Monday, February 24, 2014 
										1:22 PM

"A Large Feral Cat"

	I was sitting quietly on the swing at the "Fakahatchee Hilton".  I heard a faint something so I looked to my right.  A panther came loping by.  It sure had a beautiful long tail.  It went right by and headed down the trail in the direction that Fred had taken a short while before.  I jumped up and yelled "Fred, Fred" several times, and then, "Fred, watch out!".  I was so afraid he would miss seeing it.  Then, I thought he might really need to watch out.
										Alyce Townsend

	A 10-person bicycle tour group had preceded us on our hike to have lunch at the "fishing cabin".  They occupied the porch of the cabin while we ate our lunch on the dock leading out to the alligator pond.  Before they left to return to Jane's Drive, the bicycle tour leader led the group a little farther down the trail for a brief lecture about something of interest.  After the group left, Alyce and I finished our lunch.  She went to lounge on the old rustic porch swing on the porch of the cabin.  I continued down the trail about 200 yards to see what had interested the bicycle group.  I was about to turn back when I heard Alyce calling to me.  I thought she just didn't want me to stray too far away in alligator country.  When her calling became urgent yelling, I looked back toward the cabin and saw a form on the trail.  After a quick look through my binoculars, I saw that the form was a "large feral cat" coming toward me on the trail.  I managed to "keep my cool" while I got out my pocket camera and took a series of exposures, using zoom as appropriate, as the cat came toward me.  As it came closer, I started to think about what I was supposed to do as defensive measures.  I decided that at the last moment I would just switch the camera to video and record the first documented close encounter between a human (me) and a beautiful Florida Panther.  Fortunately, I didn't get any video because the cat came to about 30 feet from me before veering to its left, splashing into the canal along the trail, and disappearing into the swamp.

										Fred Townsend