blessedfarmgirl
True BYH Addict
We have possible big cat on our property. My youngest sister is 11 and is the only one who has seen it, but she's so terrified we really don't think she's making it up. She's not that type of person. She's also very animal smart and good at describing. The problem is, the big cat she has seen twice now is black and about the size of our small Pyrenees, Gracie, who weighs about 90 lbs. That eliminates the jaguarundi, which is one of the few things it could be because they only weigh about 20 lbs. The only thing it could be other than that is a black panther, which is a melanistic jaguar or leopard, which supposedly don't exist in Texas. It could be a mountain lion, but she really doesn't think so. We showed her pictures and she says it was way too dark to be one and doesn't have the same face and markings. She says it has no markings.
The first time she saw it was from about fifty yards away, and it was in a tree looking down at our sheep in the pasture. It jumped down from the tree and ran off in the opposite direction. This was about 11am yesterday.
The second time she saw it was about a hundred yards closer to the house, on the ground this time at the edge of the woods, at about 5pm today. This was when she saw it more clearly (it was only about 20 feet away from her) and it was indeed black as far as she could see. Our dog Gracie was with her and growled fiercely, she doesn't usually growl, then chased it. They both disappeared into the woods, then my sister heard a yelp and Gracie came running back to stand by her. (I'm so thankful that did was with her, I really don't know what would have happened if she wasn't. They both ran back to the house after that. My dad went up with a 350 to look for it, but it was gone and they didn't find any signs of it.
Does anyone have any suggestions what we should do? I have serious doubts either of my dogs could stand up to a cat that big. It's been seen twice in two days and during the day so it's definitely scouting out our farm, particularly the sheep, who are up the hill. We are making sure Moses is in the pasture with them 24/7 and have been carrying guns with us when we go up, (and making sure my sister does not wander away from the house alone) but I don't know what we can do beyond that.
The first time she saw it was from about fifty yards away, and it was in a tree looking down at our sheep in the pasture. It jumped down from the tree and ran off in the opposite direction. This was about 11am yesterday.
The second time she saw it was about a hundred yards closer to the house, on the ground this time at the edge of the woods, at about 5pm today. This was when she saw it more clearly (it was only about 20 feet away from her) and it was indeed black as far as she could see. Our dog Gracie was with her and growled fiercely, she doesn't usually growl, then chased it. They both disappeared into the woods, then my sister heard a yelp and Gracie came running back to stand by her. (I'm so thankful that did was with her, I really don't know what would have happened if she wasn't. They both ran back to the house after that. My dad went up with a 350 to look for it, but it was gone and they didn't find any signs of it.
Does anyone have any suggestions what we should do? I have serious doubts either of my dogs could stand up to a cat that big. It's been seen twice in two days and during the day so it's definitely scouting out our farm, particularly the sheep, who are up the hill. We are making sure Moses is in the pasture with them 24/7 and have been carrying guns with us when we go up, (and making sure my sister does not wander away from the house alone) but I don't know what we can do beyond that.
