Alligators, Sharks & Panthers: Deadly Encounters with Florida's Top Predator - Man - Softcover

Charles Sobczak lives and writes on Sanibel Island. He has authored several fiction titles including Six Mornings on Sanibel. In his first nonfiction title, Sobczak explores the relationship between Florida's primal predators and the invasive nature of Homo sapiens into the Sunshine State.

"Alligators, Sharks & Panthers offers a perspective on Florida's wild predators in the context of human behavior and environmental pressures that may combine to result in disastrous events. Meticulous research details descriptions of actual attacks that draw the reader into the scene, while presenting an understanding of why these impressive predators do what they do. The author repeats sound advice throughout to avoid being a victim, and puts these events in their proper statistical context. The lessons taught are crucial to all who spend even leisurely time outdoors, especially along Florida's renowned waterways and beaches." --Fred Antonio, Herpitologist and Curator of The Central Florida Zoo

"Author Charles Sobczak, a talented and perceptive chronicler of our tropical paradise, has struck literary pat dirt once again. His new book, Alligators, Sharks & Panthers, is a gripping account of the predatory creatures who live on our lands and in our waters and their effort to acclimate to man's ever burgeoning population in wildlife habitats. Sobczak's thorough historical research, copilation of fact, folklore and chilling documentation of actual attacks on humans intrigues and often terrorizes the stunned reader." --Priscilla Friedersdorf, The Island Sun

"Anyone who lived in Florida, especially the majority of us who are transplants, knows of the adjustment one makes to having a prehistoric monster possibly living or visiting one's backyard or a man-eating fish swimming in the same waters we do on a sunny afternoon. This book will teach you respect rather than fear as it explains the animals' habits and motivations and concludes that if we understand that we are the trespassers on their territory and behave accordingly, we will be safer. Sobczak also points out that if we protect their territory,, even while we are protection ourselves through knowledge and care, they are protecting us because our efforts to provide enough natural habitat for the panther to roam, and if we keep the waters and environment natural and clean for the alligators and sharks, we are repaid by having an environment that is healthy enough to live in too." --Nola Theiss, The Islander