Panther

[skb]

I live in an area which was once surrounded by a research center spread over 110 acres. The center had minimal buildings and was maintained as a localised forest. Beyond, lies a government dairy complex of 4000 acres full of grassland, and then a 100 sq. km National Park.

The dairy and national park are home to about 55 panthers. Over the years, they have strayed into human settlements in search of habitat or food. A couple of years ago, one entered our property and then a neighbour's. We still have a very small 4-5 acre green belt abutting our house to the west.

On the night of 10/11 th Jan a panther was spotted by one of the guards and captured on the security camera. The panther is seen darting towards this small green patch. For that he has to cross a house after jumping over the gate. I wonder how they still manage to find their way here or out of here, because in between, now lies a construction site with a lot of activity, at all hours.

I have edited the video to almost 10% of the original length for ease of upload and viewing.

https://www.diabetic.pub/forum/videos/panther1.mp4 

[Tamagno]

Amazing that you captured that video; it's something to see!

[Shanny]

Wow! Those are big cats! We have bobcats around here, but they're about a fourth the size of a panther!

[skb]

Wow! Those are big cats!

Yes, fully grown about 200 kg (440 lbs) easy. I remember I was photographing a caged panther in a forest complex once, and I fell back with my equipment when he charged at me (in a flash). Even though he was in a cage, it was scary. (click on image)

[walkerwally1]

Good video SKB.  When I lived up on the mountain we had Bobcats which we saw from time to time, but we also had Mountain Lions which were much rarer to catch a view of.  Our property there backed up to the Sequoia National Forest and there was a lot of wild life around.

[Shanny]

Several years ago we had a bobcat who even denned up on our own property . . . it's karst topography here with many caves & smaller cavities where animals can find shelter. One old gal stayed quite a long time and wasn't bashful about strolling across our lawn on her way to wherever she was going.

[bigskygal]

Wow! Great video! I have a Lynx that strolls through my yard every few months. It sounds like a screaming woman as it walks through.

[skb]

it's karst topography here with many caves & smaller cavities where animals can find shelter.

Yup. I saw a few episodes of the TV serial Ozarks. The story centers around hiding a stash of money in those caves.

[Shanny]

We've always just considered our cave a shelter from tornadoes. And we actually went there once when things looked really bad. It has three rooms . . . two that are easily accessible, and a third that we must crawl through a small tunnel to get to.

[rocky]

Cool. I hope everyone is safe. A panther in the city neighborhood could be dangerous.

[Shanny]

Since civilization is determined to spread deeper into rural areas, the wildlife must adapt or die. And since adapting means they become more comfortable in human surroundings, it's a no-win situation. The animals become the interlopers & disrupt 'civilization' often causing the need to destroy them, so they still die. Sad, since it was the humans who encroached into the wild to begin with - stealing from the wildlife. Really sad. 

[skb]

Quite true. Our area was once a pristine forested area, though in private ownership. Of all the big cats, panthers are the most adaptive and can live and approach human settlements without any fear. I've seen one, scrounging for food in the waste bins of a forest resort.

In one of the forest reserves, there was this crocodile breeding centre. The baby crocs were fed little fish during the day and some of that would spill outside their tanks, because these little crocs are quite aggressive in nature. A panther was a frequent visitor at night, in search of some left overs. Spent a lot of time waiting on that one, but he refused to make an appearance while we were there (some distance away).