A year ago, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission invited the public to submit reports of any sightings or signs of the elusive Florida panther to a new website the agency had created.
The very first one that popped in turned out to be … a monkey. Specifically, a rhesus macaque roaming the woods near Silver Springs.
Panther biologists looked at the photo, looked at each other and said, "Oh, yeah, this is off to a greatstart," recalled biologist Dave Onorato.But among the other 789 reports submitted in the past 12 months, the biologists did see some actual panthers, said Darrell Land, who heads the wildlife commission's panther team. Five percent — about 40 — were sightings of panthers that could be verified through photos or tracks. Some of those verified sightings came with a story. One came from a couple living in the Golden Gate Estates development near Naples, Marc Strzodka and Saskia Fischer.READ MORE
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