I had never seen this Florida Panther out in the open before. Every time I have been to Flamingo Gardens he has been hidden completely out of sight, except for the one time when I caught a just fleeting glimpse of his back half as he retreated to the far back edge of his habitat. Today, there was a professional photographer videotaping him. It appears that the garden's staff member had been able to coax him to the front of his habitat for the photo shoot. When I saw that, I grabbed my camera and a spot near where they were photographing to take my own shots of this large, magnificent animal. Florida Panthers were once on the brink of extinction. There are now an estimated 100-160 of them in existence.
