iStockphoto / passion4nature
Floridian Cathy Terry stopped for what she referred to as a ‘Polk County traffic jam,’ which is what some people in that area call an alligator crossing the street.
She stopped and pulled out her phone to take a picture or video of the gator crossing the road, as we do every day here in Florida, but that’s when she realized how special the encounter was.
Hot on the heels of the alligator was a particularly large bobcat for Central Florida and the bobcat was stalking the alligator for reasons we can only assume.
On Facebook, Cathy Terry wrote that it was “one of the most amazing things (she’d) EVER seen!” She called it a ‘once in a lifetime’ encounter. And did say the ‘bobcat eventually gave up’ so the alligator made it out of there with its tail intact.
In addition to the video, she uploaded still images of the large bobcat stalking the alligator.
Polk County, Florida is home to a LOT of alligators and probably bobcats as well, but they hide better than gators. It is a count in Central Florida that includes Lakeland and borders the Three Lakes Wildlife Management Area.
There is a lot of undeveloped land in that part of Florida which means there is a LOT of wildlife. So while encounters like this are rare, to be sure, it isn’t surprising to me as a native Floridian that Polk County is where this footage was filmed.