Real Estate Photographer in Seguin, TX

Texas residents believe that a locally extinct wild cat species may be making a comeback after 40 years, but wildlife experts remain skeptical.

According to Chron, people have reported seeing a jaguarundi in Seguin, Texas, near Link Road and State Highway 46.

Jaguarundis are considered extirpated in Texas, or locally extinct. The wild cat is native to northern Mexico and Central and South America, where they are still found, though their population has decreased due to their dense brush habitat being cleared for farming and construction.

The last confirmed jaguarundi sighting was in Brownsville in 1986, according to Texas Parks & Wildlife.

Jaguarundis are on the smaller side compared to other wild cats, growing slightly larger than a domestic cat and typically weighing 8 to 16 pounds. Their fur is a solid color, either rusty brown or charcoal gray, and they have a small head and short ears.

Jaguarundis share the same amount of chromosomes with domestic cats: 38, though the animal is more closely related to the cheetah and puma. Behaviorally, the jaguarundi is an elusive creature and tends to be active mainly at night, though they do move around during the day.

Wildlife experts remain skeptical about recent Texas jaguarundi sightings since there hasn’t been a confirmed sighting in the state for the last 40 years.

In 2020, Texas Parks & Wildlife posted a video to Facebook explaining why reported jaguarundi sightings are likely not actual jaguarundis.

“They can look so much like a house cat, especially from a distance…Even a very well-trained biologist would be very reluctant to determine that that was a jaguarundi,” Jonah Evans, TPWD mammalogist, explained in the video.

The biggest difference between the two felines? Jaguarundis have a longer tail than your typical house cat, Evans says. House cats' tails are usually around 12 inches while jaguarundis' tails can be up to 24 inches in length.

Evans says most jaguarundi sightings in Texas are later confirmed to be house cats.

In order for TPWD to confirm a reported jaguarundi sighting, physical evidence such as a photo or video is needed.

Where students once filed into classrooms for math and science, local businesses are now setting up shop. Places where pencils were sharpened and the spines of books were cracked now feature artists tuning the strings on their guitars and bartenders filling frosty glasses to the brim.

Seguin Schoolyard, located at 225 N. Saunders St., Seguin, TX 78155, is a Hill Country entertainment destination with quite the back story. Old classrooms now serve as suites for a total of 14 small businesses such as a bakery, a mac and cheese restaurant, a running shoe store, a music studio and more. The revamped, family-friendly and pet-friendly space also includes a beer garden, a stage for live music performances all summer long, and in the fall, there's a 20-foot television screen that plays football games. And it wouldn't be the grounds of a former school if it didn't have a playground.

Co-owner James Mahan said he and fellow co-owner Greg Snider both come from small business-owning families, so giving entrepreneurs a launch pad has been a plus.

"People are like, 'Well, what happens when your tenants leave?' And I'm like, 'Hey, if a tenant leaves because they grow out of our space and they need a bigger space, that's a success in my book,'" Mahan said. "We're providing a space that's a small place where it's affordable rent for these small businesses to launch and hopefully grow. And hopefully they do grow out of our space. We had one tenant leave last year because they grew. ... So for us, if we can help foster that small business community around there, and then they grow, that's awesome for us."

At the moment, the city is ripe for small businesses and expansion, as it is experiencing a boom similar to that of Gruene. The population of Seguin has skyrocketed — increasing by 31% since 2020, according to a news release from the city — and is now the 23rd fastest growing city in the U.S.

As a native of New Braunfels, Mahan saw the town's potential.

"Back in the '80s, no one went to Gruene," Mahan said. "And now, you know, you think about Gruene, it's a destination for [people] all around the world. And we kind of view this as an opportunity to create something similar."

Seguin Schoolyard is snugly located in the middle of Seguin — just a few blocks from downtown — and offers a sight line from the outdoor area of the city's pickleball court. Mahan said that the former school is situated in the perfect location for their revamped venture.

"It's already in kind of the hearts and minds of people that have been there for multiple generations," Mahan said. "Either their kids went to school there [or] they went to school there, and so they're already familiar with it. And so we get a lot of public support when we talk about revitalizing the area and what we're doing over there, just because a lot of the community wants to see that happen."

Storied history of Seguin Schoolyard

The venue, which opened in its modified form in July 2024, has a history that stretches back more than a century. It starts with Lizzie Burges, who was born in Seguin in either 1876 or 1883 (records don't seem to have a consensus). According to the Texas State Historical Association, her father, Harry Burges, was enslaved and had been taken from Kentucky to the small Texas town, where he later married and started his family on a 101-acre farm.

Lizzie attended the Abraham Lincoln School and later Guadalupe College — both located in Seguin — and returned to the Lincoln School as a teacher in 1904. She taught there until 1947, when her health declined. As for the Lincoln School, it was renamed to Ball High School in 1925, and was then dedicated to Burges in 1954 in a ceremony attended by more than 500 people.

The Lizzie M. Burges School was a kindergarten/elementary school for African American students until desegregation in 1966, but it closed in 1999 when Seguin ISD redistricted. More recently, it was repurposed as the Lizzie M. Burges Disciplinary Alternative School. Then, it was a family-friendly space called The Backyard. Last January, it traded hands once more — this time, to Mahan and Snider.

Former students have stumbled upon videos about Seguin Schoolyard on TikTok and often reminisce in the comments section, a digital homecoming that Mahan claims to have experienced in person.

"We'll have people out there ... people that grew up in the city, or people that are multi-generational people from Seguin, and they'll tell us, 'Oh yeah, this is exactly where I went to kindergarten. Like, that was my class. Like, I rode bikes there,'" Mahan said. "That was kind of one of the things that, when we were thinking about if we're going to get into the Seguin market, how do we come in in a meaningful way?"