Dear friends,
A friend of mine has had one of his geese attacked by what appears to be a Florida Panther. We have grainy footage of the attack taken by a cheapo “night vision capable” camera. However, both my friend, my wife (a veterinarian) and I are pretty sure that we are dealing with a Florida panther and not a bobcat. The animal is larger than a bobcat, the body shape is very different, and the animal appears to have a long tail.
You can download the short video by clicking here.
Officially, Florida Panthers only live in southern Florida. There have been a few unconfirmed sightings in the wilderness areas around Deland, and a few just north of Cape Canaveral. However, this video might be the proof that Florida Panthers do exist in Central Florida, hundreds of miles north of their “official” habitat as shown here.
If you have good video enhancement skills, I would be most grateful for an enhanced video or still image because I could then pass it on to some of my nature conservancy friends who could make a case with the authorities to recognize parts of Central Florida as a Florida Panther habitat.
Hugs and cheers to all,
The Saker
Not a bobcat, aka lynx sometimes. I had a close encounter with a lynx at night but with a bright flashlight. On your picture, ear and cheek tufts are missing as are facial and body markings. Nice sighting though.
Sometimes I think critters are just waiting for Hilary Clinton to blow us all up so they can take over, as they have in the ‘dead-zone’ of Chernobyl. The wolf packs there have been studied and are thriving.
https://www.travel4wildlife.com/tell-difference-between-canadian-lynx-bobcat/
Wow, far-out video; even in SW FL where I’ve spent a lot of time, Florida Panthers are very rare and I’ve never met anyone who’s seen one (Gators are ubiquitous of course). Here In SW US, Mountain Lions are far more commonly reported; we even have Jaguars make it up from Mexico occasionally. The profile and “vibe” of that critter doesn’t look at all “bobcat”, no way (I had one leap across the road ten feat from me years ago), also way too big and not any kind of canine, either. My 1996 Audubon guide lists the numbers of F. Panthers south of the Everglades as under 100; maybe that’s changed but either way, I’d bet mucho fiat that’s a Puma and an amazing, stunning find!
That, sir, is a Florida Panther. Keep the dogs and children inside at night, he’s a night hunter.
Auslander
It may be relevant that Florida is the state with the largest number of big cats being kept as pets. If this is a panther, it could very well have been a pet which escaped from an owner or could have been released by an owner no longer able to deal with caring for it.
Interesting site to refer to for this:
https://bigcatrescue.org/help-stop-the-abuse-of-animals/
Panther holding Goose x 3 enlarge plus range of adjustments. http://s46.photobucket.com/user/Dom_Rice/media/Panther.corrected_zpsiq8nvptz.jpg.html?sort=3&o=0
this is the best result with the low pixels in video.
Use objects in area for scale to measure size of animal in B & W x 4 enlargement no adjustments
http://s46.photobucket.com/user/Dom_Rice/media/Panther%20enlarged%20x%204_zpswumr5jhq.jpg.html?sort=3&o=0
It looks big. Like a large dogs size, but its definitely feline
Thanks a lot Dom, I very much appreciate it!!
Kind regards,
The Saker
PS one more trick. Shadows http://s46.photobucket.com/user/Dom_Rice/media/Panther%20shadows%20highlights%20only%20plus%20x%204_zpsbmbmbez0.jpg.html?sort=3&o=0
thanks again!