A Mississippi man was left scratching his head when he spotted what appears to be a massive black cat walking through a field and even experts can't agree on what he saw.

The strange encounter took place as David Sluder was pulling into a Wendy's restaurant in the city of Hernando and noticed something amiss in the distance.

After initially thinking that perhaps he was watching a deer or a coyote, he realized that the creature was actually a very large cat.

Having never seen such a thing before, Sluder smartly took out his cellphone and captured some footage of the big cat stalking through some tall grass.


"That is an absolutely enormous ... something over there," he marvels in the video, "I mean it's a cat, but this thing is gigantic."

According to Sluder, he was around 75 to 100 yards away from the creature when he filmed it, which may provide some perspective on the feline's size.

The nature of the 'big cat' is apparently the source of some controversy in the state as different officials and departments have expressed wildly different opinions.

An expert with the Mississippi Department of Wildlife was quick to dismiss the mystery feline as simply a house cat and asserted that the pointed shape of the creature's ears confirmed that conclusion.

However, the city and county animal control offices beg to differ, saying that the creature is the much more dangerous mountain lion and are currently on the lookout for the 'big cat.'

With reports of similar ferocious felines occurring in this general region of the country in recent years, it's not entirely impossible that Suder's sighting could have simply been the latest encounter.

One way in the mystery may be solved is if someone steps forward to identify the creature as merely their pet cat who has been feasting on Friskies for far too long.
video here

Comment: More from The Clarion-Ledger:

Ricky Flynt, a biologist with the Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries, and Parks, said the cat is far less sensational than some media outlets have made it out to be.

"Biologists look at it differently," Flynt said. "We look at distinguishing characteristics to identify.

"This is not a panther or cougar or mountain lion. It's a house cat. You can look at the erect ears. The position of the ears gives it away. Pointed tips; that's a house cat every time."

Then there are the black panther sightings. The only problem with those is that the only truly large, wild black cats are leopards and jaguars.

"There are no black panthers," Flynt said. "One has never been documented. Large black cats are not native and they've never been documented in North America."

Richard Rummel, an MDWFP biologist who has experience with panthers, agreed with Flynt after reviewing the video numerous times.

"It may be a pretty big one, but it's a house cat," Rummel said.

Well, there be some big mices in Mississippi too...

in the video, looks like it caught one too

Yeah, I suffer from the Nittany Lion effect.

maybe the buckeyes will cute that...

A wonderful and interesting subject
Although I don't speak English.
But I tried to make some public thoughts.
That's all about cats.
Attributed to the clamping in general some of the properties of magic. In the era of the Pharaohs, the goddess of love and fertility was bastet in a woman's head, and she had an important place in the pharaohs. In that time period, anyone who had ever been killed had been sentenced to death.

Moreover, the Romans treated the cats with some holiness, as the Cats disposed of the houses of mice and insects, not to mention that during that time they were very rare and expensive. Later, it spread across Europe as a pet.

In the Middle Ages, cats got a bad reputation, as people thought that cats were witches, and the witches often used black cats to prepare magic. From that time to this day, the myth that a black cat crossing from before someone means that he will be in trouble very soon, as many believe that the Black cat is haunted by Satan, has been entrenched in the minds of people.

In some cultures, however, it is a lucky one, with cats symbolizing the Japanese folk heritage for good, as the Japanese believe they are lucky. Happy, they believe the famous Japanese amulet "Maneke-Niko", brings a good fortune to its owner, which is usually in the form of abundant money.
And God Knows

It, honestly, looks like a black panther. There has been a lot of flooding along the gulf. What if this “cat” escaped from a zoo or from a private residence and no one has noticed or thought about it until they see it on the news or internet. It does look like a panther in the way the tail curls towards the end. The posture of the cat, pointed ears, it just screams panther to me. But I am not an expert.

me either, but it is bigger than an ordinary cat... I don't know the mannerisms of Panthers, but is acting like a housecat, in the video....

pretty sure when i found a link the experts said not panther because or the pointed ears in the americas a panther is actually a jaguar

there's lots of black Panthers in South America, not impossible for them to get here... But your right, it does have ointed ears..

add to that moe even from the best of the picks i could find that cat was not at the 100 yard range even allowing for forced perspective from the camera. but that would make a great foot warmer as a tame house cat

A black panther is the melanistic color variant of any big cat species. Black panthers in Asia and Africa are leopards (Panthera pardus), and those in the Americas are black jaguars.


Panther (legendary creature), a creature resembling a large black cat

Panther
Cougar or mountain lion (Puma concolor), found in North and South America

Florida panther, a subspecies of cougar (Puma concolor coryi or Puma concolor couguar) found in southern Florida

Jaguar (Panthera onca), found in South and Central America

Leopard (Panthera pardus), found in Africa and Asia

Black panther, a black variant of jaguars or leopards

Pantherinae, the felid subfamily that contains the genera Panthera and Neofelis

Panthera, the felid genus that contains tigers, lions, jaguars and leopards

White panther, a white or very pale variant of cougars, jaguars or leopards

Its Mississippi.. the fattest state in America.

Most likely some house cat that Bubba has been feeding down at the fried Chicken joint.

Have you taken a look at Wal Mart Mississippi women?.. their a*ses block out the sun.