Sunday, April 15, 2012 - Last Ride Day with Brother

Brother discovers "You Are Here" on Hungryland kiosk

Took most of the day to work on logistics for the week, until my brother was finally ready to go for his last ride (we left at 3:00!), this time heading out the old Indiantown grade (after crossing the canal) to the west toward Pratt Whitney road. Mostly walking again... Sigh... After reaching the road, we turned around and headed back, passing a couple walking their little dog on the trail. About halfway back, the horses started to go crazy, snorting and stomping. We assumed it was pigs, being that it was so late in the day and they would likely be coming out then. Then I suddenly noticed an animal about 100 feet ahead of us. At first I thought it was a dog, as it was about the size of Marina, our lab mix (70 pounds), and it, too, was a gold color. Then it started to move across the road, and it moved like a cat. I quickly pointed it out to my brother, and he got a good look, too, before it went into the woods on the other side of the road. We both agreed it had to be a Florida panther, a highly endangered animal that only has an estimated 100-160 members, though according to a map I saw on Wikipedia as to their range, not as far east as we saw this one. We rode back to the couple with the dog to let them know they might want to keep an eye on their dog so it didn’t become cat food, then headed back again, still fighting with the horses, who were not happy we were going back toward where the cat was! We finally passed the area and they eventually settled down. Later we saw some cyclists and warned them about the cat, too, and we had a discussion about a sighting that they had had some time ago, but when they called it in, the "authorities" tried to convince them it had to be a bobcat, not a panther (we all knew the difference) but they couldn’t be persuaded. I decided not to report it, as I believe the animals are better off without our intervention most of the time anyway. It was pretty cool though! Got back late (not surprising considering when we started), got the horses settled in, chatted with my brother for a bit over a beer, then settled in for dinner and a quiet evening.