Brandon Twp.-Carol Skelly is confident of what she saw.
At about 8:30 a.m. on Dec. 11, township resident Skelly was sitting at her dining room table when she noticed an animal standing in the clearing near a wooded area behind her home.
‘It was jet black with a long tail,? said Skelly, who has resided in the Granger and Hadley roads area for the past four years. ‘It was some kind of cat’about 100 pounds. It was just standing there in the snow. It hung around for about 20 minutes and then kind of wondered off to the south. There’s lots of coyotes and deer roaming around back there.?
Skelly, who reported the sighting to the Oakland County Sheriff Office, is not alone in sighting the township mystery cat.
John Sherman, 49, a Glass Road area resident about a mile from Skelly, said his son saw a big cat in early November.
‘It was mid-afternoon and my 19-year-old son, Donny, saw a big black cat about the size of large Doberman running behind our home,? said Sherman. ‘About 20 miniutes later I heard my cats screaming bloody murder’one cat was hiding in a pile of rocks in a field next to my house. The cats were pacing and real nervous.?
The big cat sightings are not new to Michigan.
Julie Oakes, Michigan Department of Natural Resources wildlife biologist for Southeast Michigan during the past 20 years says while many such sightings have been reported, so far none are substantiated.
‘Those cats are going to be habituated to people and it’s going to feed out of a bowl’big cats just would not survive in our area. We’ve had reports of big cats living in people’s homes’there are some in the Detroit area, but keep in mind it’s illegal to own a big cat. Chances are, too, that if a big cat like a tiger or panther gets loose they are going to be declawed and somewhat tame. They could be feeding out of a bowl.?
Still, Oakes says it’s possible to have a big cat running around a urban area.
‘Big cats are very secretive and would travel at night’even the cats that were one time pets, they would hide out.?
Oakes added that a few years ago a young black bear was in the Clarkston area and it’s possible to find a bobcat this far south.
‘Use the DNR website to report any such sightings, or set a trail camera out to identify the animal.?