Q: I’ve heard stories about black panthers roaming around Georgia through the years. Are there black panthers in the state?
A: If someone tells you they've seen a black panther in Georgia, make sure they're not suffering from cat scratch fever.
Panthers, which can also be called cougars or pumas, aren’t black, experts say. Leopards (which live in Asia and Africa) and jaguars (native to Central and South America) have that gene.
And even though it seems that everyone knows someone who has seen one, the Georgia Department of Natural Resources told me earlier this year that “there is no evidence in the past 50-60 years that indicate that Georgia has any large (big) cat population, regardless of the number of well-intentioned citizens that feel they have seen one.”
The bobcat is Georgia’s largest wild cat, although there are rare exceptions when a Florida panther might wander into the state.
One 140-pound panther was shot and killed in Troup County in 2008.
There have been plenty of other big cat sightings around Georgia, including several in Hall County in the summer of 2009, one in Henry County in 2014 and two in Lafayette in the past month.
Other reports “have turned up everything from raccoons, to dogs, to house cats, to bobcats, to coyotes and other animals,” the DNR stated.
More on Pearl
Peachtree City’s Beth Viall emailed last week to fill in some details about the life of Pearl Sandow, who attended every Braves home game for 24 seasons.
Viall said she and her husband sat behind Sandow for many years.
Sandow would eat at Davison’s, one of downtown Atlanta’s old department stores, and take the bus to the games, Viall said, and speedy utility guy Jerry Royster, who played for the Braves from 1976-85, was one of her favorites.
When the Braves gave her a season ticket every year, she bought the seat next to it for her belongings.
Sandow felt like “she could complain if she didn’t like something,” Viall wrote.
There’s a plaque honoring Sandow at Section 207, Row 15, Seat 1 in Turner Field, but she had stopped coming to games years before the Braves moved there in 1997.
The Braves haven’t determined how they will honor her at SunTrust Park, a team spokeswoman said.
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