When deciding what wild cat species live in the US state of Louisiana, the best source of information will be the geographic range maps on the IUCN Red website, which are reproduced on PoC. The only possible wild cat species in this state are the puma, bobcat, jaguarundi and ocelot.
The bobcat is ubiquitous throughout the USA so the bobcat can be found in Louisiana. Officially, the Puma’s range extends east as far as Texas but not as far as Louisiana. Therefore, the puma (cougar or mountain lion) should not be seen in Louisiana. However, some wandering young males might enter the state looking for a home range.
As for the jaguarundi and ocelot, you can bracket these together as their geographic range extends as far north as Mexico (jaguarundi range – ocelot range). They do not exist, according to the experts, in Louisiana.
That said there may be some in the state and some might have escaped from a private zoo. That’s it really. There is nothing much more to say. The Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries don’t appear to tell us what wild cat species are in their state but the answer is straightforward. If a visitor to this page has seen any of these cats it would be nice if you could leave a message. All four species are discussed in detail on this website. Please use the search box or go to this page to start.
Thanks for sharing Alice. Sounds like a private zoo (of which there were many until the national legislation was changed) let go some or all of their cats. Or some escaped. They do sometimes. Private zoos are now no longer permitted in the US although existing ones can keep their cats until they die of old age as I recall.
Escaped or released big cats like lions will struggle to survive for long I’d have thought becaus someone somewhere will shoot them dead. Probably the police or a farmer.
I also know a lady, who reported seeing a black panther race by chasing a deer, as she sat in her deer stand about two weeks ago. She said that it made her afraid to leave, and walk back to her trailer.
A friend of mine and I also, both saw a beautiful gray wolf, near the side of the road by USFS land near Goldonna, LA, on Hwy 1233 going to Brewton’s Mill, about 6 months ago. It was a gray wolf, and not a coyote!!! It was beautiful, and quite large. Much bigger than a coyote!
I was watching a t.v. show with a firefighter friend last night, on the wild animals of Africa, and he told me of seeing a lion, that looked like the type that roam around in Africa, with the big manes on them, jump a fence when he was working a job in Many, Louisiana, and run across a pasture of the man he was working for, and grab a deer, and haul it off into the woods. This is the second time that he told me this story. He pointed out the type of large cat that he saw, and it wasn’t a cougar, it was a zoo type of lion with a big long mane on it. He said that he and three black guys, also working on the same job, saw it. They reported it to the landowner. He said that the landowner told him that someone else, had also reported seeing one on his property. Later, he told my friend that he had found some tracks, of the cat. As I recall, he said that they saw this cat, about 4 years ago.
My friend also told me that a state trooper told him, not terribly long ago, that he had seen a cheetah, while on patrol, go into the woods, somewhere along Highway 84, between Winnfield, LA and Natchitoches, LA. My friend pointed out, from the t.v. show we were watching, what both cats looked like.
Will these cats live out the remainder of their lives alone, in the woods of Louisiana, or does this suggest that there may be other big cats of this nature in the woods, that the game wardens don’t know about, to keep them company?
Thanks Drew for your great inpuit. Appreciated. Pretty special to see a jaguarundi but obviously very rare.
I’ve seen a Jaguarundi near Morgan City. In Patterson, to be precise. Spent thousands of hours in the woods here and that is the only sighting I’ve ever had of one. Plenty of Bobcats though. We have a ton of black bear in St. Mary Parish as well.
Just found a jaguarundi or bobcat & a coyote on my gamecam that I have in the backyard! I live between Bush proper & Covington. It’s not the first time I’ve seen the coyote but it is the first time to see the cat!