A Newton County, Missouri, sheriff’s deputy shot and killed a large, black, declawed cat, which turned up in a residential yard on May 19, 2008.

The cat was a young male whose body was approximately 3 feet long and weighed 40 pounds. Its age was estimated at six months. An initial examination showed the claws had been removed from all four of the animal’s paws. Its fur was jet black.

Steve Bircher, curator of mammals/carnivores at the St. Louis Zoological Park, has positively identified the Newton County cat as a leopard (Panthera pardus).

More non-news background at: Black Cat Killed Near Neosho Was Not a Mountain Lion by Jon Law,
Saturday, June 21, 2008.