The Florida panther is the official state animal of Florida.
It is rarely ever seen in public.
And Florida Panthers are in a fight for their lives because of this scary situation.
Florida panthers face a threat from drivers
The Florida panther came from the brink of extinction in the 1970s when there were estimated to be less than 30 left in the wild.
Florida panthers are the only mountain lions that live east of the Mississippi River.
As many as 230 Florida panthers survive today in the southwestern corner of the state after they were once found across most of the southeast.
The population has rebounded after conservation efforts that included importing its cousin, mountain lions, from Texas to prevent inbreeding.
But the fragile Florida panther population is under threat from vehicles.
Vehicle collisions have been their top cause of death for more than a decade.
The majority of the 36 recorded panther deaths in Florida last year came from vehicle collisions.
That was the most panther deaths since 2016.
Panther Crossing, a group dedicated to protecting them from vehicles, said that 239 panthers have been killed in vehicle collisions over the past decade.
Florida panthers are encountering vehicles more often because of the growth in the southwest part of the state.
Development in Collier and Lee Counties has increased traffic in areas that were once sleepy country roads.
Center for Biological Diversity Florida and Caribbean director Elise Bennett told CBS News that the panther’s situation in southwest Florida was “heartbreaking.”
“We have a growing human population and the infrastructure, the roads, the buildings, the higher traffic and higher speeds … all of that is happening right in the heart of the last remaining occupied habitat for the Florida panther,” Bennett said. “They’ve been kind of cornered into this little area of Southwest Florida, and that’s where we see the majority of these roadkills.”
Florida works to conserve the panther population
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission has been tracking panthers since 1981.
Panthers are tranquilized, given health screenings, and outfitted with radio collars to track them.
They are also being threatened by a type of feline leukemia that also affects house cats.
Another cat disease has been observed on trail cams of panthers and bobcats struggling to move because of wobbly back legs.
The cats will get disoriented and fall over.
“We encourage the public to continue to submit footage and pictures of wildlife that appear to have problems with their rear legs,” the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission wrote in an online post.
But it is not all bad news for the Florida panther population.
“The FWC has documented notable improvements in population genetics and multiple detections of female panthers with kittens north of the Caloosahatchee River, providing clear evidence of breeding in Central Florida,” the 2024 annual report for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission stated.
Florida panthers are in a fight to keep their population stable and hopefully growing as these big cats deal with the challenges of the modern world.
DeSantis Daily will keep you up-to-date on any developments to this ongoing story.
