The black panther thing has been "seen" around here since I was a kid. And many times they refer to them as a Florida Black Panther.
THERE IS NO SUCH THING! and I cannot tell you how many first hand sighting are reported each year. (In NC)
I'm sure people are seeing something, I don't mean to sound like folks are just making it up (but in some cases they are). But probably most of the times they see a dog crossing the road really fast at night or a coyote or bobcat or young. bear? Who knows?
The average person could not tell a cougar track apart from a dog, coyote or bobcat. And certainly not a mom and cub track... Could be anything. But I do know there is a "Need" for people to believe in (and see and report) black panthers, bigfoots, lizard man and a sundry of other stuff.

What made it worse is when the football team came to North Carolina and they use a Black Panther for the mascot of the Carolina Panthers...


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Who did the research in that was a real brain surgeon. At LEAST Florida, Jacksonville team called themselves Jaguars....