A Wild(Life) Week With Panthers, Bears In The News

    The reclusive Florida Panther for years had mostly been confined to a range in South Florida. However, as its population has slowly grown, so have reported sightings in other areas of the state. While local sightings have been rarely reported and sometimes questioned, when a panther was killed on I-95 several years ago in Flagler County it became clear that the state’s largest predatory cat had increased its range and could be assumed to also be in the expansive Ocala National Forest.
    And today, even closer.
    Altoona resident Jenni Myers on Friday morning was heading across her Demko Road property to her horse barn, when a large animal caught her eye. About 150 feet away, she could see the large animal was something different than normally roamed nearby.
    “It was sniffing the ground and I thought ‘what is that’”, Myers said this week. “I said to myself, ‘that’s not a fox. It isn’t a bobcat.’ It was a panther.”
    This is the second time Myers has seen a panther, the first being about ten years ago while on a horseback ride in the forest. This time, the view was much closer.
    “I was surprised it was so close. It didn’t run away, but left toward the lake after it saw me.”
    Myers said the panther appeared less than fully grown.
    “This one didn’t look to be mature. It was smaller in size.”
    The sighting explained some things for Myers, who recently saw two barn cats disappear permanently and another reappear after having gone missing with cuts and abrasions around its neck.
    But Myers isn’t complaining, she considers herself lucky to see an actual Florida Panther. Many people have been limited to occasional track sightings, as the panther lives a reclusive lifestyle.
    So reclusive, that it has been hard to verify panther activity in the area. Chad Weber, public information officer with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, said the FWC would be interested in verifying a panther in the forest.
    "We haven't had any confirmed sightings that far north," Webber said this week. "We get reports occasionally, and we've been encouraging people to take a photo if they think it's a panther. From a safe distance."
    Photo or not, Myers said she knows what she saw.
    "They are definitely there," Myers said of questions regarding the panther population in the forest. " I feel blessed to see on in the wild."
    However, maybe not too much closer than this past week.
    “It was kind of scary to think it was so close to the house.
    The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission asks the public to report panther sightings via a mapping app at www.myfwc.com/hsc/panthersightings. When viewed on Monday, that data service shows no panthers reported in the Ocala National Forest, but four sightings in the Daytona Beach area are listed, ranging from 1984 to 2008.
    Also this week, a mother bear with four cubs visited a Paisley area home. The Levenson family shared a photo of the family that came by their house. Weber said it is very rare for there to be four cubs with a mother, and he has personally never seen such a situation as a mother having four cubs in one season.
    However, Weber said there are times when a mother will ‘adopt’ a cub that another mother is no longer caring for.