The large, black cat seen prowling around Boerne isn't a panther, mountain lion, jaguar or bobcat, a state official said after viewing a video of the feline Friday. Exactly what it is remains a mystery.

"Nobody could come up with a solid conclusion," said John Young, a Texas Department of Parks and Wildlife mammalogist.

It may be a large housecat or an exotic species of unknown origin, Young said. There was one other possibility:

"There are instances where bobcats have bred with housecats in captivity, but we don't know if it occurs in the wild," he said.

Wendy Hughes of Boerne filmed the cat in a field near her East Bandera Road home last month, but the animal appears fuzzy in the video and it's difficult to see any distinguishing details.

Hughes mailed the tape to Young, who viewed it Friday in Austin with other agency staff members.

"About 12 people came in and they were all kind of like, 'Wow, this is something out of the ordinary,'" Young said, "The body shape doesn't fit any of our big cats."

He guessed the wild feline in the video is about 48 inches long and weighs 20 pounds.

Traps set by animal control officers have failed to snag the cat.

• Story originally published by:
San Antonio Express-News / TX | Zeke MacCormack - Nov 17.01

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