Lions near Austin?

We have seen a mountain lion in Victoria County, Texas.

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Alice
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"No great thing is created suddenly." ~Epictitus

mickm, where are you at in Ks? I'm from there - Butler county.

Panthers exist both in Texas and Florida. Here's an article about them:

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/n...8_panther.html

Sorry Sam, so far every one of those giant hogs killed down south have turned out to be domestic hogs. Most were released a couple of days before they were killed.

Yes, you wouldn't have a problem with cougars attacking your pet goat. They would take the goat, right over the fence.

They use to be everywhere... they're just reclaiming lost territory. We've had some around these parts for over a decade.

They don't really 'bother' goats... if you think one's bothering your goats, you've got a dog problem. Cougars will kill a goat, carry it off, jumping six feet high fences with the goat in it's mouth... your goat just disappears off the face of the planet.

I daresay, a regular dog will sense (hopefully) the cat, and hunker down. A big guard dog would have it's hand full, unless it's been trained.

I've had full grown healthy goats disappear during the daytime, never to be seen again. Never found a single trace! Hindsight's telling me the cat came through.

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Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity. Seneca
Learning is not compulsory... neither is survival. W. Edwards Deming

Wild or domestic things do get into the wild. How about the snakes in south Fla. There was a program on Nat Geo about them. People don't care what they turn loose. Sam
PS The bear cub that was killed had been in a cage of some sort on concrete as it's claws were worn off.

Well Linda we were neighbors at some point.

I live outside of Augusta.

A panther and a bobcat has been seen down the road from me. I live about 60 miles west of Austin. I'm hoping that our four donkeys and four loose dogs will help prevent an attack on our goats. horses and cattle. Also all seven dogs do a nightly howl to stake their territory.

Yeah, they are calling them panthers which I guess they are. They are just sub species of the more common mountain lion. Very rare in Florida, but fairly common in south west Texas.

When someone mentions "panthers", I think of black panthers. I was wrong when I said that panthers don't exist. They do, they are just a sub species of mountain lions from what I understand.

That is absolutely true. The few mountain lions that have been killed in Ks have all been proven to escaped from captivity.

I do not doubt a bit that the big cats have traveled across our state, I just find it very difficult to believe that there is an actual population of them in Kansas.

I bet there are a few in Kansas; one was run over near Kansas City, MO a few years back. I have seen one in the flesh in north central, MO. I thought it was a huge huge bobcat at first until I realized it had a tail as long as its body. And then an aquaintenance stuck one with an arrow (not reported--that is illegal in MO even if they don't "exist").

I believe the one in KC actually had a collar on it, I know if it's the same one, it was proven to be one that escaped from captivity.

If I do get to go into the woods here behind the house I always carry a good weapon that will knock down most anything. The neighbor boys 20 or so was bow hunting first of last deer season and swear they saw a very big cat of some kind. I have heard something a couple of times that I couldn't tell what it was. My son went into the woods before day break and he said something Big jumped from a tree and he didn't hear it run but did hear the thump on the ground. We do have a couple goats here but they are pinned beside the house and watched when let out to graze. The only thing I have seen myself is a bear about 100 ft from the house but only one time. Like I said we have some rugged woods here where we are including ours and nothing would surprise me that was found in them. Sam

Yes, there are mountain lions in the Austin area. Used to be an old one who would hunt deer in the Lakeway area. I heard he has died due to old age but the deer there are DUMB! Too many of them so they're competing over what food they can find therefore easy pickings for a mountain lion. Used to live in Austin over 25 years.

As for mountain lions in Kansas, yes, there are but they're traveling males usually. There was photo taken of one stalking a deer but the lion was on a mountain of CORN! Seems the hunter had put a camera there to vertify what animals were eating the corn because feral hogs were being trapped and the KS livestock comissioner took himself to hire helicopters to kill them off in some areas. The camera happened to take a picture of the lion stalking the deer. Not an escaped one or a released one. That would be dumb! They're coming from Colorado where drought is very prevalent therefore more water here means more prey.

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Ted H

You may all go to Hell, and I will go to Texas.
-Davy Crockett

I think that if folks did some research, they'd discover that there have been lions in Austin for quite a while.

http://www.austindowntownlions.org/

We are told that therre isn't any Lions in middle TN. When a woman in Auburntown telephoned the gamewarden about a cat in her Chickens he told her she was mistaken. She repilied would you like to see the video tape. He then explained that yes there was one escaped from Short Mountain possiby but it was a lone cat that was probaby dead. She told him thats funny because the momma stayed out side the pen and sunned herself while her litten was in the pen killing chickens.

In the Gatesville/ Lampasas/ San Antonio west of Austin area I have only ever seen a bobcat. But there are plenty of 'zoos' with big cats and I saw (African) lion cubs for sale on the San Antonio highway once. If not native could be an escapee.

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I am confused what do you mean by Lions ?
And what do you mean by panthers ?
I hope you do know that Mountain lions, panthers, cougars as well as many other names for them are all the same critters. It all depends on where they live on what people call them.

I watched a mountain lion about two minutes one day just below Lake Whitney. I was in a vehicle and saw something come out of the woods, picked up a pair of binoculars and watched it until it went back into the trees.

As far as size issues, I have seen, locally, some very large bobcats and coyotes. One bobcat crossed the road in front of me one morning, very long bodied and exceptionally long legs. About 6 years ago, I went down one afternoon to put chickens up before going to town, I was in the pen area of an old shed I used for the birds, and turned to come out when I saw the biggest bobcat ever. This thing was less than 20 ft from me and watching the chickens, looked like the sabertooth on the Flintstones. Huge head, almost as big as a volleyball, and body, I yelled and threw something at it and it went behind the shed into the pasture. I went out and around and it was standing close against the end of an old concrete water trough. Nose to tail it was as long as the trough was wide, and that is 4 feet.

A few days later, as I was going down, a coyote ran out of some brush beside the fence just in front of me, less than 10 feet away, because of the post placement, is my measurement of distance, I at first thought it was my neighbors german shepherd, which is an oversize dog anyway, it was goin after birds and i yelled and it stopped and looked back at me before taking off, but was twice as big in frame of normal sized coyotes, and looked pretty lanky to boot.

Both of these events happened about 4:30 on summer afternoons in very clear conditions. The animals were fixated on the chickens, giving me the chance to see them clearly.

Ed

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"Agriculture is our wisest pursuit, because it will in the end contribute most to real wealth, good morals, and happiness."
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