After Roger Hooker reported the eviscerated deer this morning Carol and I reached Shane Hobel the professional tracker. He came the same afternoon with his team and went over the area on Corbett Lane around the deer. I and others took photos. The Police and Animal Control also came to the site with Carol Baxter and the rest of us.

Shane surmised: The deer was not killed where it is now - it was dragged there from further down the lane. There were large prints that Shane identified as probably those of the panther/leopard. Shane's team collected hairs that they will test.

What we know now:

1. This animal is active in the area from Woods Road down to the River and has been active in the Lamont area.

2. While the animal has focused on deer as far as we know, dogs, even small children, are not safe.

3. Unlike Coyotes it has been active around homes which in my opinion points to the panther/leopard being raised by humans (then along with another animal let go in Tallman Park– the place they were first seen)

4. We will probably never see it. They are very elusive and spend a lot of time in trees. I know three scientists who work with large cats and they all point to the great difficulty of catching the animal especially as we are not using baited traps or cameras.

There has been an officer assigned to the case but Carol reported that he is on vacation until the end of July and his title is Youth Bureau Detective.

We need to get cameras up that cover the known area this animal has been seen or has left signs. Shane thought a dozen cameras would be sufficient. He suggests cameras that

1. are solar so someone does not need to replace batteries

2. have webcam ability so they can be accessed remotely

This is all on private property so we need permission from the homeowners Shane offered to come to Palisades this week on his own time to help us all figure out how to move forward on this issue.

I suggest that we neighbors buy a dozen cameras and give them to Shane to place where he believes is the best place. Shane is the only person who has been in the woods following this animal. He is the only person that has been consistently on the this case. He has spent hours and hours in our neighborhood on his own time and at his own expense.

Phill and I will buy one camera and donate it to the tracking school (non profit donation). There is information about hunting cameras on liine:

www.nativeoutdoors.com/scoutingcameras.html?gclid=CJj4xuDA3psCFRBM5QodHx2XAg

www.covertscoutingcamera.com/

www.snapshotsniper.com/

PLEASE RESPOND TO ME 1. If you will purchase a camera or donate to the effort 2. If you would like a meeting this week in the evening where Shane can answer your questions. 3. If you know anything about these cameras and can help us secure the best ones for our purposes.

thank you

Milbry Polk

milbry@post.harvard.edu