well, i've been hearing these tales since 1998 - which began when my wife (then girlfriend) was on the phone with me. she asked, "How big is a wild cat?" I told her and described the bobtailed critters which are often lumped together as wildcats. she responded, "...no, this one has a long tail..." "This one," I said?!"Yes, there's one climbing over the fence in the backyard, it's as long, ... well, with it's tail, it's longer than the fence is tall?"
"...and what color is it?""Gray, it's definately gray, with a long tail and it's as big as a large dog, maybe longer, but huge...."
thus began my interest in the idea that some "pets" had escaped and had been breeding in Kentucky. the interesting thing is - where she was calling from was one of the richest neighborhoods in kentucky - just outside (now inside) of louisville.
my sighting wasn't as spectacular - a barking dog - a walk around to some nearby woods only to see the long gray tail of a cat dissappear down a path. i didn't rush towards the thing - but sought to catch the dog i was walking and hold him - to keep him from his path down that trail. the ground hard and dry - no footprints - but dogs barking off in the direction this "thing" went.i don't know what i saw ... i do know it was a cats tail and that it was huge - and i was only about 15 feet away.
my years working at night driving down the roads of kentucky - led me to begin asking truckers, travelers, others out and about in the night if they had seen such animals. and over time i gathered many accounts of people seeing large gray cats.
just last night, on my current vampire shift job, a co-worker called me on the radio and said, "I just saw a big cat - big as a german shepherd." i took off running - dry ground - no signs. much hunting about ... curses foiled again.
i must confess - i'd go on a bigfoot hunt - even though by nature i am sketical of - well just about everything - my love for the outdoors and mysteries would take me off on these wild (if not crazy) trips.
i will tell you that a person working for the forestry service in this state has told me that these cats exist - though not so near louisville. however, they are solitary creatures and cover long distances - and we have deer in our backyard and other cool things all the time wandering around this place.
i have come to the conclusion that i will continue to call these kentucky cats of myth - "puma's" though i think that if they really do exist they are most likely Jaguarundi
- gray and are sometimes called puma jaguarundi. i honestly do not know - what these cats are - but people often make mistakes in size of things they see - so the larger cat seems unlikely until something more than "word of mouth" has been found.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jaguarundi
http://www.bigcatrescue.org/jaguarundi.htm
http://www.bigcatrescue.org/sound/listen/Jaguarundi.wav (listen)
if anyone else has seen or heard of such - leave me a comment or write an email - my address is in the sidebar.
anyway - i had fun last night running around with a spotlight - probably chasing a coyote or something ... but maybe ... just maybe ... there are big cats in kentucky.
here's a great link - with some images (even a mention of kentucky people knowing about these big cats) - the video is from alabama - and it's not a jaguarundi - my theory on that may go out the window quick - but i'll hold it for now.
http://www.cryptozoology.com/forum/topic_view_thread.php?tid=3&pid=521117
here's the video - what the heck:
and the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xhUE58vV2Ws
you'll still want to visit the thread linked above for the kentucky angle.
i do not think these are under the classification - "big cats" - nor do i think they growl - because the sounds reported have never been growls - but more the hiss and the loud purr and a type of scream or cry.
who knows ... i just love wildlife.
btw, my brook fish are back - i have no idea where they go in winter? i suppose under the rocks - because... i'll save this one for later.
one more great link from the anomalist on the black panther - jaquarundi issue (north texas): http://www.anomalist.com/features/jag.html
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