Help identifying strange cat caught on trail cam

[wingtime]

Ok guys my buddy was looking at his trail cam photos when he found this pic of a wild cat of some type.  I looked around online but i could not find out what the heck it is...  the closest thing I could find is a Ocelot maybe?  Anyone have an idea?

[seabob4]

Where at, Bruce?  Possibly a panther kit?

[gran398]

Yep, that's an ocelot.

[slvrlng]

Looks like a Margay to me. Pattern is different on a Ocelot they look more like a jaguar.

[gran398]

The fence in the background sorta removes the "wild" aspect....

[icemanbryan]

Look at the neck pattern
very Ocelot

[wingtime]

The camera is in the woods in east Tarpon Springs near Old Keystone road near the county well fields (few thousand acres) and a county nature preserve. The camera has some weird strobe effect that created the lines...  it's not a fence.  My buddy bow hunts for deer off his property there.

[seabob4]

Doing the research Bruce, it sure looks like an Ocelot.  Seeing as it's native habitat reaches from southern TX down into CA and SA, it DEFINITELY is non-native...

[gran398]

The camera is in the woods in east Tarpon Springs near Old Keystone road near the county well fields (few thousand acres) and a county nature preserve. The camera has some weird strobe effect that created the lines...  it's not a fence.  My buddy bow hunts for deer off his property there.

gotcha :flower:

[wingtime]

the markings on it's head and neck look Ocelot but the body markings are a bit off.... but I'm sure they vary.  I told him to send it to FWC.

[HIFLUTIN]

Is that out by the Starkey Ranch area?
Lotsa game out that area.

[seabob4]

Is that out by the Starkey Ranch area?
Lotsa game out that area.

Was just past there the other day, across 54 from Land O' Lakes to NPR...

[John Jones]

I have a friend that is pretty good with animal ID.  I'll ask him.

[gran398]

Ok guys my buddy was looking at his trail cam photos when he found this pic of a wild cat of some type.  I looked around online but i could not find out what the heck it is...  the closest thing I could find is a Ocelot maybe?  Anyone have an idea?

Check his pic, and this one:

http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/a ... ls/ocelot/

[John Jones]

Okay.  My friend who was licensed for years in FL for animal removal said ocelot.  He says there are a few scattered around FL but no breeding populations known.