HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY, Fla. (WFLA) – A Valrico couple had an unexpected guest while having their morning coffee Monday.

What began as a normal morning routine for the Dowdy family, turned quite chaotic after spotting a critter that looked like a Florida panther behind their home.

Ben Dowdy’s wife first spotted the tan-colored cat and immediately yelled out for him to, “Come look at this!!!”

Dowdy says there’s no chance the cat was just an ordinary neighborhood pet, “He was probably about five…five and a half feet long. He was pretty big. He was real calm and just real docile.

Apparently, it’s not the only wildlife seen in this neck of the woods.

“We saw a fox yesterday,” says neighbor Syndi Butler who raises chickens next door to the Dowdys. She said, “Typically it’s just usually possums and skunks and raccoons.” She also told News Channel 8 the FWC doesn’t think the reported panther was after her hens, “They told us that they suspected it was after a deer or larger animal.”

Dowdy says, two deputies responding to the Dowdy’s backyard also witnessed the curious cat, “I think they thought I was crazy but then they both saw it and ran but then they said, ‘Oh, it’s confirmed.’”

And while the potential Florida panther is gone for now, Dowdy says he’ll never look at their backyard the same way, “We may want to come out and look a little more often…little did I know we’d have a safari in our backyard!”

The FWC estimates there could be as few as 120 wild, adult panthers roaming the state of Florida.STORIES OTHERS ARE CLICKING ON-