The first of these sightings occurred in Marion County in 1977. Thereafter, sightings occurred in Lake County in 1980, in Broward County in 1980, in Citrus County in 1983, in Volusia County in 1989, and in Collier County in 1993 and 1997. Some of these sightings were only of footprint evidence although several of the witnesses claimed to have seen the animal itself.
The most recent, and interesting, of these sightings took place in Collier County in the Big Cypress National Preserve on July 16th, 18th, 21st, and 24th. Witnesses included the local fire-chief, two tour guides and their tour buses filled with tourists, a local realtor, and a young couple.
The town of Ochopee is located 60 miles West of Miami and 30 miles east of Naples in the Big Cypress National Preserve, a portion of the Everglades which is considered a Wildlife Management Area. (Hunting and fishing are allowed in Big Cypress.) The tiny town is home to only a handful of residents.
The first sighting occurred on July 16th when a tour guide and his clients observed a large, reddish-brown animal standing near a burned out bride on the west side of Turner River Road behind some cypress trees. The animal reportedly looked agitated as it was shaking the branches as if to drive the people off. The tour guide drove off after a while to get his camera. When he returned the animal was gone and no signs of it could be found. (None of the tourists could be persuaded to disembark the bus to photograph the creature.)
Subsequent sightings included another group of tourists, the fire-chief (who took the only photograph of the animal at a distance of approximately 100 yards with a camera he keeps in his car to photograph accident scenes), a local realtor who believes in the existence of the Skunk Ape, and a young couple who had been observing wildlife in the area.
CK, Florida November 1997
