A family in southwest Florida got quite the surprise on Christmas Eve when they spotted a panther roaming in the backyard of their home.
Sean Burlarley told NBC affiliate WBBH-TV he has seen all type of wildlife at the home in Lehigh Acres, but when he and his fiancé looked outside on Saturday they were in for quite a sight.
“It was like that big at the highest point and then about that long,” he said, motioning to how large he remembers the panther. “They are slender, but they are muscular.”
Burlarley said the big cat was about 15 feet away from the home.
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“It did not run off,” he said. “It’s just kind of step by step. And she would mess with it, like go meow meow, and it looked back.”
Officials said more sightings like this could be possible in South Florida with the population growing, despite the fact panthers are still considered endangered.
“We might be seeing more of them because their numbers do seem to be improving,” Florida Gulf Coast University biology professor Billy Gunnels said. “And in addition to improvement, they do seem to be moving further and further away from where we were seeing them in the 1990s.”
