I’d like to update the excellent writeup, Panther , of February 2001 by jafuser. At that time the Florida Panther had been on the federal endangered list since 1967, on the Florida endangered list since 1973, and the known population in South Florida was between 30 to 50 adults.

Today, according to the National Park Service, there are between 80 and 100 of these big tawny cats in the same area. That is both good and bad news.

Panthers, also called “catamounts” or “painters”, were once common throughout the southeastern United States. Today they are reduced to small numbers such as the Florida panthers found mainly in a national wildlife refuge in Collier County, Florida, south of Lake Okeechobee, a remote area of cypress swamps and hardwood hammocks. There have also been numerous sightings in recent years in adjacent counties in the southern tip of the Florida peninsula. Panthers are such elusive animals that they can be established within a mile of a suburban area without ever being sighted. Often only spoor and prey carcasses are evidence of their existence.

Panthers like the same habitat as the whitetail deer, their preferred prey. Unfortunately, more and more of Florida wetlands are being drained, more and more of the dry scrub and flatwoods are being cleared for human habitation.

The immediate problem today for the increased panther population is that there is basically no space for romance. Panthers are solitary; they do not live in prides as do lions. A male panther has a territory of roughly 250 square miles. This will normally overlap the territory of several breeding females, who have smaller territories approximately half the size of the males. Females are tolerant of each other and can co-exist, but the males are fiercely territorial.

Males mature at about three years of age, but they will not attempt to breed until they have established a territory. The young panthers who were born in and around the Everglades National Park are now roaming hundreds of miles in search of unattached females. In the past panthers have been persecuted out of fear and misunderstanding, but it must also be noted that there are documented records of panthers injuring and killing humans.

Panthers have been protected from legal hunting in Florida since 1958 and it is a federal crime to kill one. Exceptions can be made if an animal is destroyed to protect humans. The Miccosukee Indians, whose Florida reservation is east of the panther preserve, have categorically advised state and federal wildlife agencies that any panthers entering tribal property will be killed. The tribe’s chairman wrote, “We will not allow these animals to harm anyone, especially children.”

Wildlife management officials are well aware of the problems between humans and panthers. Their agencies prefer to keep the panther-human interactions to a minimum. In the American West there have been highly publicized attacks on humans – hikers killed on mountain trails, children attacked in daylight in less remote settings.

At the moment, this is not a problem with the Florida Panther. A spokesman for the Florida Wildlife Federation said, however, that if the panthers make a comeback and are no longer endangered, “they’re going to need to be managed. By managed that may mean lethal control in some cases.”

The problem, then, for Florida's panthers, is that they need remote areas where they can spread out. Close quarters are not only a territorial problem but are also a health problem. While habitat loss and hunting were the principal reasons for their decline in the past, today’s animals are much more likely to become extinct because of genetic defects resulting from inbreeding among the remaining population.

Two solutions have been presented. The first is to open areas via wildlife corridors and stock these areas with breeding females from other parts of the country. The second solution is to breed in captivity for release in the wild. Both cases, however, demand vast acreage of undeveloped land and a tolerance of panthers on the part of humans.

www.news-journalonline.com
www.fpl.con/environment/endangered
www.dos.state.fl.us/symbols/animal
www.startribune.com