“It’s a treat to eat and sleep in the Mississippi sun.”

Gulf Coast Bigfoot Research Organization:

http://gcbro.com/

Hotty Toddy from the villagers of Bankhanda, India.  

2008 voting patterns vs. 1860 cotton production

Mississippi leads nation in exporting illegal guns

The fattest state, fifth year in a row.

Flag of Mississippi (1894-present) and 2001 proposed flag.

Mississippi state mammal - Bottlenose Dolphin

• Promising to marry a woman to seduce her is illegal in Mississippi.
• It is illegal to teach others what polygamy is.
• Houses are not to be within 50 feet of any road.
• In Temperance you may not walk a dog without dressing it in diapers.
• If one is a parent to two illegitimate children that person will go to jail for at least a month.
• In Tylertown it is illegal to shave in the center of Main Street.
• Cattle rustling is punishable by hanging.
• In Oxford, one may not spit on the sidewalk.
• Private citizens may personally arrest any person that disturbs a church service.
• Vagrancy is punishable by either 30 days in jail or a $250 fine.
• One may be fined up to $100 for using profane language in a public place.
• In Brandon it is illegal to attempt to stop someone from walking down the sidewalk by parking a motorhome in their path.

Dr. Cathy Shropshire, a wildlife biologist with the Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks, gives Wildlife Mississippi Magazine (WM) the latest information on the Florida panther (Felis concolor). Panther, painter, cougar, catamount, puma, mountain lion or whatever the name used, the panther remains one of the most legendary and least understood mammals of North America. The answers Cathy provides will hopefully clear up some of the misconceptions about the panther and discuss its present status in Mississippi.

WM: Which panther species is native to Mississippi?

DR. SHROPSHIRE: While thirteen subspecies of Felis concolor have been identified north of Mexico, the subspecies native to Mississippi is the Florida panther, Felis concolor coryi. Unless otherwise noted, the remainder of this interview will discuss the Florida panther.

WM: What could be considered as panther habitat?

DR. SHROPSHIRE: Preferred habitat in Mississippi would be bottomland hardwood tracts along the Mississippi River having relatively low human populations or influences and well established white-tailed deer populations.

WM: Let’s talk about the present status of the panther in Mississippi. Scientists use the term “confirmed sighting” when discussing or referring to the panther’s whereabouts. What is a “confirmed sighting”?

DR. SHROPSHIRE: A confirmed sighting would be a dead or live captured animal, or documented tracks, droppings, hair, or other physical evidence. One should note that Florida panthers are protected by state and Federal law. It would constitute an illegal act to willfully kill one of these animals.

WM: What and where were some of the last confirmed reports of panthers in Mississippi and the Lower Mississippi Valley?

DR. SHROPSHIRE: A partial listing of panthers being killed or found dead would include: Montgomery County, Arkansas in 1949; Caddo Parish, Louisiana in 1965; near Hamburg, Arkansas in 1969; and in Logan County, Arkansas in 1975. A plaster cast of a tract was taken in 1975 in Concordia Parish, Louisiana, just across the Mississippi River from Natchez. It is believed that some of these may have been captive animals that had escaped or been released.

WM: Are there any reliable, but unconfirmed, panther sightings in Mississippi?

DR. SHROPSHIRE: Among the most credible sightings are reports from the Port Gibson, Mississippi area, Madison and Concordia Parishes in Louisiana, Washington and Sharkey Counties in the Delta, a sighting from the Mississippi River in the vicinity of Tennessee Bar (Issaquena County, Mississippi) and along the Mississippi Gulf Coast in Hancock County. However, a research project funded by the Mississippi Wildlife Heritage Fund in 1988 provided no “confirmed” evidence of wild panthers in Hancock County.

WM: Why aren’t more panther sightings documented?

DR. SHROPSHIRE: The number of panthers in the wild is extremely small. Being secretive in nature, they move little during daylight hours and leave little sign. If a panther is sighted or tracks are found, often the person(s) having knowledge of the sighting does not immediately notify the proper authorities so that documentation (i.e. confirmed tracks) can be established. When authorities have been immediately notified, the tracts often turn out to be either destroyed by the wind or rain or to have been made by a large dog.

WM: Do panthers presently exist in Mississippi?

DR. SHROPSHIRE: There is a definite possibility that panthers could be present in Mississippi and that they are sighted or heard by humans. However, rather than permanent residents, these animals are more likely transient in nature. An individual panther¹s tracks have been found over areas of 200 square miles or more in a given 30 day period in Florida.

Pussycat - Mississippi

Pussycat was a Dutch country and pop music group, driven by the three Kowalczyk sisters. In 1975 they scored a big European hit with the song “Mississippi”.  Penned by Theunissen, the septet became the first Dutch act to top the UK charts. It is estimated that “Mississippi” sold over five million copies worldwide.

The song also randomly shouts out Greenville.

Quite a dedication to the lovely state

“if it keeps on raining levees going to break”

1927 Mississippi River flood