I once owned a house on wooded acreage that backed up to 1000 acres of state land in Washington north of Seattle. There were trails through the woods in the back. I would go walking out there with my dogs and cats as company. Every time I came to a certain place, the animals would refuse to go any further, no matter how much I encouraged them. The dogs would stop, and one of the cats would scale a tree and meow at me.
I didn't think anything about it until one day I noticed a large paw print in a muddy area where there was a trickle of a natural spring. The paw print was as large as my hand -- much larger than my Golden Retriever could make. I avoided walking there unless I had better company with me than the house pets. My husband said I was nuts; the print was big just because it was muddy.
We moved away and the County bought the house and land to serve as an entrance to the State land which they subsequently converted into a wilderness park. You can imagine my chagrin when I visited my former homestead several years later and found posted warnings from the County: "BEWARE of PANTHERS when walking on these trails!"