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Mystery Cats of Wisconsin
by Steven J. Stanek
FATE :: December 2007
Sightings of mystery cats in America often seem to be transitory events, brief periods of wonder and excitement for individual locales that eventually peter out and fade into the lore of the communities involved. There is one area, however, where such occurrences have been both numerous and continuous for decades.
The reports of tan and black animals resembling cougars and panthers in rural southern Wisconsin have been nothing if not spectacular. Not mere fleeting glimpses, but close-up observations of prolonged duration make it clear that area residents aren’t being deceived by more mundane animals.
There have been literally hundreds of sightings in the Hillsboro-Elroy-Wonewoc area of Vernon, Juneau, and Sauk counties. Here the beautiful rolling hills are quilted with patches of fields, woods, and marsh. The decline in the state’s dairy industry has allowed much former pastureland to become overgrown with dense brush, providing cover for large predators. When they emerge from hiding, a few lucky people are granted a tantalizing view.
Engrossed in his work, Elroy farmer Don Triebs paid little attention to the animal approaching his cattle as he drove to his barn astride his tractor in the fall of 1988. Assuming it to be a dog, it wasn’t until he drew to within 30 feet of the beast that it became starkly evident that something out of the ordinary had set its sights on his cows, for it was at that moment the animal screamed at them.
“One of my cows jumped over the fence,” said Triebs. “Another one ran through it!”
Triebs dashed into the house for a rifle, but in his haste, grabbed the wrong kind of ammunition. By the time he returned to his cattle, the cat had vanished from sight across a cornfield........Read the rest of this article exclusively in the December 2007 issue of FATE!
