PANTHER SHOOTING 



though not a shooting-man, on arrival at the spot 

 and after hearing of the occurrence, very pluckily 

 went down into the ravine, to which the victim had 

 been dragged, and recovered his remains. 



I have upon two occasions obtained panther cubs. 

 In the first, the animal was captured when he had 

 gone with his mother to feed upon a beast which 

 she had killed. This cub was large and savage, 

 and I was obliged to cage him. In the second 

 instance, the cubs, three in number, were very 

 young kittens, and I handed them over to a 

 Sholaga woman to feed from a bottle. One 

 survived, and I took him after some time to my 

 house when he was about the size of a half-grown 

 domestic cat. I let him loose in the dining-room, 

 and after he had investigated all the corners, he 

 went to a big spotted deer's skin on the floor, 

 seized it by one of the hoofs, and tried to drag 

 it away ! I afterwards handed him over to the 

 doctor of the station, who eventually had to de- 

 stroy him. 



Panther cubs are useless as pets. Their instincts 

 are so strong, that no humanising influence has any 

 permanent effect upon them. If caught very young, 

 they can be kept tame and safe for a considerable 

 time, but with growing adolescence, nature asserts 

 her sway, and they become unsafe in the extreme. 



Colonel W. (of the 43rd O.L.I.) once killed a 

 panther, not full grown, in an extraordinary way in 

 Cashmere. He had taken with him a powerful 

 bulldog, and one day, with the aid of the latter 

 and of an alpenstock, he bagged a panther which 



183 



