I think the possibility of a large black cat existing in the States is small. But there's a chance. There's also the chance of mis-identification. And there's a chance it's a species we haven't documented yet or thought was extinct.
There were no breeding populations of jaguars in the U.S., until they found them. And Ca fish and game says there are no wolves in Ca. But I've seen them. And there are pics of them. They also say there are no brown bears here. Yet they couldn't explain the pics of two of them. Of course, they also failed to recognize their "failed" program to re-introduce both brown bears and wolves.
Not much escapes a game camera in the south nowdays with a game camera for every 10 acres or so it seems. I have run long term population studies on deer with a camera for every 10 acres and haven't found one yet but I have gotten mountain lions on camera exactly twice. Once a tail as it walked by and another of one covering a deer kill.
I disagree. MUCH escapes a game camera. You said so yourself that you've done long term studies and only captured mountain lions twice. Not saying there's anything wrong with how you're doing it. Just saying that I think we as humans have come to rely too heavily on electronic devices and assume we'd know everything there is to know about our world around us. We also listen (maybe not those on this board) to much to the so called "authorities" when it comes to these matters.
There have been numerous discoveries of new species in the last couple decades. And I'm not talking about microscopic crap on the sea floor. Talking about large animals. Not only new species, but finding known species in areas we thought they were eradicated from.
We just don't know everything. And I suspect, things are much different than what we perceive.
