I like this story because it highlights several problems in detecting elusive and unpredictable events:

Lt. Steve Cleveland from the Vineland police department said the idea of a black panther in the area was so unheard of that when the department first received the report, they thought someone was talking about the Black Panther Party — a political organization.

Prejudice and other externally imposed bias often prevents us from analyzing data clearly.

A conservation officer from the Division of Fish and Wildlife visited the area three times over the weekend and found nothing to indicate a panther was in the area, said Darlene Yuhas, a spokeswoman for the state’s Department of Environmental Protection.

“There was absolutely no evidence to indicate that there was a panther out there,” Yuhas said.

Paraskevas said she was told by the conservation officer that the ground was too dry for the animal to leave paw prints.

No evidence because there was no evidence-gathering mechanism in place, or because there really was no evidence?

Reminds me of all the times I hear people say they have no viruses when they have no virus detection, or they have no incidents when they have no intrusion detection, let alone incident response and investigation, professionals on staff.