Are There Panthers in Georgia? What the Evidence Shows
Georgians have been arguing about panthers for decades. Somebody sees a big cat cross a dirt road, or a blurry trail-camera photo makes the rounds, and the debate starts all over again.
So, do panthers live in Georgia? There’s no evidence of a breeding population here. But has a panther ever turned up in Georgia? Yes. And the best-documented case started with a deer hunter near West Point Lake in 2008. Even the biologists who examined the cat had to rethink their first guess once the DNA results came back.
The Florida Panther Confirmed in Troup County
On Nov. 16, 2008, David Adams was deer hunting near West Point Lake when he saw a large cat from his stand. He shot and killed it, then reported the shooting to Georgia DNR. Investigators initially suspected the cat had escaped or been released from captivity. DNA testing traced it to South Florida’s wild panther population, and biologists thought it may have made the trip to Georgia on its own.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and Georgia DNR investigated the shooting. Adams was charged with a federal wildlife violation and pleaded guilty in 2011 to killing the endangered panther in violation of the Endangered Species Act. He was fined $2,000 and sentenced to two years of probation, during which he was barred from obtaining a hunting license anywhere in the United States.
A Florida panther is a cougar, the same species many people call a mountain lion or puma. Panthers once ranged across much of the Southeast, including Georgia. Today, Florida wildlife officials estimate there are about 120 to 230 adults, with most breeding in South Florida. Individual males have been documented much farther north, but Georgia DNR says it has found no credible physical evidence of a resident population here.
What About Black Panthers?
This one is easy to answer. No, there are no black panthers in Georgia.
We’ve established that it would be possible to see a Florida panther in Georgia, but there’s never been a documented black (melanistic) mountain lion or Florida panther. NEVER. The only two large cats in the world that exhibit melanism are African leopards and South American jaguars. Neither of those would be found anywhere near Georgia unless it was an escaped pet. And even in leopards and jaguars, the melanistic phase is very rare.
So What Did I See?
When I worked for Georgia DNR, I investigated a report from a man who believed he’d seen a panther. He showed me tracks and marks on a tree, and he’d even collected scat. The tracks turned out to be several deer tracks, the marks on the tree were woodpecker damage, and the scat came from a coyote. I still don’t know what he saw that day. I do know how easily a few clues in the woods can seem to fit together until you take a closer look.
Georgia DNR says reported sightings often turn out to be bobcats, house cats, dogs, or other familiar animals. A quick glimpse at dusk or a trail-camera photo with nothing to judge scale by can make size hard to estimate. If you have a clear side view of a cat, start with the tail. A cougar’s tail is long and thick, while a bobcat’s is short. Florida’s panther and bobcat identification guide shows both animals and their tracks side by side.
Think You Saw a Panther? Here’s How to Report It
Save the original photo or video and any frames taken before or after it. Note the date, time, and location. If you found tracks, take a photo with a ruler or another object for scale. Then contact your regional Georgia DNR Game Management office. The original files and location give a biologist more to work with than a cropped screenshot.
If you’ve seen a big cat in Georgia that you couldn’t identify, I’d be interested to hear what stood out to you. Was it the tail, the way it moved, or something you noticed later in the photo?
Well this didn’t age well. A trail cam pic of a black panther in glenville ga was taken Sunday night was posted to Facebook. I know this family, well respected. Here is the link.
📸 Look at this post on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/share/p/mpMDFEr8fpJw2sZx/?mibextid=3zE9uC
Not to mention my wife and I caught a panther darting across the highway one night years ago on the way to Statesboro…right outside of Glenville.
So the easy answer from me is Yes, there is in fact at least 1 “black” panther in Georgia.
I wish I could post a video on here. It is dark so you can’t see it but it was definitely large and black and sounded terrifying. This was in Gilmer County.
Never mind, I read the full context. A banner was covering it. “Couger”
Well, I ve read your article, and want to say you are 100 percent wrong. There are BLACK panthers in Georgia. I know because I have seen them (them, as in plural) in broad daylight. I watched a mother and cubs as they sat and watched a herd of cows. The local hunters responded and caught the cubs but not the mother. They held the physical proof in their hands that black panthers are in Georgia. I have also seen the big black cats on other occasions. They also roam the river area where I live in Alapaha, coming into people’s yards as they prowl the area. Several of our citizens have actually seen them.
They seem to live and hunt along the rivers and creeks in southern Georgia. I’ve also seen the Florida cougars. In fact I almost hit on the highway, near Warrior Creek. IT WAS A HUGE TAN LONG-TAILED CAT in broad daylight. Cougars and panthers have distinct paw prints that cannot be confused as a common house cat. I have some very large house cats, so I know the difference in the size of the prints.
WE DO HAVE BLACK PANTHERS IN GEORGIA! So, stop telling everyone that they don’t exist.
South Georgians have known about these big cats for decades.
Catamounts, as they called these cougars in the 1800’s, had breeding populations around Alapaha back then. History, even DNR, will confirm this. In at least one newspaper account from late 1800’s Alapaha that gained wide circulation across the US, a resident found one in her house. Can provide a copy of that particular story if anyone is interested.
I have with my own eyes seen a black panther in chattooga county on old Alabama highway. It was 11 o’clock at night and I had my windows down. I thought it was a Newfoundland dog at first but its eyes had a green glow and the tail was too skinny and long to be a dog tail. The end of the tail was puffy and its teeth were more big cat-like. If my windows had not been down I would have stopped and taken a picture but I didn’t want it to jump in. I may sound crazy but I know what I saw. My parents also have a similar experience around the same area.
Also if you really want to see a mountain lion in North Georgia come to Chattooga County and head to the mountains. Hang up there long enough and you’ll see one. On the edge of Chattooga on the walker county side there is a community called Ridgeway and there have been hundreds of sightings there.
I am certain I saw a panther crossing a highway with a large animal in its mouth in south Georgia this past week. It was a startling sight.
I in south ga. I have a hard time believing it too. but I see one they are here for sure that right I seen one like it or not.
I live in Dallas, Georgia, about 25 miles NW of Atlanta. I can confirm two sightings of black panthers, but they were many years ago when the county was more rural than it is now. My great grandmother actually run one off of her porch in her country farm home. It had come up to try and steal some deer meat in a cooler. It was NOT a big, black house cat. My great uncle seen this episode with his own eyes and it was a large, solid black panther. Another friend of mine that was an old time that went to my church had one come up in his back yard. Again, it was not a big house cat. It was a pretty good size, solid black panther. He said that its tail looked like it was about 4 feet long and his coat was black and shiny. He tried to get a camera and get a picture of it, but it took off.
Anyway, just thought you should know. Not sure how many are around here now, but there have been some here in the past.
A mountain lion crossed the road in front of me in Acworth years ago, it was broad daylight and only about 15 feet in front of me, so hard to mistake with its huge size and black-tipped tail.
I had photographed a pet mountain lion for a project and wondered if it had been someone else’s pet who had escaped. My husband called DNR to report it and was told that while it was rare to see, animals frequently used the power line areas near where this was as a sort of animal super highway.
I’ve been meaning to buy a dash cam. If I had, I’d have proof of a dark gray panther sited crossing the road 50 feet in front of me in Chattahoochie Bend State Park Monday. It was 200 yards from the visitor’s center. I’m still in awe!
Brian, I don’t know where you get your information from, and I’ll try to be nice and charitable, but they are full of horse apples. I guess I can believe them or my lying eyes, lol. In almost seventy years on this planet I have seen several (albeit none black), plenty of sign, 3.5 inch wide front paw tracks, and have plaster casts to prove it. Decatur County. Some with kicked off Florida subspecies tails, some not.
I get my information from the fact that there’s only been one documented FLorida panther in Georgia that I’m aware of, and it was shot by a hunter. Beyond that, nothing. That’s not to say another young male couldn’t stray up into the state, but there are no established populations. If there were, there would be evidence. They would show up on trail cameras and have credible sightings. It’s funny how everybody and there brother has seen one, but despite having a camera in their pocket and trail cameras scattered across the state, no one ever gets a verifiable photo of one.
And black panthers simply do not exist. That’s a fact. There are black jaguars and black leopards, both extrememly rare, and neither exist anywhere near Georgia.
Saw one in the early 90’s crossing Mt Olivett church Rd near the Ogeechee River. I found out recently this was a tagged Florida panther that was released with a tracking device. It was captured later near Thomson Georgia per the article. They were astounded that no one reported seeing the cat. Why would anyone report a sighting considering all the naysayers. I also saw one in the mid 70’s near the Canoochee River.