Definetely a Florida Story!

Pitman, Craig.  Cat Tale: The Wild, Weird Battle to Save the Florida Panther.  Toronto: Hanover
          Square Press, 2020.  ISBN: 978-1-335-93880-0

Cougar, mountain lion, catamount, puma, and panther - different names for basically the same beast - an agile, wily, ambush hunter who roams where he or she wants.  Or at least that used to be the case until humans built homes, stores, farms, and especially roads in the panther territory.  And kept on building until panthers were squeezed into swamps, and few remained alive.  That was the situation at the beginning of Cat Tale, but the book tells the rest of the panther's story.

Craig Pittman brings the reader along on a ride through the recent history of the Florida panther, its downfall, almost extinction, and finally its rebirth.  This being Florida, of course weirdness comes along for the ride.  The Skunk Ape makes an appearance, greedy land developers play a part, noble hunters, intense scientists, whistle blowers who expose phony science, and then of course the panthers themselves.  Not all the villains are nasty and not all the heroes are true, but they all can be entertaining in their own way.

So if you want to read a tale of fortitude (on the part of the panthers and some humans), dastardly deeds done in the name of science, and a roaring good tale, pick up Cat Tale, sit back, and enjoy reading a true tale of how the Florida panthers not only survived but are now thriving and spreading!