Panther Jumps Canal in Florida's Everglades

Occurred on October 26, 2016 / Lake Okeechobee, Florida, USA

Info from Licensor: "Two coworkers and I were conducting a site visit on a FL Everglade's Restoration Project, west of Lake Okeechobee, in October 2016. Our work that day was focused on the Crested Caracara. It was a cool morning, so the thought did cross my mind that it would be a good day to see a panther. While making our way through the project, one of my coworkers spotted a panther so we stopped the vehicle and turned it off. As I was trying to located the panther he saw, we realized we had four panthers in sight. A mother and three large kittens that were approximately 12+ months old. We assume this is the same family that was originally spotted in Jan 2016, when the kittens were just a few months old. One kitten was on the opposite side of an Ag ditch from the mother and the other two kittens. The lone kitten obviously wanted to cross the Ag ditch to link up with the others. We thought it was going to swim across the Ag ditch, but it took one easy 30ft leap across it instead. One of my coworkers was able to get some very nice panther stills and I was able to get an amazing video. Not only is the jump an amazing sight, but it is also important to note that it is very rare for a panther to have three kittens and all of them to survive birth much less to all survive to ~12+ months old. It is also rare to see them all at that age still with the mother. We posted the video while in the field on our Facebook pages and it went viral immediately. Before we even left the sight, we had the Wildlife Agency panther experts on the line. The following day, we had news stations calling the South Florida Water Management District Public Relations contacts to schedule an interview. I'm so thankful to have a job that I love and that allows me the chance to have these rare encounters with wildlife."