Thursday, April 22, 1976
PANTHER
“If only Cal Price was alive,” is what everyone has been saying since Sunday afternoon when a panther was killed in the Jacox-Lobelia area by Kessler Pritt. Pritt was working on his truck outside his home and saw an animal in his flock of sheep, about 80 yards away. At first, he thought it was a dog but then realized it was a cat animal. It picked up a lamb in its mouth and went over a rail fence, down the hill a little way and started eating on the back leg of the lamb. Pritt got his gun and came after it. He shot, and the bullet from the 3.08 went through the lamb and exploded in the shoulder-chest area of the panther; when he saw what he had, he called a conservation officer. Within 13 minutes, several were there. The big cat weighed an even hundred pounds. He was a young male, one to three years old. His tail was 25 inches long.
If that wasn’t already enough excitement, Tuesday evening, the report came that another panther was on Bruffeys Creek. It was bedded down against a fence beneath a rocky ledge on the farm of Norman Walker. The night before, his cattle and sheep had tried to push through the fence and now, he knew why.
The DNR was notified and some officers arrived to observe the animal and to keep it from being disturbed. Federal authorities were also notified as eastern cougars are an endangered species and protected by federal law.
Some who saw it, thought this one was bigger than the other one, and by the way it acted, a female about ready to give birth.
At 1 a.m. the big cat was shot with a tranquilizer gun, ran about 30 yards and collapsed. The men got her in a box and took her to the French Creek Game Farm.
A call from Pete Zurbuch Wednesday said a veterinarian verified it was a pregnant female, 65 to 75 pounds. But they question the wildness of the animal because they don’t seem to fear humans and this one didn’t mind the cage.
The Bruffy Creek Panther – the second panther – will stay at French Creek Game Farm, according to present plans.
The U. S. Fish and Wild-life service at first asked that it be released in the area where it was found but later changed its request.
DEATHS
Mrs. Retta Gladwell Miller, 85, of Hillsboro, a daughter of the late Devin Andrew and Sophia Clementine McClure Gladwell. Funeral service from Oak Grove Presbyterian Church with burial in Oak Grove Cemetery.
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Miss Mary Jane Dilley, 81, a daughter of the late John and Nancy Hannah Dilley. Funeral service from McGraw Funeral Home with burial in Andrew Cemetery at Williamsburg.
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Mrs. Leona Clark, 87, of Renick; born at Lobelia, a daughter of the late William and Alice Snedegar Hill. Funeral service from Jack K. Wallace Funeral Home in Lewisburg with burial in Morningside Cemetery.
