Florida Panther in North Port? (West Palm Beach, Sarasota: house, neighborhood, school)

[debvic]

My husband and a neighbor are positive they have seen a Fl panther crossing S San Mateo near our street. They are certain it was not a bob cat.Has any one else seen this cat? Should any authorities be notified since they are a highly endangered species? Also has anyone seen a black bob cat ? My neighbor has seen this also.

[Vanwilder]

You very much may have seen a Florida Panther! An adult Florida Panther was struck and killed on RT 75 south bound near FT Myers this summer by a semi driver.

Driver hits, kills panther | HeraldTribune.com | Sarasota Florida | Southwest Florida's Information Leader

http://myfwc.com/panther/news/pdf/Re...nualReport.pdf

I have seen a black Bob Cat but it was in upstate NY, also one was spotted and filmed in West Palm Beach FL..... they do exist but very rare.

Unless you had human interaction with this animal, tracks that can be verified or a clear picture of the animal no reporting need to be done.

So have your camera and recorder handy when you are in that area and shoot it. On film of course.

[KoZmiC NinJa]

Please, please, oh please dont take this the wrong way, but I am
an animal nerd so due to my excess of free time I feel the need to
assault you with this useless fact. Can be used while playing Trivial Pursuit
There is no such thing as a "Panther".
It is a generic term, like 'Kleenex'.
Panther can mean 4 breeds of Fl cats.
There are black Jaguars and Cougars. You probably saw a
Cougar. There is a black Bobcat sighting in FL, but it is an
anomoly, like a white tiger.
In any event, you have been blessed. Be happy you saw one of natures most spectacular accomplishments
Just a magnificent beast

[Col.W.Deering]

If you have spotted a real Florida panther, then you should probably call Friends of the Florida Panther Refuge at 888-404-3922.
Here's a link to their website....Welcome to Friends of the Florida Panther Refuge

Keep your camera and video handy so that they can positively ID the cat.

If it really is a Florida panther...wow you are extremely lucky. There is only about 100 left of them in the wild.

[debvic]

Originally Posted by KoZmiC NinJa

Please, please, oh please dont take this the wrong way, but I am
an animal nerd so due to my excess of free time I feel the need to
assault you with this useless fact. Can be used while playing Trivial Pursuit
There is no such thing as a "Panther".
It is a generic term, like 'Kleenex'.
Panther can mean 4 breeds of Fl cats.
There are black Jaguars and Cougars. You probably saw a
Cougar. There is a black Bobcat sighting in FL, but it is an
anomoly, like a white tiger.
In any event, you have been blessed. Be happy you saw one of natures most spectacular accomplishments
Just a magnificent beast

I have not seen it personally, my husband and neighbor say they have. I am skeptical that with only 100 Fl.Panthers(cougars) left that one is here in this developed neighborhood. I use the term Fl Panther because that seems to be what they are called to differentiate them from other versions of the cougar/mountain lion not native to Fl. My husband always tells me I am full of useless information

[kikimiller]

My Mom lives in East Englewood. Where her house is there is alot of woods. She has seen bobcats alot of times and she has seen a panther, there is either two of them or she saw the same one two times. She did get a picture but it was taken through her screen on her lanai and it was getting a little dark out, but you could see it was a panther.

[island mermaid]

We had a bobcat over here on Manasota Key last winter, it was just outside of my folks winter home. We kept hearing strange screeching noises outside and got finally a glimpse of it after dark. After researching the net we found that during that time it was mating season and those screeching noises are typical. After finding that very useful info I never let my little 5 lb pooch off the leash after dark again!

[SoFLGal]

My husband sees bobcats all the time when walking the dogs. He usually walks them early in the morning and at dusk.

We had a FL Panther (cougar) out on Little Gasparilla Island when I was a kid. It's kind of interesting because you can only get to the island by boat. He/she must of swam out there. I remember seeing it some morning when we were headed out for school-beautiful animals.

[kikimiller]

Originally Posted by island mermaid

We had a bobcat over here on Manasota Key last winter, it was just outside of my folks winter home. We kept hearing strange screeching noises outside and got finally a glimpse of it after dark. After researching the net we found that during that time it was mating season and those screeching noises are typical. After finding that very useful info I never let my little 5 lb pooch off the leash after dark again!

Your so right about your little dog! When there were a more than a couple bobcats in my Mom's woods, numerous times the bobcats got some of her neighbors cats. She found one in her back yard, that was not a pretty sight.
When she moved to Englewood in 2001 she had a cat, and all her neighbors warned her to not let her cat outside because the bobcats would kill it. Thank God she listened.
They said they are even more aggresive when feeding their babies.
They sure are a pretty sight to see, we see them mostley before dusk.

[leemh05]

Its very possible that that is what they have seen, I have seen one on river road, one in a new development in North Port and one in a new development in englewood.
Males have been known to use up to 300 square miles as their territory so to see one passing through anywhere locally is very possible.
There are @ 100 left that are known and tracked given their range and the introduction of the texas mountain lion to the area to facilitate breeding it is very possible for their to be a few roaming out there that are not tracked and accounted for