A trail camera on public lands in southwest Florida captured a mystery animal—a feline of some sort that has only three clearly visible legs. The South Florida Wildlands Association, a nonprofit organization that works to protect wildlife in the greater Everglades ecosystem, shared the photo asking the community for help identifying the mystery animal.
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“[It] looks a little bit wrong and a little bit right for a number of different species,” the association wrote in its Facebook post sharing the video. “Anyone want to venture a guess?”
Many commenters chime in saying it’s nothing more than a feral cat trying to make it in the wild. But the South Florida Wildlands Association points out that the trail cam is in a place that’s also home to small and medium-sized wild cats like bobcats and panthers.
In this environment, the life expectancy of a domestic cat would not be very long, but that doesn’t mean one isn’t surviving out there going (mostly) undetected. It doesn’t have that stocky build of a panther, and its tail is pretty long for a bobcat . . .
What do you think about this mystery animal in Florida? Take a look here:
What do you think? Do you agree with the South Florida Wildlands Association?
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This definitely looks like a domestic cat. It doesn’t have the size or build of a Florida panther or bobcat. It’s also melanistic, which would be extremely rare for either of these species. It could be someone’s pet that escaped, such as a melanistic Savannah cat or a Chausie, which are large cats. It’s not a leopard nor jaguar.