POLK COUNTY, TX — Reports of black panther sightings have once again surged in local Facebook groups, where science takes a back seat to grainy trail cam photos and unshakeable conviction.

Despite there being zero biological evidence of black panthers ever existing in Texas — or North America — residents are absolutely certain they saw one “right behind the Dollar General,” “crossing 190 at midnight,” or “eating a deer whole by the lake.”

One post reads: “Y’all can say what you want, but I KNOW what I seen! It weren’t no house cat!” Accompanied, of course, by a blurry photo that could be a shadow, a trash bag, or a confused possum mid-sneeze.

Local wildlife experts have tried to explain it’s likely just large bobcats or melanistic jaguarundis (which also don’t live here), but those explanations have fallen on deaf ears — possibly the same ears that once mistook a feral goat for Bigfoot.

Polk County officials have issued a warning: “Do not approach mysterious shadow animals. Especially if they’re already in a fight with your neighbor’s lawnmower.”

More on this story as it develops. Or mutates. Or shape-shifts, depending on who you ask.