Saturday, January 9, 2016

Sightings of a mysterious, ghostly cat-like figure baffle East Texans

Sightings of a mysterious, ghostly cat-like figure baffle East Texans


A cat-like figure roaming pastures and tree lines near Hughes Springs, Texas, is believed to be an albino mountain lion by some.
A cat-like figure roaming pastures and tree lines near Hughes Springs, Texas, is believed to be an albino mountain lion by some. Photo: Courtesy of KLTV
Cattle have been reported injured or missing amid reports of a large, ghostly cat-like figure roaming the pastures and tree lines along Farm Road 130 near Hughes Springs, Texas, according to KLTV.
Landowner Mitchell Cox, who captured the huge cat on cellphone video from about 50 yards away, believes it’s an albino mountain lion, one of the rarest sights in nature.
“When I first saw the white animal, the first thing I thought was, it was a dog,” Cox told KLTV.
Biologists at Texas A&M Overton tell KLTV that it’s unlikely a mountain lion would be moving around and being seen during daylight hours, so they believe it’s a very large domesticated cat until more evidence proves otherwise.
“No,” Cox told KLTV. “That’s too big for a house cat.”
His video appears to substantiate his claim, as the white cat-like figure is seen leaping over a six-foot-wide creek. The fact livestock have been missing adds to the mounting evidence of an albino mountain lion.
Here’s KLTV’s report, which includes the video:
“The cat jumps across about a six-foot creek there,” investigator Hershel Stroman of the Morris County Sheriff’s Office told KLTV. “At first, my initial thought was it was an edited video, but upon seeing it and talking to people, I believe it’s true: a white albino mountain lion. “I’ve seen mountain lions around this area, but never a white one.”
It is true that mountain lions are stealthy. They tend to see you before you see them if indeed you ever see them. But how stealthy can an albino mountain lion be?
Cox isn’t the only one to have seen the white cat-like figure. His other neighbors have, too.
“Our kids come in the house all the time saying they seen a big cat, and we just passed it off as a big field cat,” Jerry Dorough told KLTV.
“It’s too scary,” added Amy Dorough.
No doubt, the day will come when the true identity of the ghostly, cat-like figure is positively identified. Hopefully without incident.

WIN

Monday, January 4, 2016

What spurred the armed occupation of a federal wildlife refuge in southeast Oregon

After a two-week trial, Dwight and Steven Hammond were convicted by jury. They were sentenced in October to five years in prison for committing arson on federal land in 2001 and 2006. The pair had been sentenced and served time previously, but on appeal a federal judge ruled that their initial sentences had been too short.
In the 2001 incident, the men, who had leased grazing rights to the land for their cattle, said they had started the fires on their own land to try to prevent the spread of an invasive species of plant, and that the fire had inadvertently burned onto public land. Prosecutors said the fire consumed 139 acres of public land, and was set in an attempt to hide evidence after the men were part of a hunting party that illegally killed several deer on the federal land.
In 2006, the Hammonds allegedly set a “back fire” meant to protect their land after a series of lightning storms had started a fire on the federal property. Prosecutors said that fire then spread onto the federal land.

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