May 18, 2012
By Kevin P. Connolly, OrlandoSentinel.com
A 45-year-old Naples man faces as much as a year in prison and a fine of up to $100,000 for killing a Florida Panther with a bow and arrow in Collier County on October 9, 2009.
Todd Alan Benfield, 45, pleaded guilty to violating the Endangered Species Act when he intentionally shot the animal with a compound bow and a 3-blade broadhead-tipped arrow from a tree stand in the Golden Gate Estates area of Collier County on Oct. 8, 2009, the U.S. Attorney’s Office announced today.
The next day, Benfield and another person moved the panther in an attempt to hide the carcass. The day after that, “Benfield removed his tree stand from the area in an effort to conceal the fact that he had killed the panther,” the U.S. Attorney’s Office said in a report.