I saw a full grown black jaguar near my dirt patch in OK. It was standing out on a county gravel/dirt
road that leads to my place. When I first rounded the corner, I saw it and thought it was a large dawg,
like a black Great Dane. But as I got closer, I started thinking... hummm. This is the weirdest looking
dawg I've ever seen.
Then a few seconds later, it dawned on me, this ain't no dawg, this is a big black cat.
It was daytime, and he was right in the middle of the road in front of me. So I got a very good look
at it, and can still remember what it looked like as if it were a photo in my brain pan.
After I got home, I then looked up the various large black cats, and only the Jaguar was an exact match.
I'll never forget the blocky looking snout it had. Almost like a cube it was so blocky looking.
And to totally prove that it was indeed a cat, and not a dawg, it then proceeded to run off into the woods.
Very quickly!, and it hopped from the center of the road, to off the side of the road in the brush, in one leap.
Then ran off into the woods like some big cat you would expect to see in Africa, not Oklahoma.
It would have given a deer a good run for it's running money.
If it had been a dawg, it would have barked at me, and tried to eat my tires as I passed by, like all good
Okie country dawgs always do.
But after I got home, I found out that what I expected to be fairly common to see, was actually so rare that
most thought I was out of my mind to suggest such a sighting. Many thought I had seen a house cat on
steroids. But even extra plump house cats don't give the impression of being a Great Dane at first sight.
Now, it could well have been a abandoned pet as some suggest it would have to be, if indeed a black
Jaguar was in OK. And there is no doubt in my mind that is what I saw. I wouldn't expect black jags to
be too common a pet, but maybe I don't get out enough..
But.. I'm not so sure there isn't a breeding population of them there. Now, black jags are normally seen
in Central America and maybe up into Mexico. But being they have very large ranges, who is to say
they couldn't wander up here? Anyway, lots of people in OK, and other states like TX, claim to see these
large black cats. And only Jaguars are commonly black. There are Jaguarundi <sp>??, but I've seen
pictures of those, and they are different. Smaller, and a more reddish coat than the jet black Jaguar I saw.
But I know how you feel, cuz it was the first time I had stumbled into a large cat that wasn't in a zoo.
BTW, it was so big and powerful looking, it made me paranoid, and it provoked me to carry a lead spitter
when camping there from that point on. And there are other critters that could be an issue there also..
Dog packs, Coyotes, wild hawgs, etc... All kinds of varmints there. And Bears are starting to slowly
move into that area from the east.
Being I'm usually there alone, the lead spitter provides a warm comfy feeling in case of animal mayhem.
I also pondered what would happen if that animal ran into some children or pets. Could be bad news,
but being I hear no reports of human Jaguar attacks there, I assume there must be enough deer for them
to eat. There is a guy who has a farm west of where I'm at that has had animals killed by a large black cat.
Or at least that is what he thinks is killing them, and he's seen the large black cat, and claimed it saw it
with kittens later on. No joke. There have been loggers and oil field instrument people, etc that have seen
these large black cats out in the forests east of where I'm at. Jaguars kill by crushing ones brain pan in their jaws.
One of the most dangerous, if not the most dangerous large cat there is in the Americas.
Only the Tigers and Lions in Africa would be an equal or larger problem. I doubt a Bobcat would bother a
human in general, but I wouldn't want to mess with a mama Bobcat.
If I saw a baby large cat, I'd be real wary cuz mama cat may be nearby, and she might be open for business
if she thought one was messing with her little kitty kat.
