FORT MYERS, Florida, March 30. (UPI). A Florida resident met an unexpected guest while visiting his father’s house in Fort Myers – a Florida panther sitting on the porch.
Florida Fish and Wildlife has shared a photo taken by Phil Hendra of a panther staring at the camera as it relaxes quietly on his father’s porch. “She stayed for about 20 minutes and lay down for a short while,” Hendra said. “He looked at us out the window, then slowly left, and we haven’t seen him since.”
Hendra said he had at least one run-in with a young panther in the nearly 30 years that his father lived in a house in Lee County, but they were still shocked to find the animal.
“My parents have lived here since 1988, and they may have seen a younger panther about two years ago, but nothing beats this once in a lifetime experience,” he said.
The Fish and Wildlife Research Institute also denied false reports that the sighting took place in the Oldsmar area of Pinellas County.