The Eastern Panther: Mystery Cat of the Appalachians by Gerry Parker

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The Eastern Panther: Mystery Cat of the Appalachians

by Gerry Parker Nimbus Publishing - 210 pages Softcover Cost: $16.95 ISBN 1-55109-268-9

reviewed by Ronnie Scullion

easternpanther.JPG (16292 bytes) The mystery begins with the recounting of the killing of the "Barnard" panther, the last panther recorded to have been killed in Vermont. This huge "monster" was subsequently stuffed and displayed around the state attracting many spectators for the price of ten cents a look. That was in 1881. The eastern panther, already a rarely spotted creature, was near extinction.

Gerry Parker traces the distribution patterns of this elusive cat from the time of the early European colonists to present day. To the colonists the panther was a majestic and feared predatory beast with "a Tail like a Lyon, its Leggs are like a Bears, its Claws like an Eagle, its eyes like a Tiger, its countenance is a mixture of everything Fierce and Savage."

Parker illustrates well how the colonists' approach to land and animals was in sharp contrast to the native North Americans. In their struggle to make a new life for themselves in the often harsh environments they encountered, the colonists unwittingly destroyed and eliminated all that they feared or could not tame. The native populations, on the other hand, had a relationship with the panther, as with all nature, of mutual
interdependence born of respect and reverence. That the panther
was revered is evidenced in the names he was given such as Koe-
Ishto, "the Cat of God", by the Chickasaws; or Klandagi, "Lord of
the Forest", by the Cherokees.

It was the impact of the colonists expansion into the new world that
consequently reeked havoc on the lands and wildlife. They exerted
an ever increasing threat to the habitat as they cleared lands and
expanded westward, followed by decades of persecution, with
hunters killing the panther for sports trophies or bounty money. By
the end of the nineteenth century the panther populations were
devastated. What few animals were left were often blamed for low
deer counts or missing livestock and relentlessly pursued in the
twentieth century in the name of "wildlife management".

Parker examines in great detail the legend and folklore that
flourished about the animal through the years. His sources include
letters, diaries, as well as journalistic accounts and public records.
The often detailed and embellished stories of individual encounters
and sightings set the tone of the times.

The reader is then guided on a photographic tour through some
obscure local museums, galleries and universities where the stuffed
remnants of unlucky panthers are displayed or stored. Often poised
in fierce and aggressive manner they stand testimony to the awe and
fear they inspired in their day. They are named after their killer: the
"Barnard", "Brush" and "Dorman" panthers; the place they were
hunted down: the "Rhode Island" and "Amherst" or the place where
they are currently stored: the "Panthers of Oneonta". The final hour
of each is retold in an often spellbinding account of hunter and
hunted.

The ongoing debate about whether or not the eastern panther still roams in eastern parts is the subject of the last two chapters. During
Parker's work as a research biologist for the Canadian Wildlife
Service, where he was responsible for rare and endangered species, he investigated many reports of sightings of the animal. While many of
the sightings turned out to be false leads or cases of mistaken
identity the sheer number of them has led Parker and other investigators to unending speculation of the fate of the eastern panther. The mystery remains.