Carnivores in the News

Was a Florida panther photographed in Sarasota County? (News source.)

Cougar sightings are coming out of Virginia. (News source.)

A large cougar was killed after it attacked a bull in Washington State. (News source.)

The Mexican wolf that escaped in MN recently was recaptured. (News source.)

The highest diversity of cat species in the world has been discovered in a forest in the Indian state of Assam. (News source.)

Jaguar

Sky Island Alliance released photos of a jaguar from Sonora, just 30 miles south of the US/Mexico border. (News source.)

Cape Lion Resurrection Attempt

A Siberian zoo is using a liger to cross with what could be a descendant of Cape lions (an extinct subspecies) to try and resurrect the subspecies. Exactly why they are using a liger is unexplained. (News source, via Kevin Stewart.)

Sundaland Clouded Leopard

Caught on video.

Misidentifications

A woman new to Texas thought she had a lemur in her backyard; turned out to be a native ringtail cat. (News source.)

A video of a black "big cat" in Australia looks like a large domestic feline. (News source.)

Jaguar Protection

Federal officials are now supporting jaguar habitat protection. (News source.) And a Louisiana newspaper chimes in with stories of jaguars from the past there.

African Wildcat in UAE

Though not rare as a subspecies in its normal range, the presence of Felis silvestris lybica in the mountains of Wadi Wurayah is apparently of interest to researchers there, as there is concern that African wildcats in the UAE have regularly hybridized with feral domestics. (News source, via Kevin Stewart.)

Lioness was a Dog

Spanish police shot what they thought was a female lion, after a massive search for the animal. It turned out to be a dog. (News source.)

Bay Cat Video

A brief video of the endangered bay cat in the wild has been posted online.

Mystery Felines

A black panther is roaming Luxembourg. (News source.)

A Wisconsin columnist writes about a 1949 lion flap. (News source.)

The Politics of Jaguar Conservation

An interesting article here, on the political disputes and legal controversies surrounding the Arizona-New Mexico Jaguar Conservation Team.

Michigan Housecat Misidentified

A rather clear image of a housecat was being promoted as "cougar evidence" in Michigan, until DNR officers pointed out the misidentification. (News source.)

Golden Cat on Camera

Some pics and interesting article about a researcher in Uganda who captured a golden cat on trail cams.

Asiatic Cheetahs

A rare grouping of four adult cheetahs was spotted in Iran's Semnan Province. (News source.)

Feline Recaps

Notes on the Florida panther that traveled to Georgia before it was shot last year here, and here.

Notes on "black panther" sightings in California here, with photographs of a dark bobcat here.

Notes on Australian "coupan" sightings here.

Feline Reports

Black panther sightings in North Carolina.

Nothing new on the Georgia maned lion sightings, but they're still looking.

And, wampus cat folklore.

Bangladesh: Clouded Leopards

A clouded leopard cub has been captured in Bangladesh, where the species was considered extirpated. The cub's mother and other cubs were chased away by locals. (News source.)

Odd Felines

A black leopard has been spotted in India's Sindhudurg district, the first time since 1942. (News source.)

A North Carolina farmer says he saw a female lion. (News source.)

Even after a third sighting, Georgia officials have no actual evidence of a big cat. (News source.)

Georgia: Another Lion Sighting

Another sighting of a lion has been reported near the Hall-Lumpkin County line. (News source.)

Georgia: "Lion" Sighting

Not sure if this indicates a maned lion, or a mountain lion.

"The Hall County Sheriff's Office responded to Dahlonega Highway near the Lumpkin County line Tuesday morning after receiving a call from a motorist who said he had seen a lion on the shoulder of the road." (News source.)

Probably a maned cat, as deputies checked with a local game preserve. No sign of the cat was found.

Cougar News

Virginia officials say the Wight game cam images are not of a cougar. They say they visited the site, and estimates show the cat was too small. (They'd probably be more convincing if they actually published the data and methodology. Seriously, if you are presented with what isn't the typical bobcat photo, and this isn't a bobcat, put a little more effort into it and present the results professionally. Independent cougar researchers would find it easier to back up game officials this way.) (News source.)

Wisconsin state biologists say that tracks found of an alleged cougar probably are cougar. (News source.)

Jaguar Research

An interesting article here on jaguar research in Central America.

Another Neofelis diardi Paper

Zootaxa has a new paper describing the neotype of the recently distinguished Neofelis diardi.

Cat Sightings

More on the dark felines reported in Illinois. (News source.)

Florida officials are not impressed with a "panther" report from Edgewater. (News source.)

Jaguar Debate

Some controversy is now apparent over the decision to euthanize the jaguar discovered in Arizona. (News source.)

Lions Were Bigger

This isn't new, really, but another study is pointing out that fossil lions in Europe and North America were up to 25% larger than modern lions. (News source.)

Another Big Housecat

A DEC officer in New York went out on a "cougar" call and came back with a photo of the culprit: a very large housecat. (News source.)

Feline News

WI DNR confirms the presence of a mountain lion in that state. They're attempting to capture and tag it, without success so far. (News source.)

An Alabama outdoors columnist opines on the presence of "long-tail cats" in that state.

A Tucson newspaper blog notes an old story of a "black panther" or perhaps a jaguar killing dogs back in the 1970s.

Sri Lanka has a melanistic leopard ("black panther") carcass; not sure why they say it "might be a new species." Doesn't sound like there's any basis for that from the description and history of similar reports on the island. (It appears that some news sources are incorrectly identifying this feline as a black tiger.)

Tiger Catching

Sumatran forest rangers and conservationists try to catch problem tigers, fit them with tracking equipment, and release them elsewhere. (News source.)

Rare Tiger

Via Kevin Stewart: An Indo-Chinese tiger has been photographed (not shown on site) along the China-Myanmar border by Chinese researchers. They also found tracks and other evidence. (News source.)

Algerian Cheetahs

Via Kevin Stewart: Camera traps have recorded four rare Saharan cheetahs in Algeria. (News source.)

Feline News

Reports of a "black panther" by two different witnesses caused an Oconee County, GA, elementary school's officials to delay school recess. (News source.)

Arizona Game and Fish officials captured and released a jaguar southwest of Tucson, fitting it with a satellite tracking collar. (News source.)

Visitors to a Naples, FL, swamp sanctuary were able to photograph a young Florida panther stalking a deer. (News source.)

Jaguar in Central Mexico

A jaguar has been photographed in a region in central Mexico, where it hasn't been seen for 50 years. (News source.)

Black Cat Mis-ID

In the latest of a series on NC big cat sightings, the columnist relates how a black feline turns out to be canine...

More Mystery Cats

A discussion of alleged big cats in Virginia continues here, with a story of a trapped cougar in NC.

An article on the cougar debate in Vermont here.

Not Quite

Big tracks in Australia are likely from a canine, not a feline. (News source.)

Apparently this passes for news today: The RCMP has not captured a live Sasquatch. (News source.)

Prowling Felines

Another article here on alleged cougar sightings in Michigan.

An article here on a prowling tiger in Malaysia worrying a village.

2008 Abstract: Neofelis

Species distinction and evolutionary differences in the clouded leopard (Neofelis nebulosa) and Diard's clouded leopard (Neofelis diardi)

Per Christiansen

Journal of Mammalogy
Vol. 89, no. 6 (Dec. 2008): pp. 1435-1446

Abstract: Based on examination of molecular data and pelage patterns, it has recently been suggested that the island populations of the clouded leopard, traditionally considered a subspecies, may, in fact constitute a separate species. In this paper, I demonstrate that the island populations deviate strongly from the mainland populations in a large number of cranial, mandibular, and dental characters. The differences far exceed those that have been documented for subspecies within other pantherine felids, and are congruent with a separate species, to which the name Sundaland clouded leopard, Neofelis diardi, has been given, although the name Diard's cat has priority based on historical precedence. I suggest that the vernacular name Diard's clouded leopard be adopted for Neofelis diardi. In contrast, mainland populations diverge less from each other, and are congruent with 1 species (Neofelis nebulosa) and 2 subspecies, the western (N. n. macrosceloides) and eastern (N. n. nebulosa) clouded leopard. Neofelis deviates from other large felids in many aspects of craniodental morphology, and most likely also in several behavioral aspects. Diard's clouded leopard appears more derived with respects to saber-toothed craniodental features than the clouded leopard, indicating that the former may have gone farther than the latter in convergently evolving craniomandibular features traditionally considered characteristic of primitive saber-toothed felids.

[Thanks to Kevin Stewart for the heads up...]

Smallest Feline Spotted

A rusty-spotted cat was spotted in Bangladore, India. (News source.)

Lots of Felines in the News

Big black "feline" sightings continue in Australia. (News source.)

Mountain lion sightings alleged in Virginia, North Carolina, and Ohio (see image). [I tracked sightings of a probable released cougar in that same area of Ohio, Warren County, a number of years ago. Not a great area for an actual population, though there is farmland game.]

A mountain lion killed in Louisiana is being tested genetically to see if it is a Texas wanderer.

A black feline is reported from New York.

A tiger escaped from a West Virginia exotic game farm was killed after it tried to ambush its owner in the woods. (News source.)

Pennsylvania: Serval Shot

An escaped serval was shot in Chester County raiding chickens. Some have tried to point to this feline as the one responsible for the recent Lancaster County "cougar" fiasco, but that's unlikely. (News source.)

Big Cat Sightings

Sightings of a cougar from the Camden area of SW Arkansas... (News source.)

A feline sighting reported in the Fenland region of the UK... (News source.)

Feline Sightings

A big black cat is reported from Milford, MI. (News source.)

A cougar is taped on a surveillance camera in Manitoba (and it's an actual cougar, not a big housecat, for once). (News source.)

Feline Bonanza

Feline sightings from all over:

Two Minnesota hunters say they found a two cougars feeding on the doe they tracked down after shooting. (News source.)

A big feline ("mountain lion") was reported in the Richmond, Virginia, area. (News source.)

Black panther sightings in California here.

A "panther" was reported from near Canton, Ohio. (News source.)

A Mississippi couple reported seeing a cougar cross the road in front of them. (News source.)

Canadian Black Feline Sightings

Black "panther" sightings here from Newfoundland, and a sighting here in Ontario.

Scot Big Cat Sighting

A large feline was reported from Scotland by dogwalkers. (News source.)

White Lions

Sanbona Wildlife Reserve may hold the only free-roaming white lions in the world. (News source.)

Cougar Debate Continues

One group say that cougar sightings in the midwest are rising. (News source.)

Michigan DNR continues to dispute sightings, while the MI Wildlife Conservancy disagrees. (News source.)

Michigan DNR says a cougar didn't attack a horse, but a veterinarian says that a cougar was responsible. (News source.)

Chinese Farmer Sentenced for Tiger Pics

The Chinese farmer who faked pictures of a tiger for reward money has been sentenced to 2 1/2 years in prison. (News source.)

Feline News

The NSW (Australia) premier wants to investigate the ongoing big cat sightings there. (News source.)

Blackstone, Virginia, and its newspaper, the Courier-Record, are investigating sightings of the eastern cougar. (News source.)

A loose tiger is one of the concerns in Galveston County, post-Hurricane Ike. (News source.)

Deadly Leopard

A leopard that had been habituated to a tourism resort in Tanzania, showing up for scraps at the weekly barbecues, eventually killed a young boy there. (News source.)

Irish Lion

A big sandy-colored animal spotted roaming the grounds of the Belfast zoo was most likely a stray dog; no big cats were missing from their enclosures. (News source.)

Feline News

A new population of clouded leopards has been found on Borneo. (News source, courtesy Kevin Stewart)

More searching for the European wildcat in the UK here.

And, a reported "leopard" roaming Floyd Co., Indiana. (News source.)

Cannock Weirdness

Over in the UK:

A "black panther" sighting in Cannock. (News source.)

Theories of "cave men" under Cannock Chase. (News source.)

Indiana Cougars, or Not...

Stories of big cats in two Indiana counties aren't enough to convince experts that cougars exist there. (News source.)

UK Feline

The "Walton Wildcat" has been sighted. (News source.)

Big Cat Allegations

An Ohio couple think that a cougar visits their property. "They describe the animal as a large, long-tailed tawny cat, with rounded ears and body about 3 feet long from chest to tail. It weighed '75 pounds . . . maybe a little more.'" (News source.)

Livestock on a New York farm has been killed, and the farmer thinks it may have been a cougar. DEC thinks it was a coyote. (News source.)

SC Feline Sightings

Sightings of cougar and black felines in South Carolina noted here.

Univ. MD "Cougar" Isn't

Police think the feline spotted on University of Maryland's campus was not a cougar, but a "savannah cat," a serval-domestic cat hybrid. This is based on video, which I've not seen, (and I don't see it on the UMD police department website, though reported there by the news). I don't know how accurate the identification is; it's fairly common for a simplistic exotic solution to be "jumped on" by authorities when the evidence is vague. Might just be a large patterned domestic cat, sans hybridization. Of course, in comments on the story, most will overlook the "hybrid" part of the explanation, and freak out over the "African wild cat" part.

U MD Cougar?

A big light brown cat was spotted on the University of Maryland campus. (News source.)

Australian Big Cat Reports

Some actual sighting accounts here along the border in Victoria, Australia.

Illinois "Cougar"

Questions remain on alleged cougar sightings in Palos Heights (news source), and tracks in Alton are canine (or maybe otter).

Colorado Varmint

A strange animal is roaming El Paso County, Colorado, some claim to be an African lion. Others say it is more likely canine. A photo taken of it is not confirmative, looks a bit more like a dog than a lion. (News source.)

Another Cougar Sighting

A Michigan woman reported seeing a cougar in Iron Mountain. (News source - ignore the accompanying image, it's not related to the story.)

China Tiger Hoax

More on the Chinese tiger hoax here...

New Zealand Big Cat

A large feline was reported from the Northland: (News source.)

"A giant wild cat described as possibly even a lion was seen by a firefighter and his son during an urban search and rescue exercise in a quarry at Kaiwaka, 90 minutes north of Auckland.
"Kaiwaka Volunteer Fire Brigade chief fire officer John Bowmar began an investigation after the sighting about 5pm on May 29 during the exercise, which involved more than 100 firefighters, police, ambulance and search and rescue staff.
"The pair saw 'something rather large and unusual' about 30 metres away on the ridge of the Parker Lime Company quarry, Bowmar told Sunday News.
"'It was not a sheep, it was not a dog it was a very large cat.'"

Indiana: Cougar Sightings

There have been a few sightings of a large brown cat with a long tail on a dairy farm in Delaware County, IN. (News source.)

Photographer's Troubles

The Chinese man who claimed to have photographed a South China tiger has been detained by police... (News source.)

Cougar in Kentucky

An article here notes a recent sighting of an alleged mountain lion in Kentucky, as well as several previous sightings by conservation officers.

"Someone, a credible source who did not wish to be named, had seen what he was certain was a mountain lion near the Wabash River, which is as specific as I intend to get about the place it was allegedly seen.
"Actually this farmer was sure he'd seen two different cats, one of about 120 pounds with a four-foot tail and another one a couple days later in the same area of about 80 pounds and a shorter tail."

Missouri Black Feline: Leopard

The black feline that was shot and killed by a Newton Co., MO, sheriff's deputy has been identified as a melanistic leopard by a zoo curator. (News source.)

Mississippi: Black Cat

From Mississippi: (News source.)

"Jamie Daughdrill of Brooklyn is one of those area residents who claims to have proof that a black panther roams the southern part of Forrest County.
"He has a photo of a black feline walking across his food plot that he took with his game camera.
"'I know probably less than a quarter mile from there, my wife’s niece was coming home from work six years ago. She saw something big and black cross the road and she came in and told us "I saw a black panther cross the road,"' Daughdrill said. 'Nobody had seen anything of it for six or seven years until I got the picture on my game camera.'" ...
"'All I'm saying is that it’s big and black and looks like a panther,' he said. 'I never said it was a panther, but I've heard all my life there weren't any in South Mississippi, but people are always hearing them.'"

The posture is intriguing, but it is too far away to distinguish species; without a better photo of the profile, or any way to estimate size, it's impossible to say exactly what it is. It could easily be a large lean feral domestic.

Michigan Serval

A serval was caught roaming around Battle Creek, MI. (And from the image, it's plainly a serval, not a serval hybrid.) It was front-declawed, so obviously got loose from someone (they can be tricky...). (News source.)

Cat News

Another "sheep-killing cat" from the UK here...

The controversy continues on whether the "black panther" seen in Ohio is an exotic or just a large feral domestic cat. (News source.)

Rare Color Morph Filmed

An ocelot (spotted) morph of the Asiatic golden cat has been photographed in Bhutan. (News source.) This is the first photograph of this morph in the wild.

Danville, Illinois: Black Cat

From a news source:

"Perry Janes, a life long Danvillian says his neighbor saw the panther during a mushroom hunt a few weeks ago. He says, The wind blew his hat off and when he reached for it he saw this black object. It was a huge black cat. Across town more of the same, in fact everywhere we went someone knew the story. Jeff Rushin who's lived in Danville his whole life says he remembers his brush with the cat like it was yesterday. He adds, 'It's been almost 30 years since I’ve heard that sound and it's still there.' He says he had his run in during a fishing trip in the 70’s. 'I heard that sound and I looked at my friend and was like what was that?'"

Pennsylvania Housecat Mis-ID

A large well-muscled orange tabby housecat (farmcat?) was photographed and thought a cougar by a Landenberg, PA, man. (Story and photos here.) Brandywine Zoo took a look and immediately recognized it as a domestic cat. The man isn't so certain, and now his neighbor says he's seen the feline and also thinks it's a cougar. (That story here.) The problem is that it is obviously not a cougar. It's nowhere big enough, it's the wrong profile, and it's a tabby. (Stripes are obvious on the tail, somewhat apparent on the body, and they aren't the same as what you might see on a juvenile cougar.) But, people see what they want to see...

Feline News

"Black lions" are reported from South Africa. (News source.)

Sightings of a big black cat in Tynedale (UK). (News source.)

Spain: Black Cat

A black feline in Spain is being blamed for attacks on pigs. (News source.)

California Black Cat Photo

A California man caught a black feline on a digital camera trap, and wonders if it might be a black mountain lion. Experts note that the feline is too far away, and the picture too blurred, to be identified. (News source.)

Big Cat Hunts

A large black feline was reported in Keene, New York. The sighting account is fairly interesting, better than most. (News source.)

And, over in the UK, police search for the Beast of Hoddlesden, "dapple pale brown creature which had a white spotted face and a dark ringed tail." (News source.)

Ohio: Exotic Feline?

A Granville, Ohio, resident says she saw an unusual feline, "tan-colored with a long tail and very pointed ears and weighed 60 to 70 pounds." It was "sparring like a boxer" with her golden retriever. (News source.)

Black Panther

Interesting report from California of an alleged black mountain lion: (News source.)

The Bay Area's ultimate wildlife mystery, the mythic black panther, may have been solved by a local wildlife expert who said he and a friend sighted an anomalous black mountain lion at Point Reyes National Seashore.
"'This lion was not darkish, not a brownish-tawny like some I've seen since, but jet black,' said John Balawejder, a longtime reader and avid hiker and wildlife watcher whose daughter, Alani, has written an academic paper about the sighting." ...
"Balawejder has seen more than 10 mountain lions (that beats my six in 25,000 trail miles), so he knows what he's looking at. Like many landmark wildlife encounters, his episode came by complete surprise. On a spring day, he was hiking with a pal, Burke Richardson, out at Pierce Ranch, located at the north end of Point Reyes, on an adventure to see elk, wildflowers and views of the ocean and Tomales Bay.
"'We came up a short rise through a grassy swale, and then, looking up, saw a large, jet-black mountain lion calmly sitting, eyes half asleep looking out at us from about 30 yards away,' Balawejder said. 'My friend and I stood there, stunned. It then started to slink away from us in a large semi-circle, attempting to hide in the grass.'"

Cougar Reported in North Chicago

A large tan animal, either feline or canine, was reported seen in North Chicago. (News source.)

"Coleman was in her car around 8:30 a.m. at the southeast corner of Argonne Drive and Seymour Avenue when she looked across the street and spotted what appeared to be a very large cat.
"The tan-colored, 30-inch tall animal was slowly walking between two houses in the 1400 block of Argonne. Its long, thick tail dangling behind."

Ontario Cougar Sightings

Cougar sightings continue in the Brantford region.

Irish Mystery Cat

A large black cat has been seen prowling the Ballylawn area of Manorcunningham, Co Donegal. Details here.

More UK Feline Sightings

Two more reports of black felines. (News source.) The first:

"Marketing and PR consultant Elma McMenemy, who lives at Barras, had a close encounter with the beast, which she described as similar to a panther, on Cheyne Hill while out walking her dogs on Tuesday morning.
"Mrs McMenemy's suspicions were first aroused when her dogs, both deerhounds, began scratching at a stone wall.
"She told the Leader: 'They were terribly attracted to the wall. One of my dogs jumped over it. I looked over to see what was happening and the cat stood up. It was right there, about three or four feet away from me.'
"Mrs McMenemy (56), said the cat was 'completely black, with a shiny, smooth coat' and the same height as one of her deerhounds - about 28 inches tall.
"'The dogs appeared to have interrupted its breakfast,' she continued. 'It had been gnawing at what looked like a deer's leg. My dogs gave chase, and it ran. It tried to take its meal with it, but dropped it a few seconds later'."

Another sighting involved a "cocker spaniel" sized, dark colored feline.

Australian Mystery Animals

Northern region of New South Wales has a thylacine-like mystery animal: "Perhaps these animals are just mangy foxes or wild dogs. Farmers and other rural dwellers regularly observe these introduced species. However, the descriptions sound more like an animal that is supposed to be extinct. The strange, waddling gait, the kangaroo-like tail and the brown bands across the back remind us of the remarkable thylacine." (News source.)

The same writer records 50 sightings of thylacine-like animals, that he received during 10 years on an Australian radio program. (News source.)

And, a veterinarian opines that the mystery animals reported at Maraylya are possibly introduced black leopards. (News source.)

Feline Sightings Worldwide

A UK fisherman reported seeing "a dark grey animal the size of a fox, with a long thick tail," on the other side of a Snodland lake. (News source.)

A Crawton (UK) woman saw a 3-foot-long dark colored feline about to attack a neighbor's cat. The locals call the creature "The Beast of the Mearns." (News source.)

The Chicago Tribune has an article on cougar sightings in the US.

Washington County, IL, may be home to a cougar, according to some residents. (News source.)

More "black cat" sightings from Australia. (News source.)

Irish Big Cats

From Ireland, sightings of a "family dog"-sized black feline continue. (News source.)

Kentucky Black Feline

A cell phone photo is the only evidence for a "black panther" reported in Whitley County, Kentucky. The photo, on the news site, shows a feline with a profile matching that of a domestic housecat. (It does not match that of larger species: cougar, leopard, etc.) Nothing in the photo gives an accurate idea of size, so I don't know why anyone is saying that it is larger than that of a housecat. (Or, one of the ever-present large feral barn cats.)

Lynx in Wales?

From the news:

"A big cat spotted by a family as they drove home through Radnorshire was probably a lynx, according to an expert. The beast was spotted near Felindre by Anne Owen, of Newtown, who was travelling home with her family after an evening in Knighton.
"She has described the cat as being the same size as a big dog, but with cat-like ears and a flecked white coat.
"Anne said: 'It happened near Felindre at 10.45pm last Saturday. My husband was driving and got a better view of it as I had just turned around to talk to our son, but we saw a very unusual creature.
"'It was the size of a large dog, long and thin, with mainly a dull white coat, but with large, long grey and black flecked markings, with cat like ears.
"'I thought it had a long curled tail and it certainly didn't seem bothered about the car. It just looked at us and sauntered on past.' ...
"The sighting – the latest in a long list in Mid Wales – has excited big cat expert, Danny Bamping, who suspects the animal Anne saw was a lynx ...
"He said: 'It sounds very much like a lynx with the exception of the mention of the long tail, as they have only very small ones, but this is a good sighting by all accounts.'"

Scottish Wildcats

An independent film-maker has shot what may be only the second documentary on the rare Scottish wildcat. (News source.)

Beast of Castor

From the UK, the "beast" of Castor has been spotted again, by a man walking his dog. He reported a black feline, about 2 1/2 foot long in body, with a tail about as long. (News source.)

Scottish Wildcats

The Aspinall Foundation is planning to breed-and-release hybrid-free Scottish wildcats into various parts of the U.K. (News source.)

Another Australian Big Cat Sighting

From Harcourt, Victoria, Australia, comes a big black cat report:

"Coliban Water bailiff Dennis Clapham spotted the large animal while on his way to turn on channel water for Harcourt Valley Vineyards shortly before 7 am on Sunday." ...
"Mr Clapham said from a distance of less than 100 metres he estimated the animal to be about 60 cm high and with a body length of up to a metre that moved with a distinctly feline quality." ...
"Harcourt Valley Vineyards owner Kye Livingstone said his brother had first sighted the paw prints at the dam’s edge on the weekend, but had suspected them of being a neighbour’s dog.
"But, he said his neighbour’s dogs tended to wander off together and the single set of prints, each measuring eight centimetres across, indicated something much larger."

Beast of Bretton

Coming from the UK:

"Howard Moody was cycling to work in the evening on Tuesday, when he stumbled across a big cat – thought to be the Beast of Bretton – running across his path.
"Mr Moody, (40), from Woodston said: 'I was by Lea Gardens, on my way to work at about 7.30pm, when a big cat crossed the path in front of me.
"'It was definitely not a dog – you could tell by the way it was running – and it was far too big to be a normal house cat. It was three foot high and five or six foot long.'" (News source.)

Misc. Feline News

A Clemson University employee reported seeing a "panther or cougar" this past weekend. (News source.)

Vermont confirmed their first lynx in 40 years, when a Derby farmer shot it to protect his farm animals. (News source.)

Despite numerous sightings, Iowa DNR says cougar are rare there. (News source.)

Chinese Gov't and the Tiger Photo

Chinese officials are going to continue their search for South China tigers despite evidence that the photo recently publicized is a fake. Looks like they may be planning to create a tourist draw in the area. (News source.)

Cougar in South Carolina?

Big feline sightings coming from South Carolina:

"When Dee Field read in the newspaper that at least two Clemson University security officers saw an animal on campus that was described as a panther or cougar she thought that it could have been the same animal she saw bound across her back yard." ...
"Ms. Field said before she and her husband David left for Maine in late May, they were sitting on their deck, which overlooks a gentle sloping back yard leading to a large wooded area in Heritage Oaks.
"'It was huge,' Ms. Field said. 'It weighed at least 70 pounds and came across our property. I know what I saw. I had such a great look at it. It was right beneath me. I saw the full length. It had the longest tail. It was as long as its body.'"

More on WV "Lion"

A Charleston, WV, businessman has offered $3,000 for the safe live capture of the "African lion" being reported in that region. (News source.)