Florida Wild Cat Selfie Safari



Actually, I have nothing to do with the story.  I am simply cute.

 

 

 

 

A couple weeks ago in Port Royal, Florida a landscaper alerted one of his customers to a trespasser napping in one of the flowerbeds.

 

The owner checked it out.  Tucked between the side of the house and a shrub was what appeared to be a very large cat.  Acting quickly, the owner whipped out his phone to take a selfie of him looking at the cat.  Then he used the phone to call someone to report what he'd found.

 

Some folks from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission came.  The intruder was identified as a Florida Panther.  The panther probably swam over from Rookery Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve.  Male panthers, you see, need a territory of their own.  There was once only an estimated 30 Florida Panthers, now there are believed to be about 200, thanks to the genetic restoration project.  Since panthers prefer to have about 200 square miles to call their own, some are moving to the suburbs.

 

Soon the Port Royal flowerbed owner was taking a selfie of him watching a biologist shoot the cat with a tranquilizer then lift the animal onto a blanket to examine.  A short time later, the still tranquilized panther was placed in a Wildlife Commission truck.  The flowerbed owner had a picture taken of himself standing near the truck.

 

The panther will be released back into the wild but where is yet to be decided- probably not Rookery Bay.   

 

 

Will the next selfie be of the owner standing in his yard beside a sign that reads:  STAY OUT OF THE FLOWERBEDS? 

 

Stay tuned.

 

 

 

Read Naples Daily News Story here.