GTA Online players “terrified” after discovering uncaged black panther in Cayo Perico

Alec Mullins
GTA Online's Cayo Perico heist is one of the most rewarding missions in the game.

GTA Online’s Cayo Perico heist has players running scared thanks to an incident with its infamous black panther.

The Cayo Perico Heist is widely acknowledged as the crowning achievement in Grand Theft Auto Online. Ever since its release back in 2020, players have heaped praise on it for successfully bringing together every part of what makes the franchise so fun to play, and it doesn’t hurt that it’s easily one of the best ways to earn money even after being nerfed.

All of that combines to keep players running back to take on El Rubio and run off with all of his blood money whenever they’re a little strapped for cash. While you’d think that means the entire player base would have the adventure memorized, even seasoned vets are getting shocked by this run-in with the island’s signature exotic animal.

Cayo Perico’s black panther is scaring the life out of GTA Online players

The panther of Cayo Perico is not only a creature that you can interact with, but its famed statue is also one of the most valuable items in the entire loot pool. It’s a primary objective for most looters who take on the heist and will net them quite a sum of money if they manage to escape with it.

While getting out alive might be easy enough for veteran criminals, it’s certainly much harder if you get scared to death by the beast itself.

This feature has been around for quite some time, but the actual encounter rate is pretty low since the animal doesn’t seem to spawn in a static location each time.

Fans gathered to laugh about this player’s first time seeing it though, claiming that the residents of the island must have had enough of getting robbed if they were ready to unleash the panther on their assailants.

Another commenter joked this could be an unintentional promotion for the upcoming Marvel Studios flick that shares a name with the animal.

“It’s just a little Wakanda Forever teaser. Keep on walkin’,” they said.

It’s worth noting that this interaction only happens after players are caught and the big bad gives the alert that the panther is out of the cage, so anyone hoping to get a look for themselves will need to spend some time hunting for it after the alarm bells have sounded.