By Nicollette Mallow
Recently, there have been numerous spottings of black cats all over North America. There was a television special on the Discovery Channel called “Monster Cats” that showed home videos and footage of jaguars, black panthers, pumas, leopards and cougars that have been migrating from South America and the Sierra Madres mountains in Mexico to the states. Years ago, these wild cats were roaming freely from the Canadian border to Argentina. However, as farming, cities and city life developed, these animals were eliminated from the states and South America, leaving them confined to Mexico.
In Mexico, these cats are heavily poached for agricultural and livestock defense purposes, although some are also skinned for their fine fur. Nonetheless, due to climactic and ecological circumstances, these monster cats have been heavily sighted in the hill country of Texas, the desert mountains in California, the Dakotas and the eastern shoreline, from Maine back down to Florida. Predominantly, the black panther has been detected and recorded prowling in the woods and water.
The term “black panther” is a misconception as well, since “panther” is used to describe any species of wild cats with pure black coats: leopards, jaguars, tigers or cougars, depending where you are geographically. These black-coated cats are referred to as melanistic cats because they endured a pigment process that darkened their original coats, like the suntans or burns on our skin. These black felines are usually nocturnal, which benefits their hunting.
Fortunately, there are few recordings of any attacks. These animals are seemingly harmless, though tremendously frightening in size. To think that these large cats are not hunting humans or attacking us, like the mountain lions in California, comforts me. Then again, the fact that a jaguar hunts its prey by pouncing and taking one fatal bite to crush the skull does frighten me. Nonetheless, I do not believe we should harm these animals unless they pose a serious threat to us first. They are an endangered species with nowhere else to roam or reproduce.