Leaving the Cows to Fend for Themselves
“Was helping check cows on my family’s ranch. Get out there in my non-4×4 car just a little before dusk; the cows were all kind of scattered, so I decided to just walk in so I don’t stir them up too much and get a better look. Looking around at all the cows, checking the ones that were looking kinda close on calving. I see some of the cows furthest away from me kinda stir, so I look and see something dark and large-cat-shaped crouched low to the ground, slowly stalking some of the cows …
… Now, I live in West Texas, so jaguars aren’t really a thing, but there had been rumors for YEARS about this jaguar that stalked up and down the creek… that went right by our ranch. It probably was just a dark-colored mountain lion, but either way, it was definitely not something I wanted to mess with in the dark, a ways from a vehicle … I am not ashamed to say I left the cows to defend themselves and ran as fast as I could through the field back to my car. I did check the next day, and all cows were safe and accounted for.”