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.
Hwy, 190 East Hammond La My husband’s game camera just went off. We have a huge cougar on our property. It has along body cat walk stride with long tail.Not sure if it’s a cougar, I do know bob cats have short tails, right ?
I live in Abita Springs and caught a picture of a Jaguarundi I believe in my back yard. Ive attached a pic of the cat from Dec 2019
I live just north of Covington la on Hwy 25 for the past year I have saw some kind of animal crossing my road too different times it looked like some kind of big cat I told my wife she said she seen something like that to well that’s something that’s hard to believe so I haven’t told nobody else but this evening about 3 hours ago my step son his friend and me was standing on my porch and low and behold there it was crossing my yard it got half way and it sat down looking in the other direction of us like it was looking at something and it heard us it looked at us and turned around and halled but in the direction it came from it was about 60 to 80 feet from us so there’s no doubt what we seen it’s a jaguarundis, pumas or some kind of cougar it was not a bobcat for sure I’m not sure what I can do about this situation
Thanks for the sighting Randall, much appreciated. If you can get a clear photo that would be even better.
My sister saw a very skinny, sickly looking mountain lion here in LaSalle Parish near Catahoula lake a few years ago. I`ve never seen the regular mountain lions but have seen three of the big “black panthers” as they`re called…two in the early 1970s and one in 1990. Lots of people have seen them in the state.
Cougars have been verified in Louisiana for some time. As the original article stated, they are likely roaming from populations in East Texas. Vernon parish is on the west side, which is where this article comes: http://www.wlf.louisiana.gov/news/34503
Thanks Chris.
We have a rather large fountain which can be seen from our kitchen window. Today (7:30 PM) I saw a large cat, tan- orange, with long legs & I couldn’t see a tail. It was drinking from the fountain, & had a rather small head for it’s size, & seemed to have short hair. After drinking, it stretched, making it’s legs appear even longer. Then it crept into the bushes behind the fountain. After searching the internet, a picture of a jaguarundi seems the most similar to the cat. Could it be? It was way too big for a house cat! We live in a woodsy area West of Alexandria, in Gardner. This is my 2nd sighting of a wild cat here.
Hi Charlotte. You say the cat was ‘way to big for a hous cat’. The jaguarundi is generally larger than a domestic cat but not susbstantially larger. Therefore you might have seen a young puma. It is possible. They are lanky and have small heads compared to body and long tails. Great sighting and thanks Charlotte.
Another sighting today (8/17/19)…my husband saw the big cat that I had seen, headed for our large water fountain…orangy-tan, but no tail & large. This evening, we saw a different one, that looks like a domestic cat, but so much bigger,maybe 3 feet long. It was a female. looking like it had milk. It also had no tail, & was orangish, but had light areas on chest & head. Took pics, but sooo far away, not so good. I know the pics look like a house cat, but it was too big for that. My husband thinks they may be lynx’s. What do you think?
This one had no tail, & did not look like a puma. Is it possible that it was a jaguarundi? Saw it again today (8/17/19) that looked more like a house cat, lighter orange with almost white on chest & head. About 3 feet long & no tail. Pics taken from long distance1
Charlotte, this is a domestic cat. Sorry. This is not a wild cat species and certainly not a jaguarundi. Thanks for posting it though.
Darn! Thought we had discovered a new species! Haha! Still, 2 different cats with tails like bobcat are curious!
You get bobcat tailed domestic cats. They are common in Japan by the way.