The MonsterQuest Search for Black Panthers in New York

Recently, New York residents have been reporting an alarming number of black panther sightings. Eyewitnesses describe these big cats as muscular, approximately 8 feet long, 130 pounds, rounded ears, long tails, and with razor sharp teeth. Experts agree that there has not been an indigenous big cat population in New York for over a hundred years. The MonsterQuest Team investigates what is behind these big cat sightings in the episode entitled “Tigers in the Suburbs”.

Background

Residents of the Palisades, New York area reported over a dozen big cat sightings in early 2009. Dorian Tunnel saw two black panthers in New York’s Tallman State Park on 17 March, 2009. He was bike riding with his son when he heard a thrashing sound in the woods. He then saw a large black panther jumping over a rock about 25 yards away. He spotted a second big cat crouched as if waiting in ambush. He states that both cats had a very shiny black coat of fur. He was able to retreat from the area with his son without incident.

Grace Knowlton of Palisades New York had heard the stories of the black panther sighting but did not give them much thought. Then on 14 March 2009, she spotted a large black panther crossing her lawn. She states that it was much larger then any domestic cat. She describes the animal as being pitch black with a shiny coat.

Professional tracker Shane Hobel believes that he has found proof of these black panthers in the Palisades, New York area. He has found the tracks of what he believes to be a big cat. The tracks were found in an area where he has found more and more deer kills that are different from the normal coyote kills. Hobel has also located what he believes to be the claw marks of a large cat on a tree in the area.

The black panther term is used to describe a big cat with black fur. It is not a species of cat but rather a descriptive phrase that may be used on members of different species. The two species that can produce black panthers are leopards and jaguars. The Leopard is not native to the Americas at all. The jaguar was once found in the southwest United States but was eradicated by farmers in the late 1800s. Currently, jaguar populations are found only in central America and South America. In the MonsterQuest episode Lions in the Suburbs, there was evidence presented that jaguars may be returning to the southwest United States.

The only big cat that is thought to be indigenous to the United States is the mountain lion. This cat is also known by the name of cougar. The current range of the mountain lion is from Washington State to western Texas. The east coast did at one time have a mountain lion population but they were eradicated. New York’s mountain lion population was eliminated by 1900. Mountain lions have never been documented with black fur and experts agree that this mutation is unlikely.

Scott Lope is the Director of Big Cat Rescue and he believes that many of the New York big cat sightings may be a result of misidentification. He believes that it is hard to judge the size of a creature from a distance. If it is at night, dusk or dawn, the judging of size becomes even more difficult. The eyewitnesses may be seeing a black lab or a large domestic cat.

Lope believes that another possible explanation is that the witnesses saw an escaped exotic animal. 15,000 big cats are kept in captivity across the United States with only a fraction of them housed in accredited zoos. It is believed that there are more big cats in captivity in the U.S. then are in the wild throughout the world. Many states do not regulate the ownership of exotic animals. New York City is the home of 103 registered big cats and there are probably many more undocumented ones.

The first captive big cat brought to the United States was a leopard that was displayed in New York in 1768. Since that time, the number of captive big cats has grown along with the number of escapes and attacks. In 2000, a four year old boy was bitten by a 40 pound pet serval that was being taken for a walk by its owner. In 2003, a 400 pound Bengal tiger was found in a New York City apartment by authorities after injuring its owner. A four year old was mauled in upstate New York by her grandmother’s caged cougar.

Scott Lope explains that these animals start out as cute cubs and quickly grow into fearsome predators that their owners may not know what to do with. If one escapes, the owner may not report this to authorities out of fear of liability.

The story of Donald Blakney demonstrates the dangers of captive big cats. Blakney had raised cougars on his farm in Princeton, Minnesota for 3 ½ years. On 1 October 2001, he was attacked by one of his 250 pound cougars. He was bit in the head repeatedly by the two inch fangs of the cougar. The cougar eventually broke off the attack and Blakney was able to call for help. He was airlifted to a hospital in critical condition. The big cat attack left him with 96 stitches and a metal replacement for part of his jaw.

These escaped big cats may be even more dangerous than their counterparts in the wild. Brian Werner is the Executive Director of the Tiger Missing Link Foundation and he believes that inbreeding may be causing serious damage to the captive big cat population. Many “backyard breeders” of pet big cats pay no attention to genetic diversity and may be severely inbreeding their cats. Inbred big cats can display a number of health problems in addition to abnormal and aggressive behavior.

The Investigation

The MonsterQuest Team undertakes two investigations in this episode. The first is an expedition to New York to search for the mysterious black panther. The second is the genetic testing of captive big cats to find the degree of inbreeding in the population.

Palisades, New York Expedition

Monsterquest sends four experts to Palisades, New York to investigate the black panther sightings. Animal tracker Mark Peterson, photographer/technology expert Jeremy Holden and wildlife expert Dick Pearson will be conducting the search for a black panther. Mammal expert Dr. Esteban Sarmiento will be examining their findings as well as examining the evidence presented by local tracker, Shane Hobel.

The team places motion sensing wireless cameras throughout the area. They use areas near rock outcroppings and game trails as these would be good locations for an ambush predator like a big cat. To help with seeing the reported dark coloration of the black panther, they install infrared LEDs with the cameras.

The team will attempt to use an air gun with DNA darts in order to collect proof of the black panther sightings. The DNA darts are able to extract a dermal and epidermal samples from the target. The gun is fitted with a light intensifying night scope.

On the first night, they set up in a blind near a river bank. The area has game trails around it so they believe it may be a good spot. They use decoy calls in order to try to attract big cats to the area. On subsequent searches, they use a canoe to glide along the river in search of the big cat. Their night searches turn up no cat sightings.

Sarmiento meets with Hobel to examine the big cat signs that he has found. Sarmiento agrees that the tracks and claw marks belong to a big cat. The tracks appear to be too small for a tiger or lion and Sarmiento believes they could belong to a leopard. Leopards can be black which would fit with the local black panther sightings.

Review of the camera traps does not show any black panthers but it does provide some supporting evidence. The photos show that the area has an overabundance of potential food for a big cat. The white tail deer population is extremely plentiful and would more than support black panther population.

The team reviews all of the evidence and agrees that it is possible that an escaped exotic cat is in the area. The most likely species would be a leopard. The terrain and food supply would allow the creature to survive in the area.

Captive Tiger Genetic Profiling

MonsterQuest arranges to check the DNA profiles of 30 captive tigers for signs of inbreeding. Will Gergits of Therion International LLC conducts the DNA tests from obtained blood samples. Results of the test indicate that over half of the tigers showed signs of moderate to severe inbreeding. This situation could lead to more aggressive behavior in the captive big cat population.

Conclusions

While no definitive proof of a black panther could be found in New York, many experts agree that it is possible for this creature to exist. The most likely explanation would be an escaped big cat from a private owner. Increased numbers of privately held big cats have made this more and more likely. Genetic tests of captive big cats have shown that this type of creature may be even more dangerous than their wild counterparts.

MonsterQuest Episode: Tigers in the Suburbs

Original Air Date: 19 August 2009

A MonsterQuest Look at “Lions in the Suburbs”

The United States has had numerous sighting of big black cats in the wild. Black Cats from the larger cat species are referred to as black panthers. Eyewitnesses have reported seeing a large black panther that is similar to a mountain lion, about six feet long, and weighing about 250 pounds. While the western United States is the home of many mountain lions, this species does not produce black panthers. MonsterQuest takes a look at what is behind the hundreds of black panther sightings in the United States.

The History

According to biologist Emil McCain from the Borderland Jaguar Detection Project, the United States is home to between 10,000 and 30,000 mountain lions. Encounters between humans and mountain lions have increased as human development continues to encroach on traditional mountain lion territory. Young male mountain lions that are not used to their natural prey find humans that are jogging or riding bicycles to be very enticing prey.

According to Nels Rodefeld of the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation, 10% to 20% of all calls reporting mountain lions refer to a black panther yet they have never found one. Feline geneticist Dr. Stephen O’Brien says that black mountain lions do not exist. While it is possible for one to be created through the mutation of one or two genes. This would only occur once every 100 generations. Such odds would make it highly unlikely that one would ever be seen much less hundreds of sightings.

The Director of Big Cat Rescue, Scott Lope, says that it is possible that some of the sightings could be a leopard. Some irresponsible owners of these wild animals may release them when they can no longer take care of them. Leopards are sometimes black with the characteristic darker spots. Leopards are not native to the Americas so it is unlikely that a few escaped specimens could account for all of the sightings.

One interesting possible explanation for the sightings is that jaguars have once again taken up residence in the United States. Biologist Emil McCain and Jack Childs of the Borderland Jaguar Detection Project explain that jaguars were found in the United States up until the 1890s. Jaguars are about twice the size of mountain lions and are the third largest big cat, with only lions and tigers being larger. Unlike mountain lions they can be black with 6% of their population in the Amazon basin being black panthers. They were found in Arizona, Texas, New Mexico and California until they were wiped out by farmers protecting livestock. While no black jaguars were ever found in the United States, McCain and Childs have proven that Jaguars are back. Starting in 1996, the Borderland Jaguar Detection Project has been following the possible migration of Jaguars from Mexico. They have been able to capture conclusive footage from camera traps of three distinct jaguars in Arizona. Two have been identified as male with the third unknown so they are not able to say that there is a breeding population in the United States.

Professor Walter Stephens of John Hopkins University believes that large black cat sightings could be tied to long held traditions. Black cats show up in literature as being associated with demons or the devil as far back as the thirteenth century. Cats are nocturnal creatures that roam around in the darkness and this darkness strikes humans as being black.

In the spring of 2006, Eric Atkison had several goats disappear from his farm in Choctaw, Oklahoma. He said that some of his neighbors lost dogs at the same time. At first, he thought that wild dogs or coyotes were responsible but that changed when he spotted a black panther near his house in March. Later that spring, a 250 pound llama was killed on his farm by what he believes to be the black panther. Nearby rancher, Dale Smith, has had 10 calves killed and dragged of by some animal.

Many black panther sightings occurred in the daylight and some of the witnesses took photos. In 1999, David Johnson of Hugo, Minnesota reports seeing a black panther in a pasture. He took 13 pictures of the cat which he believes to be as long as a German Shepherd dog.

Jon Lutz of the Eastern Puma Research Center has notated numerous black panther sightings throughout the eastern United States. He believes that there is definitely a population of black felines roaming around like the one Pastor George Loar of Frostburg Maryland recorded. On 14 December 1995, Pastor Loar saw a large black cat near his house. He grabbed his camcorder and was able to capture footage of the creature. Unfortunately the video is not clear enough to identify the size or species of the cat.

Another piece of video evidence was captured by Jason Bowers in Franklin, West Virginia. Bowers saw what he thought was a bear walking through a field near his house. He then realized that the creature was some sort of large feline. He took a video of the creature that may prove key in the investigation as it also had trees in the footage that provide a good size reference.

In 2006, a number of residents of Palestine, Texas saw the carcass of a large black cat near a road. Pattie Gray was driving on the road with her husband when she stopped to look at the carcass. She described it as being large with a body of about three feet long. Awhile later, Patrick Walsh heard about the carcass from other locals and wanted to see it for himself. When he arrived at the spot, the carcass appeared to have decayed but he was able to collect vertebrae and rib bones from the site.


The Plan

Dale Smith and Eric Atkison will work together to place camera traps around the areas of their farms. These camera traps are motion activated and should find predators in the area. They will leave the camera traps out for several days and then the photos will be identified

The MonsterQuest team will analyze the existing evidence of the black panther sightings. The Bowers video and the Johnson photos will be sent to wildlife experts for species identification. The Bowers video was the only one that had some objects in the picture for size reference, so it will be sent to forensic video analyst Peter Schmitz for size analysis..

The Palestine Cat remains will also be tested. The samples collected by Patrick Walsh will be sent out to New York University for testing. Results can be compared with known species.

The Results

After several days Smith and Atkison return to gather the photos. No predators are found on any of the film from the camera traps. Smith is able to find some bones from one of the missing calves under a tree. It is unknown what type of animal would have dragged the carcass so far.

David Johnson had taken 13 photos of what he believed to be a black panther. The experts however disagree with his assessment. Director of Big Cat Rescue Scott Lope and biologist Heidi Bailey agree that the creature in the photo is a large domestic cat.

The wildlife experts examine the Bowers video and come to differing conclusions. Scientific Research Director for the Cougar Network, Dr. Clay Nielson, believes that the creature in the film is a large domestic cat. Feline geneticist Dr. Stephen O’Brien disagrees. He believes that the creature is too big to be a domestic cat and is most like a released leopard, a jaguar, or a less likely mountain lion mutation.

The size estimates of the cat in the Bowers video is completed by forensic video analyst Peter Schmitz. He has the MonsterQuest team take on site size measurements of the known objects in the video. They also shoot video of Bowers in the same location using the same camera to get a comparison video. Schmitz is able to obtain the length of the cat in the film by utilizing the specifications of the camera, measurements of known object and the computer alignment of bark patterns in trees from the two videos. Schmitz says the creature’s body, not including the tail, is 25” long. This would be on the large size for a domestic cat but not out of the realm of possibility.

The remains of the Palestine cat were sent to Professor Todd Disotell of New York University for DNA testing. The testing showed that the DNA did not belong to a cat at all. According to Disotell, the DNA matched up with a domestic dog or a wolf.

The MonsterQuest team was unable to find any good evidence for black panthers in the United States. Sightings may increase as humans continue to encroach on historical cat hunting grounds. The future could be made more fascinating by the reintroduction of jaguars to the wildlife of the United States. Black panther sighting may increase in the years to come.