Video: Rare Florida panther startles woman

NAPLES (FOX 13) - A woman's momentary encounter with one of Florida's most elusive creatures is getting national attention.

Tuesday night, Tina Dorschel shared a 15-second video on Facebook showing a Florida panther running by her as she was out for her daily stroll.

The footage shows her running along an elevated wooded boardwalk at the Audubon Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary north of Naples. The panther scampers by but she manages to hold the phone up to record the animal, even though she's clearly startled.

"On on [sic] early morning nature walk we saw a gator, a snake, frogs, pretty birds, and had this unexpected encounter," her post stated. "Warning...curse word at end!"

The footage has since been shared by Facebook users all over the country and picked up by a number of websites. FOX 13 has reached out to Dorschel for more about her encounter, but we have not heard anything back.

Meanwhile, her video comes just days after a Lee County man took a photo of a panther hanging out on his porch. Phil Hendra says the panther he photographed hung out on his parent's porch in East Fort Myers for 20 minutes.

Wildlife experts say there may only be 100 panthers left in the wild.

WATCH:

On on early morning nature walk we saw a gator, a snake, frogs, pretty birds, and had this unexpected encounter. (Warning...curse word at end!)