When I read the column on cougars' comeback by Richard Mason, who I happen to know, I realized that it was time to tell of my adventure.
There are unexplainable things that we see and cannot talk about because they are so bizarre. Our brains have a difficult time processing something we cannot explain. For example, one time my younger son and I were in the process of moving--he to Little Rock, and I to El Dorado, where my husband was already working. We were driving in tandem, and I was behind him. It had been raining most of the way, but as we neared Little Rock, this huge rainbow appeared, and when it did, all of the colors in the spectrum were spilling on my son's car and all of the cars around us. Neither my son nor I talked about it for a week or so and were rather tentative when we did.
This was much like being at the end of a rainbow. It was an awesome sight, and one I will never forget.
One night last fall, I was having a difficult time sleeping, and so, as I often do, I went to sit on my balcony, literally in the treetops, as our condo is 30 or so feet in the air in the back and almost in the woods. Something made me look up into the higher branches of our huge oak tree and there appeared to be a man, dressed all in black, scooching down a limb. I wondered why in the world a man would be climbing a tree in the wee hours of the morning!
I got my flashlight and shined it on the figure. He turned to look at me and I saw this creature with a huge head and yellow eyes spaced very far apart. I just sat there in disbelief. He continued to quietly move down the limb as I continued to just stare at him. Finally, I ran into the house to awaken my son, as I had to know I wasn't seeing things. I yelled at him: "There is a huge black panther in our tree!" He looked at me as though I had told him that there was a giraffe in the tree. Once he saw what I had seen, we both just watched in total wonderment. Neither one of us spoke.
The cat finally reached the bottom of the limb and began to traverse the other limbs. Once again, he turned to look at us, and there was that huge head with the yellow eyes, and black body. As he got closer to us, my son cautioned that we needed to go inside.
The next morning all I could think about was the black panther! When I looked at the tree, I saw a broken limb that could not carry his weight. That is why he was cautiously backing down, and the sound of the limb breaking is most likely what made me look up at the tree. I also remembered the day before a dog barking, and realized that the dog most likely had chased the big cat up the tree. Figuring this all out still did not satisfy my curiosity, and so I called my older son, who is the consummate researcher.
The first thing he told me was that there was no such thing as a black panther, and he asked if I was sure he was black, and I said, "definitely." And so he did his research and called me back to say that what I saw was most likely a member of the cougar family, and while it appeared to be black at night, it was most likely another color, probably gray. He also suggested I call the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission. When I called and reported what I had seen, I might well have reported seeing a squirrel in the tree. I told her that we lived in midtown, for heaven's sake! That led me to believe that this was not an uncommon sighting. She did assure me that most likely the cat was just passing through and was spooked by the dog. That is when I realized that along with being amazed by the beauty and grace of this creature, I was also frightened.
I am no novice to wildlife. Several years ago, a baby redtailed hawk fell out of his nest onto my front yard. Two neighbors came over as I was talking to him, trying to comfort him, and they said that he wouldn't take his eyes off of me. I suppose I became his surrogate mother. It was a holiday, and I thought the Humane Society would be closed, but I ran in to call. When someone answered the phone, I almost cried with relief, as I had no idea what to do with the baby!
This kind man gave me the names of five rehabbers. These are wonderful people who take in wildlife that need care. It requires a license. I began my calls, and the last one on the list was a caring rehabber who came to get the baby. I called the rehabber a couple of times, and he called me when the hawk was ready to be released. That hawk soared into the air in joy. I still have a picture on the baby on my refrigerator.
In those woods behind my condo, I once saw a large raccoon walking on a high limb. I had no idea that raccoons were tree climbers until I looked it up. I often hear owls and was able to take a great picture of one in a tree close to our balcony. Deer come out of the woods in groups of four or five to feed on foliage. However, I did run into one small deer in my front yard nibbling at my pansies. He frightened me as much as I did him! The species of birds that come to our feeders are a delight. They feed about four feet from me. We have flying squirrels that come late at night for the bird seed.
However, my adventure with the panther/cougar/mountain lion has been my most amazing. Whatever he was, he was large! I will have to admit that for some time after that experience, I would go out on my balcony at night with some trepidation. And I still am awaiting his return.
Thank you, Richard, for giving me the courage to tell my story!
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Sharon Williams lives in Little Rock.
Editorial on 03/02/2018