My first time seeing Isla Palenque Ben and I had a boat drop us off and we went walking along the 4,100 foot crescent shaped beach, the only people for miles. I love animals of all kinds, so I had my eyes peeled for critters the entire time. We saw lots of tiny hermit crabs scurrying out of our way and a family of domesticated pigs, left there by the previous owner, feasting on them. We listened for the cries of birds and monkeys.We saw the footprints of the caretaker’s dogs, who must have a blast chasing those pigs.

Then I saw this:

I am not a scientist, but this looks to my layman’s eye like a giant cat print. Now, I love animals but I am completely devoted to cats. I feel like I know what a cat print looks like — and this was a whole lot bigger than any I’d seen before. So I photographed it. You can see how it’s round, making it different from the pointier dog prints here:

The dog prints are pointy and show nails, which cats retract when they walk. Dogs can’t retract their nails. So, I’m thinking it’s a big cat. I’m excited. There was a whole trail of them. I followed it:

You can see how the prints are in a straight line. Cats put one foot in front of the other, unlike dogs who make two lines with their tracks.  This is a big cat. Here’s me holding my hand up to get a sense of the paw size as they disappeared into the underbrush:

This was almost two years ago, and in that time I haven’t been able to find a single person who will believe me. The guys who did the environmental survey said it couldn’t be, and no local we’d ever talked to remembered seeing evidence of a big cat anywhere. I’ve been stubbornly proclaiming my belief all this time, but who’s going to believe me? I’m a marketing director, not a zoologist.

TODAY: I read this post by Panama Big Game Fishing Club on the Saltwater Fishing Forum. It’s from someone who was walking on Isla Boca Brava, which is connected to Isla Palenque by a narrow land bridge:

We have our own version of Big Foot now – Steve was walking with his camera out one morning to get some photos of the Monkeys and ran across a big black cat. Photo is very fuzzy but you can see by the tail that it is not a dog. With so many Howler Monkeys and all the other wild life here on Boca Brava Island it would not have to work hard for a meal.

Jaguar sighting:
“On a fishing trip to the Panama Big Game Fishing Lodge-this is back in the jungle with no roads, only river access. Like a 4-Star boy scout camp for adults. Got up early to explore the surroundings and soon found myself eyeball to eyeball with a very large black cat! He was about 30 meters away when he suddenly turned and slinked walked away down a narrow trail; luckily I had my camera and whipped it up and got a hurried shot! Back at the lodge the boys accused me of knocking back Jack Daniels for breakfast! But I had proof-the owner had never seen a jaguar on the Island before.” Steve

And here is the photo:

I know the photo is as blurry as a Bigfoot sighting — but I’m excited! Not only do I get to be right (which I love), but if I am patient enough, maybe someday I’ll see one there myself. I know what you’re thinking: “Isn’t this a scary, dangerous thing that you wouldn’t want on your island?” My answer is, it’s their island. We are just lightly perching on it. Besides, if you  know anything about cats, you know that they are mostly nocturnal and shy of humans (which is why no one’s ever seen one until now). And this one’s prey is probably more the size of an iguana or a monkey than a human. I think, unless you raid its den, you’re safe.

Besides, look how gorgeous they are. If I ran into one of them in the middle of the jungle, my last words might just be, “To die for.”

Prrrrrrrrr.