Rally Cat

Chances are, you’ve never seen Florida’s official state animal in the wild—not even you rural Floridians. Florida panthers are stealthy creatures, despite their size, and do most of their prowling from dusk to dawn. More important, they’re profoundly scarce. The state’s best population estimates range from 120 to 230 panthers.

Twenty-five years ago, however, those sighting chances were close to nil, and the odds were looking strong that, within a decade