Police Blotter: Woman Reports Panther in Her Yard (via Chad Arment)

A Knowlton Parkway woman called police about 4:50 p.m. Oct. 13 and said she was getting ready to leave her apartment but was afraid to go outside because she looked out her back window and saw a black panther outside.

Police were unable to locate a panther in the area. They told the woman it was safe to go to her car.

http://strongsville.patch.com/articles/police-blotter-woman-reports-panther-in-her-yard

Panthers Prowling in Strongsville? Good Question
When a resident on Knowlton Parkway called police Oct. 13, she was so sure she had seen a panther outside she was afraid to walk to her car.

Local animal experts say it's unlikely that's what she saw.

"I hear about sightings from time to time," Animal Warden Mike Roth said. "But when I check them out, I haven't seen any signs of them."

But others insist it's possible that a panther -- also called a puma or a cougar -- was, in fact, strolling through Strongsville because they've seen one, too.

Roseann Cyngier said her husband, Peter, spotted a huge black cat in the field behind their woods several years ago and called her over to see it.

"Later, it was sighted in Medina County," Roseann said.

A 2008 story in the Medina County Gazette said a number of people in Sharon Township had glimpsed a large cat they believed was a puma. One resident saw it slip into the woods near Chippewa Lake; another found 4-inch-wide paw prints between Brunswick and Medina.

Jane Christyson, director of marketing for Cleveland Metroparks, said big cats aren't hiding out in the woods there.

"We have not had any confirmed sightings in Cleveland Metroparks at all," she said.

But Christyson said a puma was recently killed by a car in Connecticut and found to match puma living in North Dakota, indicating that some -- or at least one -- migrated across several states.
Roth said someone reported seeing a very large cat on I-71 near Pearl Road last year, but he was unable to locate tracks, even though there was snow on the ground.

And this summer, someone in Forest Park reported seeing a panther or other big cat. "I never did see signs of it, though," Roth said.

He said he would check the area around Knowlton Parkway, but said wth leaves on the ground, it would be difficult to see paw prints.

http://strongsville.patch.com/articles/panthers-prowling-in-strongsville-good-question