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"Welcome to panther country," Brian Kelly says when I met him at a busy intersection in East Naples, Florida, a stone's throw from a gas station and an urgent care center.
“歡迎來到美洲獅的國度。”我和布萊恩·凱利在佛羅里達州東那不勒斯一個繁忙的十字路口碰面時，他對我說。
Kelly, a state panther biologist, points east into the sprawling subdivision where he lives. A panther was caught on camera just a quarter mile away, he says, and another one made it across the six-lane road we're standing beside.
凱利是州政府單位的美洲獅生物學家，說這話時他朝東指著一片蔓延擴張的住宅區，他就住在那里。凱利說，有人在半公里外拍到一只美洲獅的蹤跡，也有人拍到美洲獅穿過我們身旁的六車道公路。
Yet another panther, an eight-year-old female named FP224, lives nearby. She's been hit by a car twice, breaking a leg each time. She was treated by veterinarians and released after both accidents. To look for signs of her, we drive to Kelly's house, next to a patch of forest where she recently denned and birthed at least three kittens. It's the wet season, when panther tracks typically are wiped out by rain, but we get lucky.
還有另一只美洲獅就住在附近，它是命名為FP224的八歲大母美洲獅，出過兩次車禍，每次都斷了一條腿。兩次事故后它都經獸醫治療后放歸。為了尋找它的蹤跡，我們驅車前往凱利家。凱利家旁邊有一片森林，這只母美洲獅最近在那里筑了巢穴，產下至少三只幼崽。此時恰是雨季，美洲獅的蹤跡往往會被雨水沖刷掉，但我們很幸運。
"There she is," Kelly says, pointing to large paw prints, about the size of my fist, in the soft sand. We follow the prints through tall pines and sabal palms festooned with air plants. A check of a motion-triggered camera trap Kelly placed there reveals that FP224 walked by just before 9 p.m., two evenings earlier.
“它在那里。”凱利指著軟沙中約有我拳頭大小的大掌印說道。我們隨著足跡穿過高大的松樹與鐵蘭點綴的菜棕。凱利設在那里的動態觸發式自動相機顯示，FP224在兩天前的晚上9點前曾路過此處。
