Amazing Sighting at Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary

Early on a Saturday morning in March, Jo Gryniewicz, a photographer visiting from Pennsylvania, went out to the boardwalk. Very shortly thereafter, she had a life-changing expertise when she noticed and photographed a Florida panther about 30 ft away. Together with her lengthy lens already in her palms, she was in a position to snap just a few fast photographs earlier than it took off. She was type sufficient to share her uncropped picture with us.

Florida panthers are very timid, however encounters like this have taken place on the Sanctuary just a few instances in current many years. This time, the fortunate customer managed to maintain her cool lengthy sufficient to get proof. 

Florida panthers are the one remaining cougars within the jap United States, with about 200 adults within the wild as of 2025. As prime predators, panthers are territorial and require 150 to 200 sq. miles for one male and several other females.

Urbanization and habitat fragmentation throughout South Florida frequently confine panthers to smaller areas, leading to territorial fights between them, a rise in automobile strikes, and extra human-panther interactions generally.

Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary protects 13,000 acres of the land that these cats want for survival, however their habitat is shrinking. Defending them additionally means defending our watersheds and human communities.