Florida Panther Sighting? 4-15-19-READ DESCRIPTION BELOW BEFORE WATCHING!

Our video camera at our barn caught what looks like a Florida panther on April 15, 2019 at roughly 3:19am. The deer were in the frames for about 30-45 minutes leading up to the sighting. They were all acting agitated and on high alert. When the video starts, you see a doe that obviously sees, hears, or smells something that spooks her. After she runs away to the left of the frame, the video froze for about 10 seconds. You then see what we believe is a panther moving quickly away from the camera, from the bottom of the frame. We believe it first came toward the camera from the direction the doe was looking before she ran off, at the time the video froze and therefore you don't see it until it moves away from the camera.

There are two points of the video that gave us perspective to measure its size. One was when she was against the right side fence. It's withers came up to the bottom of the 2nd board, which measures 24 inches. The second time was straight ahead. You can briefly see it's eyes, which were at the level of the 2nd board of that fence. That board measures roughly 26 inches from the ground. Both of these measurements are consistent for a female or young male panther.

Bear in mind that it's pitch dark and the video was recorded using night vision. Not the greatest quality, but still good enough to make what we believe is a accurate sighting.

[rogerlockwood]

I am sure it was. My wife spotted one on Old Ranch Road last summer sitting on it's back legs staring at her, slightly into our wooded area. We are right on the edge of the park. She has no doubt it was a panther, due to it's long tail and size. I haven't been able to get a game cam shot yet.

[michaelmyers]

I want a refund... I need my 1 minute and 38 seconds back

[AlexTrain]

1:09-1:34 It definitely walks like a cat but it’s tail looks a bit too pointy to be a panther to me. Usually their tails are more rounded at the ends even when running.

[cscottsilver]

It's unbelievable how triggered some people are getting over this video. This is one hateful, fucked up country we live in. No wonder the entire world laughs and shuns us. If you're gonna type something rude, then make sure you fuck off afterwards. Thanks.

[justvin]

When you say panther what do you mean?

[riksye]

I've watched this over and over, I'm 95% sure this is a wild LYNX... It has the height and frame of the one in the video plus its roughly the same colour.

[bal]

Where is this? Im guessing USA based on the funny date format

[genericname]

I was shown this when googling the Lithgow panther and I suspect, based on some of your replies, there are others mistakingly believing you’re trying to prove you spotted a panther in Australia. I think that’s why some people are being extra skeptical. Especially since the panthers sighted here are typically black panthers, particularly the Lithgow panther.

I think the video looks like it shows a tan coloured panther, what I’d typically think to call a mountain lion. I think it looks too big to be a typical domestic cat, it’s a bit too long, but it’s hard to judge its size because it’s staying pretty low as it moves. The way it skulks away along the fence looks very cat like to me. Plus, the patterning looks like that of a mountain lion to me. I think it’s pretty believable that this is a mountain lion in Florida, a place in the world where they’re considered rare but not mythical. However, it’s not as convincing when people approach this video thinking you’re trying to prove there’s black panthers in the Blue Mountains of NSW Australia lol. I don’t think this looks at all like a coyote, for what it’s worth, but I’m not super familiar with coyotes; I just noticed you had a few people who knew this wasn’t Australia suggesting it was a coyote or lynx.

I recommend mentioning this is in Florida in the title or early in the description. As someone trying to find footage of panthers in Australia, your video was one of the first I was recommended and I can tell from your comments section that I’m not the only one thinking this was meant to be an Australian sighting. Notice you’ve either got people mentioning Australia directly or dismissing the video by calling you “mate”. Also some people saying it’s a goanna lol looks nothing like a goanna to me and I’m pretty sure I’m right on that one if this is footage from Florida. This is very believably a mountain lion in Florida imo, but very unbelievably a panther in NSW Australia. The relatively small size makes it easy enough to dismiss as a large feral cat, which are pretty common in rural Australia. Someone said it might be a fox, which are also pretty common in rural Australia, but it doesn’t look like a fox to me.


There’s also commenters who seem unaware mountain lions, cougars, pumas, and panthers are all the same animal. Different names in different regions and some names are more closely associated with specific coats.

[docbainl]

I'm a big cat believer HOWEVER this one was literally just your typical Aussie feral cat. The landscape is littered with them. It had no predatory movement what so ever and it was skulking. Also look at its size in relation to the fence. You could clearly see the deer and how large it was. This cat was your average house cat size. Look at it in relation to the fence and fence line. A big cat would have been as easy to spot as that deer was at that angle.

Good try though.

[ballconei]

There's a skunk towards the end if thats what you mean.

[hzh]

if you go to 0:21 you can see how big the deer is compared to the "panther" -> 1:09