(It's AI ... although we have had a bear around all week, it remained out of sight ... the raccoons, groundhogs, and foxes did not remain out of sight, however.
Several years ago at the cabin, around two in the morning we heard a crashing sound outside, I got up and turned on the porch lights and a bear was staring at me through the window in the door, paws up! I banged on the door and he ran away. The grill was laying on the ground in pieces! I managed to fix the grill the next morning.
I have never lived in big cat country.
I saw a panther when I lived in Fl but they are not very big. I was more worried about the wild bore. They can be nasty critters.