Free Republic

This house is located in a woody area outside of the city of Naples, where lots of wild animals walk around, like bears and panthers. Keep your pets safe if you live in an area like this!Video here. Action ends at 0:30.

Since Florida’s frontier days when cattlemen drove their herds through the state’s vast fields and forests, ranchers and native panthers have been natural enemies. The ranchers seek to nurture and protect their calves, while the panthers see them as prey. Human development won the battle, driving the large, tawny, cats to the brink of extinction before successful efforts to restore them began decades ago. But with Florida’s panther population recovering, some farmers complain the protected 6-to-7-foot long predators are once again killing their calves. …

The panther a hunter shot last year in Troup County was a Florida panther which likely wandered north, officials said Wednesday after genetic testing showed it was a federally protected animal. A deer hunter last November shot the panther when he observed the cat from his tree stand. Genetic testing by the National Cancer Institute, Laboratory of Genomic Diversity, indicated that the panther came from a resident southern Florida population, the United States Fish and Wildlife Service announced. The hunter reported the killing to the Georgia Department of Natural Resources and has not been charged in the case. Authorities took...