Hello Mr . Coffey,
I live in the Broad  River area near Black Mountain North Carolina.  Within the past 10 years I have seen a dark panther cross in front of my car in the late afternoon on Crooked Creek Road.
About five or six years ago a panther attacked and carried off a small doe that I had been watching all summer.
I live on my grandparents property and when they were alive we had an encounter with a panther that came very close to the house and got our barn cat.

I know all of the claims that they are extinct and they don’t live here anymore. They are wrong.
Whether they have migrated here from Florida or been released by people who had them captive we do have them. 
My horse vet told me around the time that we were hearing them … yes it’s a hair raising sound, To make sure I vary the times I went to the barn. He told me they would watch for me if I kept her regular schedule.  That was pretty creepy since I was feeding it 5:30 in the morning.
I also have a neighbor who used to ride horses on the trails here and came across two of them on one of her trips.
Hope this is the kind of thing you are interested in… There’s no doubt in my mind they are around in our mountains. 

Jan Diefenbach


 

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