That's exciting! It is _very_ rare to see a wild cat. We have bobcats here, too, but you only see them dead on the road. Some people claim to have seen a Florida Panther up in the woods here, but it would be way out of its normal range. There certainly is enough undeveloped space for panthers and bears to move north if they had to, because of territorial pressure, though. (I _do_ worry about the wild pigs when I am trail running- those guys are big and mean! And bears if I am down in the Ocala Forest.) They are talking about relocating some of the panthers to states further north to re-establish the original territory. I don't think Florida Panthers go for people like the cougars out west do. A bunch of people on the ultrarunners list knew that lady that got eaten- what a way to go. Still, I would never support slaughter of cougars because of it.

Nanci