City planner sees large upright animal while touring property near Punta Gorda witnessed in Charlotte County, Florida

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In the spring of 2006 several members of the county's development review team (planners, engineers and legal) were invited to tour a 90,000 acre ranch that was proposed for development. The intent was to give the reviewers a 'base-line' as to existing conditions, identify areas to be developed and areas proposed to be established as a nature preserve. The developer provided a 'swamp buggy' for the tour. It was an old, modified (top removed) school bus with large tires. It maneuvered around the ranch, much of which was swamp, for a little more than two hours. The ranch extremely active with wildlife ' the fields and pastures with deer and wild pigs; the swamp with large birds and dozens of gators. Although the ranch was laced with timber and crop roads, many were flooded from a very wet winter / spring and therefore the swamp buggy was forced to take routes not often traveled. Near the end of the tour about two miles from the ranch's bunk houses and barns, the driver had to tap his brea...