Florida panther hanging around Mets' spring-training complex, Buck Showalter reports
Mets manager Buck Showalter talks to the press during practice at the Clover Park baseball fields in Port St. Lucie, Fla., on Friday. Credit: Octavio Jones
PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. — From the Polar Bear and Flying Squirrel to rats and/or raccoons, animals have been featured aplenty in Mets storylines in recent years. And it seems they may have another.
Buck Showalter relayed Friday that there has been a Florida panther skulking around the Mets’ Clover Park complex, which is built next to swampy woodland. A groundskeeper reported finding huge paw prints near second base one recent morning, and there is a patch of dead grass in the outfield that apparently was victimized by the big cat hearing nature’s call.
A lightheartedly nervous Showalter said he hadn’t seen the panther himself. He cracked that he asked first-base coach Wayne Kirby to stay overnight and take photos of the animal when it appears.
"I’m going to tell whoever is playing center — whoever that is — that if they hear anything ruffling behind them, run," Showalter said.
The Florida panther, an endangered species, has been the official state animal since 1982, according to the Florida Department of State. They can grow longer than six feet, eat deer and inspired the name of the NHL’s Florida Panthers.
