Panther sightings reported in San Marco area

[Ocklawaha]

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

[Jaxson]

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!

[Kiva]

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.

[Tacachale]

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.

[acme54321]

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.

[Steve]

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.

[Ocklawaha]

How about some fun? Sound's like more then a couple of us are "woodsies."

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."

Anyone interested in this check out:
http://www.tasmanian-tiger.com/
http://www.cryptozoology.com/
http://www.newanimal.org/

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

[north miami]

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.

[north miami]

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.

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]

Thanks North Miami, I'm posting this batch to assist the learning curve.


Not at all rare, this one was later shot in downtown El Paso, Texas, a metro of 800,000+.


In a vacant house in Denver, something California has warned those of us with desert cabins about, they are the only big cat known to move into vacant buildings to have their kittens.


A gentleman here wanted to retire in the Laramie Mountain Range, he didn't know he wouldn't be able to leave his house!


The female officer is an animal lover, she didn't want to shoot this one in Kearney, NE, just down the road from the University of Nebraska.


From the campus of Saint Alphonsus Medical Center, wildlife managers say an Ada County sheriff’s deputy did the correct thing when he shot and killed a 60- to 70-pound juvenile male mountain lion in the parking lot early Thursday.

Read more: http://www.thenewstribune.com/2011/09/08/1815550/decision-to-kill-cougar-right.html#ixzz1Z7AfxhEy 

From Boise comes a warning for San Marco and JSO. Tranquilizing a mountain lion that has become desensitized to people and moving it to a wilderness area doesn’t solve the problem, London said. That usually just puts other communities at risk or results in the animal being killed by an established adult lion already living in the area, London said.

The Boise cougar was first spotted around midnight near the Emerald Lanes bowling alley at the intersection of Orchard and Emerald streets.


This one indoors in Hesperia, CA. about 50 miles from my place.




Here you go San Marco, watch those tracks.

OCKLAWAHA