Metro Jacksonville

Quote
The Jacksonville Sheriff's Office has issued an alert of two possible panther sightings in the San Marco area.

Police have received two separate reports, one on Tuesday, the other on Friday, of what is believed to be a panther. One was at the dead end of Lasalle Street, while the other was behind 1501 Hendricks Avenue, less than half a mile apart.

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission has been notified as the Sheriff's Office offers some safety tips: be alert, supervise children, don't approach the panther, and keep pets safe and secure.

From Dan Scanlan at Jacksonville.com.

http://jacksonville.com/news/crime/2011-09-23/story/panther-sightings-reported-san-marco-area#ixzz1Yts2yV4T

Apparently the 'sightings' have been near the river front........far removed from wild land interface.
My bet is that it is a hoax,or captive/pet.

Wild Panther presence in NE Florida not out of the question perhaps.The South Florida population is apparently expanding,cats showing up further North.
The is a rumour some may be intent on 'transplant' on their own...although many are radio collared,positions intensively tracked...better get one without tracking device!

Sightings have been west of Hendricks around the tennis courts, not riverfront.

He can come to my house...riverside rats need someone that size...

Quote from: acme54321 on September 24, 2011, 05:21:13 PM
Sightings have been west of Hendricks around the tennis courts, not riverfront.

Any space west of Hendricks still typically far removed from the acknowledged plausible possible core habitat drivers.

This assuming of course the Cat 'naturally' springs from wild

Times Union possibly should have sat on the sidelines with this one as far as general "Panther" image..Time will tell

second thoughts,images of 'wild' naturally come to mind but even if not so wild it's presence significant,public safety matter.

When the family pets step outside they are alert to Possible Mastadon.So too are humans.

Cam is that you?

He probably walked the train tracks. They would provide an easy path into downtown Jax.

One news station actually aired the witness interview about a feral cat being in it's mouth (GASP!  The Dirty truth! :o)
If this is the case this panther will be finding Tons of food in San Marco.   Stray cat Feeders/Hoarders beware! you might need to find another hobby.

Quote from: Keith-N-Jax on September 25, 2011, 09:03:38 AM
Cam is that you?

I know right! May be upset we held him to 71 yards yesterday. He's seeking revenage. LOL

Best quote from the TU yesterday was "Probably a Jaguar.  Not surprising that it was in San Marco.  They can often be found any place but the endzone".

I laughed.  I hope they safely remove this cat and relocate him to a safer environment.  I'm glad the wild cat population is growing again.  I hope we can coexist peacefully and successfully.

There are plenty of cougar sightings in Ponte Vedra ; )

If he's snacking on feral cats let him stay!

Quote from: Jaxson on September 26, 2011, 11:49:09 AM
There are plenty of cougar sightings in Ponte Vedra ; )

Puma concolor coryi, or the Florida Panther isn't exactly a Felis concolor, or Western Cougar... It is a distinct subspecies of the much more common "Mountain Lion." During the effort to save the last of them back in the 1980's the State of Florida published a monthly newspaper called 'Coryi,' it tracked their movements, deaths and births. I never supported the states claim of 'only 14 left' because at that time while the last of them was supposed to be in the Everglades, we had a family of them on the peninsular formed by Julington Creek and Durbin Creek.

The panther situation reminded me of the Tasmanian Tiger which is 'officially extinct' but is sighted often and even photographed.

OCKLAWAHA

Quote from: Ocklawaha on September 26, 2011, 12:17:55 PM

Quote from: Jaxson on September 26, 2011, 11:49:09 AM
There are plenty of cougar sightings in Ponte Vedra ; )

Puma concolor coryi, or the Florida Panther isn't exactly a Felis concolor, or Western Cougar... It is a distinct subspecies of the much more common "Mountain Lion." During the effort to save the last of them back in the 1980's the State of Florida published a monthly newspaper called 'Coryi,' it tracked their movements, deaths and births. I never supported the states claim of 'only 14 left' because at that time while the last of them was supposed to be in the Everglades, we had a family of them on the peninsular formed by Julington Creek and Durbin Creek.

The panther situation reminded me of the Tasmanian Tiger which is 'officially extinct' but is sighted often and even photographed.

OCKLAWAHA

I appreciate your scientific know-how, Ock, but I was thinking more along the lines of the two-legged cougar that has been prowling Ponte Vedra.  (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/bonnie-fuller/cougars-and-milfs-rule-40_b_179465.html)

Gottcha, however I think the cougars you refer to are also a subspecies of Homo sapien, the binomial nomenclature for human beings, perhaps "Homo sapien femme fatale."

OCKLAWAHA

Quote from: Ocklawaha on September 26, 2011, 01:09:38 PM
Gottcha, however I think the cougars you refer to are also a subspecies of Homo sapien, the binomial nomenclature for human beings, perhaps "Homo sapien femme fatale."

OCKLAWAHA

So true!

Quote from: Ocklawaha on September 26, 2011, 12:17:55 PM

Quote from: Jaxson on September 26, 2011, 11:49:09 AM
There are plenty of cougar sightings in Ponte Vedra ; )

The panther situation reminded me of the Tasmanian Tiger which is 'officially extinct' but is sighted often and even photographed.[/b]

OCKLAWAHA

I thought the last photo of the Tasmanian tiger was from the 1930s. There have been "sightings" but I think no recent photos of the thylacine.

I have a friend whose rustic backyard was home to a breeding pair of panthers, and one was a resident of UNF back in the 1970s. The thing about them is they are very solitary and have huge territories. One of the former directors at the zoo once told me it's unlikely there are ever more than one or two of them in all of Duval County at any given time. Hopefully this guy gets back to the wilderness post haste.

Quote from: Kiva on September 26, 2011, 05:22:55 PM

Quote from: Ocklawaha on September 26, 2011, 12:17:55 PM

Quote from: Jaxson on September 26, 2011, 11:49:09 AM
There are plenty of cougar sightings in Ponte Vedra ; )

The panther situation reminded me of the Tasmanian Tiger which is 'officially extinct' but is sighted often and even photographed.[/b]

OCKLAWAHA

I thought the last photo of the Tasmanian tiger was from the 1930s. There have been "sightings" but I think no recent photos of the thylacine.

Yep.  Just like the ivory billed woodpecker.

No one has taken a provable picture of either in almost 100 years.  Panthers on the other hand are clearly alive and kicking.

Quote from: Jaxson on September 26, 2011, 11:49:09 AM
There are plenty of cougar sightings in Ponte Vedra ; )

Yes, however they are an endangered species now since Twisted Martini closed a couple years back. They are definitely in regression now and lurking quietly in the wild.

Quote from: Kiva on September 26, 2011, 05:22:55 PM

Quote from: Ocklawaha on September 26, 2011, 12:17:55 PM

Quote from: Jaxson on September 26, 2011, 11:49:09 AM
There are plenty of cougar sightings in Ponte Vedra ; )

The panther situation reminded me of the Tasmanian Tiger which is 'officially extinct' but is sighted often and even photographed.[/b]

OCKLAWAHA

I thought the last photo of the Tasmanian tiger was from the 1930s. There have been "sightings" but I think no recent photos of the thylacine.

Actually there are several fair photos of a recent Thylacine. The Doyles, a couple in South Australia caught one on video in 1973. This footage has been taken apart and examined from every angle, bottom line? There is nothing else it could be... Another was widely circulated in the Sunday Tazmanian, pg 10-11, April 16,2006, these were taken by a German tourist, Mr. Emmerich, who didn't have a clue what he photographed, now that he knows, the photos have vanished and he is asking a fortune for publication rights. Did I copy one here? Oh shit!


A walking club recently made plaster castings of tracks of a Tasmanian Tiger and there have been many in the recent past. "Freshly made paw prints of one or more of these creatures found by ourselves (Australia Thylacine Research) and colleagues at another Blue Mountains location in 1983 and 1984. These tracks were cast and later compared with others made from freshly-made paw prints in Tasmania with which they match up." (see below)


Okay so Ock is crazy and believes in Bigfoot, Thylacine, unknown sea creatures and even the possibility of the Ivory Billed Woodpecker. Why? Well one of those sightings of that damn woodpecker made in the late 1980's was mine. Add to that the fact that I misspent much of my young adult years at a commune in Dunlap, California, (a good way up the slope toward the Kings Canyon, Sequoia and the Yosemite wilderness areas). From Dunlap to St. Augustine Beach, there are countless thousands of sightings that can't be explained... The Buddha once said, "If you think you heard a flower, it's a flower that you heard."


Are you SURE there is no Bigfoot? How about an African "Littlefoot?" "To discover a completely new species of monkey in this part of Africa is phenomenal," says UGA primatologist and co-discoverer Carolyn Ehardt. "There is a strong message here: not only is so much of the world's biodiversity severely threatened, but we still do not know what fascinating and important species may be lost before they can be discovered. The species was first discovered by WCS conservation biologists in 2003 during surveys led by Tim Davenport on and around Mt. Rungwe and the Livingstone Forest of the new Kitulo National Park in the Southern Highlands of Tanzania. Hunters from surrounding Wanyakyusa villages had spoken of a shy monkey that they called "kipunji," and the team caught their first glimpse of the monkey that May. The researchers also recorded the monkey's distinctive "honk-bark" - information that proved vital in confirming the species' status. Cool stuff, the natives were right all along...so why would we doubt the possible presence of a great ape in North America when 60 Indian nations and over 150 languages record them?

Now how about that darn cat in San Marco? Gee, this just might be fun.

OCKLAWAHA

Many years ago the Mainstream Stalwart National Wildlife Federation commissioned a high dollar study on Everglades Sasquatch.True story.
meanwhile,Wildland acreage existence,protection and conservation needs went unrecognized among large sectors of the public.

there are pockets of NE Florida Wildland likely capable of supporting Panther,and of course the sprawling Osceola National Forest/O2O Blanding Jennings Northeast Timberlands reserve well within an hour drive of Downtown,site of experimental introduction.

The South Florida Cat population has expanded,"pulsed",excursions further and further north.

There are Carl Hiaasen novel type rumors that "surplus" (and conveniently non radio collared or otherwise attributed for....) South Florida cat could be transported north,set free in classic less Government Intervention manner.

QuotePuma concolor coryi, or the Florida Panther isn't exactly a Felis concolor, or Western Cougar... It is a distinct subspecies of the much more common "Mountain Lion." During the effort to save the last of them back in the 1980's the State of Florida published a monthly newspaper called 'Coryi,' it tracked their movements, deaths and births. I never supported the states claim of 'only 14 left' because at that time while the last of them was supposed to be in the Everglades, we had a family of them on the peninsular formed by Julington Creek and Durbin Creek.

OCKLAWAHA

NM :

At the time Senator Joe Carlucci championed "Florida Panther" as state animal the official count for wild was "20".......referenced as Glades population.

There was interface between Carlucci and National Wildlife Federation state affiliate Florida Wildlife Federation.I know,I was FWF Board Member and faced with Carlucci Learning Experience (culminating in "Beltway....)

The Federation had a handle on Everglades Restoration,Panther and wrote and lobbied State Conservation Public Lands legislation that would grant Jennings,Talbot,Guana and much more.
The early prospects,the support of NE Florida Conservation Lands empowerment in the face of development had Panther Advocate Carlucci rather disturbed.We worked around him in establishing Public Conservation Lands Legacy.

OCKLAWAHA