About the size of Bobcats. What a shock!

[cc2k]

SJackson wrote:

This guy I've no sympathy for. There was no threat to anything, he knew what he was shooting and, my guess, he knew it was illegal.

Well, on the one hand, there is no "open season" on these animals in Georgia. He certainly was guilty of a state crime.

That's where it should have ended.

Sorry, but nowhere in Article 1, Section 8 of the United States Constitution do I see where the states, or delegated authority to the United States Congress to tell us which game we can or can not hunt on our lands.

There is no federal crime here because there is no authority for the Congress to act and make a law declaring this man's actions criminal.

[EdReform]

Bump & Lping to reply #16