LARGE CAT SPOTTED IN AREA

Article from yesterday's local news:

Residents in the west section of the our Township have spotted a large, feline roaming the area. And while nobody's saying for certain what it is, there are some who believe it could be a black panther.

"I don't know the difference between a cougar or a panther or anything, but they think from the tracks that it was a panther. I don't know what you call it, but it's not a feral cat or something else, it's big," said Gary Guagenti who spotted the big cat near his home.

Township officials say they have heard reports of the big cat from residents around Wapak and Kemp roads, but police have yet to see it in person. But Guagenti is not the lone witness. Tales of the big cat first began to circulate a few weeks ago after Guagenti's neighbor, Jim Richardson spotted what he believed was a panther carrying one of Guagenti's barn cats across the field in its mouth. A few days later, another neighbor saw the cat chasing a deer across a neighboring field.

"At that point, our kids are on lock-down. You don't want to panic, but the thing's big," Guagenti said.
Guagenti didn't see the cat himself until about a week ago. He was near his home looking for his son's football when he found himself face-to-face with a big, toothy beast.

"I looked up and there it was. It's a mammoth sized cat with a big, bushy, two- or three-foot-long tail," Guagenti said.
The cat ran off, but has been spotted since by other neighbors.

Whatever the animal is, it's probably not supposed to be here. Panthers, cougars and other large cats are not indigenous to the area, said Craig Shafer, a nuisance trapper who works with the Ohio Department of Natural Resources.

"It's was possible that back 200 years ago we may have had some cougar population, but they didn't typically come out here," Shafer said.

ODNR sent Shafer out a couple weeks ago to look into the reports of the big cat in Shawnee Township. He has not seen the animal himself, but has seen enough to convince him something's there.

"There is a large cat out there, I haven't seen it to confirm that it's a panther or whatever, but I have seen the cat's footprints. They're about the size of a pop can, which is a good deal bigger than a housecat's going to get," Shafer said. "To say there's a panther there, I can't say because I haven't seen it, but there's something."

Shafer speculates the animal may have once been a domestic pet that either escaped or was released into the area. ODNR regulates the ownership of animals indigenous to the state, including bobcats, but there are few regulations on the ownership of other exotic animals, said Jane Beathard, ODNR public information officer.

"I'm a little puzzled about what it actually might be. There are several species of cat from South America. Other than cougars or panthers, it's possible something like that could be out there," Shafer said.

Barring the presence of a photograph or agent-verified sighting, the ODNR will not verify the animal actually exists. But if there is a panther, cougar or other large cat out there, it could be dangerous, particularly to children and pets.

"There are reports of human attacks by cougars out west, but not knowing what we're dealing with I can't say if it's dangerous. Still, I told (Guagenti's wife) Sheila to keep an eye on the kids. If it's willing to tackle a deer, it could tackle a child."