“Very few people have ever gotten this close to a wild Florida panther,” says Garrett Galvin, a Florida wildlife enthusiast, in a video showing his up-close footage of a Florida panther in the Everglades. Galvin frequently roams the Everglades at night, looking for a “20 footer” (a 20-foot Burmese python, which is an invasive species).
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“A once in a lifetime experience getting this close to a endangered Florida Panther!” Galvin wrote in an Instagram post sharing a photo of the animal. “It’s not the 20 footer, but in my opinion it’s just as good!”
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Florida panthers (Puma concolor coryi) are a subspecies of mountain lion that live in the wilds of southern Florida. In the past, these animals lived throughout the southeastern United States, but the National Park Service says there are fewer than 100 Florida panthers today, and they all live in south Florida.
“Florida panthers were heavily hunted after 1832 when a bounty on panthers was created,” NPS says. “Perceived as a threat to humans, livestock, and game animals, the species was nearly extinct by the mid-1950s.”
Though the population of Florida panthers is slowly recovering, they’re still rare. That’s why Galvin felt overjoyed when he came across this elusive animal.
See the Florida panther, a top Everglades predator, here (scroll down to see his video):
Here’s Galvin’s footage of the panther (and many other Everglades species):
Header stock image of a wild Florida panther by Jeff Paules/Getty Images
