Neighborhood Panther Discovered to Be Bobcat
OutdoorHub Reporters 09.17.13
Distressed residents of Ponte Vedra thought they had a rare visiting panther on the prowl when a strange cat wandered into the neighborhood last week. According to WTEV reporter Amanda Warford, armed deputies were called in to handle the situation after the animal began chasing residents in the street and on private property.
“This animal had been all around the neighborhood,” said Robert Wilsie, who filmed the encounter. “… I was thinking it was a panther by the look of its face.”
There is a small population of about 100 to 160 panthers in southern Florida. The species is considered one of the most endangered mammals in the world, although some scientists no longer consider it a distinct subspecies of the North American cougar. For the most part panthers stay inside the swamps of Florida’s Everglades, slowly building their population over time. Their only natural predator are the local alligators, but deaths are most often attributed to automobile accidents. Could it be that a lone panther ventured up into Ponte Vedra, many miles to the northeast? While possible, sometimes the easiest answer proves to be the right one.
Officials from the St. Johns County Sheriff’s Office said that the deputies were unable to capture the animal, which could possibly be rabid. The deputies then identified the creature as a bobcat rather than a critically endangered panther, and shot it. The carcass was later positively identified to be a bobcat.
“Regardless of what it was it was a menace,” Wilsie said. “Had the animal gone off we’d be telling a different story right now if it had injured someone.”
