One morning in early September as Annie San Martin wandered outside her home tucked amid the slash pines and dirt roads toward her cages of chickens, she noticed something terrible. Six of her Malaysian Serama hens were missing, save a severed foot and some feathers. During the night, some type of animal had slinked into her back yard, knocked over a large cage and carted off six helpings of a feathery take-out meal. And every few nights since then, the animal keeps coming back.Two and a half months later, the body count stands at 43 chickens, seven peafowl, and three rabbits."It's been going on ever since," said San Martin, 43, a Web designer. "This thing has a voracious appetite." Despite sleepless nights peering out the window, Martin has never caught a glimpse of the predator. But she and some of her neighbors think the culprit is a Florida panther. It has large paw prints. It scaled a 6-foot fence. It's been strong enough to topple heavy wooden cages. And just a few days before the first attack, Martin's across-the-street neighbor spied something drinking from her backyard pond."I know it was a panther," said Linda Halfacre, 57. "I went to get my camera and when I turned around it was gone."But officials from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission are skeptical that one of the few remaining endangered Florida panthers would wander all the way from its habitat in southwest Florida to the central reaches of Palm Beach County.
View: Full Article | Source: Palm Beach Post
a panther or one well fed chupracabra !!! 
