I found this article online from the Cameron Pilot newspaper. It was after Ike and it was Remy Broussard who saw the two panthers
Bayou Buck
November 3rd, 2008, 03:06 PM
an excerpt from...
The Cameron Parish Pilot
October 30, 2008
Two Cougars Sighted in Cameron Parish:
Although they have thought to be extinct in western Louisiana, two cougars were recently sighted in Cameron Parish—and the report comes from a very good authority—a Louisiana wildlife enforcement agent.
Lt. Remy Broussard, state wildlife enforcement agent supervisor for Cameron and Calcasieu parishes, reported seeing two of the rare felines south of the Intercoastal Canal in the Gum Cove area of northern Cameron Parish.
His sighting was made on Oct. 1 while Lt. Broussard was flying over the area in a National Guard helicopter helping evacuate Hackberry residents who were stranded by the high water following Hurricane Ike.
He said the animals appeared to be full grown cougars (also known as mountain lions or panthers). He said it was possible that they could be the same cougars that were spotted in Nat****oches on Sept. 4 and Allen Parish on Sept. 29. These sites are about 100 miles apart.
Photos of a cougar at a site near Oberlin were made by a camera that had been set up in the woods and can be seen on the internet at the Louisiana Dept. of Wildlife & Fisheries site. The official LDWF press release regarding the two trail camera photos of cougars can be viewed by clicking here (
http://www.wlf.state.la.us/news/?id=1130).
Broussard said cougars probably live on deer and wild hogs which are plentiful throughout this area.
UPDATE!!!
BayouBucks.com (
http://www.bayoubucks.com) personally spoke with Lt. Broussard for approximately 15 minutes regarding his sighting in order to shed further light upon the details of this occurrence. He stated that while performing recovery operations via helicopter immediately following Hurricane Ike, he noticed two strange animals in the grass along the Intercoastal Canal while en route back to Lake Charles. “They were on the south side of the Canal levee, approximately 1 mile west of Gum Cove Road,” Broussard stated. “We circled around to get a better look, and as we approached, the cougars crouched down in the grass real low as if to hide from us. We were hovering about 60 yards above them, and watched the cats for about 30 seconds before we had to get back to work.” While Broussard told Bayou Bucks (
http://www.bayoubucks.com) that it was pretty amazing to see such reclusive animals, it did not astound him that these cougars were in the area. “We saw one a few years back along Johnson Bayou in SW Cameron Parish,” Broussard acknowledged. “I knew there were a few [cougars] in this area, so this new sighting didn’t really surprise me.”
Contrary to the sighting date of Oct. 1 reported in the [i]Cameron Pilot, Broussard’s sighting actually occurred immediately after Hurricane Ike—Sept. 15. This date is very significant, in that it falls between the dates of the two trail camera photos obtained (Sept. 4 and Sept. 29), yet the location of the sighting lies 60 miles southwest of the southern most Oberlin, LA photo (see the timeline and attached pics below). Although not 100% conclusive, it can be inferred with reasonable certainty that at least three different cougars were sighted during the month of September in Louisiana. To assume otherwise would mean that one group of cats would have had to be photographed in Nat****oches Parish on Sept. 4, travel 145 miles in 11 days to Cameron Parish (and in the process cross the Red River, I-49, the Calcasieu River, I-10, and the Intercoastal Canal), then travel 60 miles back north into Allen Parish in 14 days (thus re-crossing the Industrial Canal, the Calcasieu River, and I-10).
Cougars and their closely related subspecies, the Florida Panther, once thrived in the hills and swamps throughout Louisiana, Texas, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, and Florida. Until recently, the species' were believed to be extinct throughout the Bayou State. This was attributed to the animals’ habitat destruction and depletion of its #1 prey animal, the whitetailed deer, during the turn of the 20th Century. There is certainly no lack of deer in Louisiana today, but a shortage of large expanses of unbroken forest habitat, a network of highways and interstates across their historic travel corridors, and public opinion opposed to the cats’ return to Louisiana certainly limit cougars’ ability to enjoy the populations they once had here. Be aware that there is a heavy fine and the possibility for imprisonment imposed on anyone killing a cougar in Louisiana. These animals are very shy, nocturnal, have large home ranges, and are not likely to remain in the same area for very long. To report verifiable sightings of cougars containing physical evidence such as photos, tracks and/or scat please call Maria Davidson at 337-948-0255 or your nearest LDWF Region office at:
Minden 318-371-3050
Monroe 318-343-4044
Pineville 318-487-5885
Ferriday 318-757-4571
Lake Charles 337-491-2575
Opelousas 337-948-0255
Baton Rouge 225-765-2360