re: Whats that myth/urban legend about black panthers not exiting? Not in the US or something?

In the plateaus between rankin and Iraan tx I saw something early one morning with a small deer by the side of the road. It was very dark and had a long tail. Not a house cat too big. I thought it was a jaguarundi but they are very rare to be seen that far east. And they head didn’t look that small like in all the pics. Of course it was still bad lighting and driving 70