Maine’s Mysterious Black Panthers
Posted by: Loren Coleman on June 9th, 2007
The Wireless News Flash has sent out a breaking news dispatch on the Maine sheep killings to their 800 worldwide media outlets:
Portland, Maine (Wireless Flash) — Earlier this week a mysterious beast killed 29 sheep in Lincoln County, Maine, but oddly enough the animal didn’t eat any lamb chops.
Cryptozoologist Loren Coleman, author of “Mysterious America” (Paraview Pocket Books), says the answer to the attack might be found in black panthers, who aren’t indigenous to North America, but could be making a comeback and preying on unexpecting livestock.
Coleman says there have been recent sightings of the dangerous cougars in Illinois, Ohio, and New England, and reports that sheriffs and park rangers have witnessed the panthers’ true dark sides first hand.
As Coleman puts it, “Black panthers tend to kill lots of animals on rampages.”
But, wherever the panthers may be, something still sent a poor New England sheperd’s flock of sheep to sleep with the fishes.“Black Panthers Make A Comeback,” Wireless News Flash, 6.8.07.
For those not familiar with the Wireless Flash News Service, this story reflects mistakes, puns, and other warped text in the service of a good sense of humor in their dispatches.
Nevertheless, to place some reality on the record, I must point out that if something is not indigenous to an area and is an unverified animal, a cryptid in general, how is it that I would ever say such creatures are making a “comeback”? LOL. Perhaps the reporter meant “comeback” in terms of a new “increase” or “outbreak” of new reports?
As far as my talking about “recent sightings” in Illinois and Ohio, I mentioned to the reporter the waves of livestock killings and my investigations from the 1970s, as being detailed in Mysterious America. Finally, of course, I would never use the phrase “dangerous cougars” when talking about cryptid panthers.
One thread I did discuss with the reporter was the history of sightings from the general area of these recent attacks on sheep, as noticably occurring in Lincoln County, Maine. This region from Damariscotta, in Lincoln County, over northeast to the adjoining county of Waldo County, Maine, has been a hotbed of “Black Panther” encounters for the last two decades.
The reporter seems to have been thinking of HBO’s final episode of The Sopranos (Sunday, June 10th) with his final attempt for humor in his final line.
🙂
About Loren Coleman
Loren Coleman is one of the world’s leading cryptozoologists, some say “the” leading living cryptozoologist. Certainly, he is acknowledged as the current living American researcher and writer who has most popularized cryptozoology in the late 20th and early 21st centuries.
Starting his fieldwork and investigations in 1960, after traveling and trekking extensively in pursuit of cryptozoological mysteries, Coleman began writing to share his experiences in 1969. An honorary member of Ivan T. Sanderson’s Society for the Investigation of the Unexplained in the 1970s, Coleman has been bestowed with similar honorary memberships of the North Idaho College Cryptozoology Club in 1983, and in subsequent years, that of the British Columbia Scientific Cryptozoology Club, CryptoSafari International, and other international organizations. He was also a Life Member and Benefactor of the International Society of Cryptozoology (now-defunct).
Loren Coleman’s daily blog, as a member of the Cryptomundo Team, served as an ongoing avenue of communication for the ever-growing body of cryptozoo news from 2005 through 2013. He returned as an infrequent contributor beginning Halloween week of 2015.
Coleman is the founder in 2003, and current director of the International Cryptozoology Museum in Portland, Maine.
Black Panthers are not cougars, they are leopards or Jaguars. The term panther was used interchangeable with the Mountain Lion, Painter, Catamount etc. So tell me where does the Black come in? If the cougar has returned to the eastern US it would be very big news.
In general, the term “panther” has many widespread uses. Here’s the introductory summary paragraph from my book, which says what Bob does in a different way:
Why some of these mystery cats are melanistic or reported to be black, is, well, a mystery.
One reason I write books, of course, is to be able to stretch my legs when sharing info on topics like this. I’ve devoted over 60 pages in my new, revised Mysterious America to this whole question of “Black Panther” sightings in the Americas. Clearly, trying to capture the idea and process of what might be happening with Black Panthers cannot be done in one comment. But in general, no one really knows until we catch one.
There is a resurgance of cougar sightings east of the Rocky Mountains. It appears that cougars are recolonizing parts of their former range. There are several reasons for this:
1. Since the 1970s, most states have treated cougars as game animals instead of ‘varmints’ to be shot on sight.
2. Thanks to modern game management, deer and elk herds (primary cougar prey) throughout the USA are at optimal numbers. In fact in some areas, deer have become pests there are so many.
3. A lot of forested areas that were denuded between 1890 and 1930, especially in the Midwest, have recovered.
4. Cougars have a wide range. Tagged individuals have moved as much as 700 miles in a straight line (more or less).
All this adds up to more cougars and when the local habitat reaches carrying capacity, some of the animals have to move to establish new territory.
Here is a link to the Cougar Network.
This is a site operated by cougar biologists and they explain in more detail what is occurring with cougars and maps that detail all verified sightings of cougars outside their “established range” since 1990. Many will find it surprising where these animals are turning up. Another 10 years or so will tell how successful the animals will be in re-colonizing their former range.
Black panthers are always leopards (Africa/Asia) or jaguars (Mexico/South America). There is no known case of melanism in cougars. However a cougar in poor light may appear very dark. My stomping grounds in Missouri and Arkansas were ripe with black panther stories and livestock supposedly killed by them. However in 40 years of tramping about the woods, I’ve yet to see the physical proof of the “black panthers.” However, we have lots of physical proof of bobcats and now proof of wild cougars (and I saw one myself two years ago) where black panthers had supposedly been roaming for all these years.
To know what really killed the sheep in Maine would take an autopsy. Coyotes now range into Maine and livestock death blamed on big cats often turns out to be feral dogs, or even the local pet dogs. If you say there is a big bobcat in the woods I’ll buy it. If you tell me there is a cougar in the woods, I just might buy it. But black panthers? I want to see it before I put my money down.
But do keep your eyes open in the woods. Even our “extinct” Ivory-Billed Woodpecker has resurfaced.