Once nearly extinct, the Florida panther is expanding its range.

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

“Welcome to panther country,” Brian Kelly says when I meet him at a busy intersection in East Naples, Florida, a stone’s throw from a gas station and an urgent care center.

Kelly, a state panther biologist, points east into the sprawling subdivision where he lives. A panther was caught on camera just a quarter mile away, he says, and another one made it across the six-lane road we’re standing beside.

Yet another panther, an eight-year-old female named FP224, lives nearby. She’s been hit by a car twice, breaking a leg each time. She was treated by veterinarians and released after both accidents. To look for signs of her, we drive to Kelly’s house, next to a patch of forest where she recently denned and birthed at least three kittens. It’s the wet season, when panther tracks typically are wiped out by rain, but we get lucky.

“There she is,” Kelly says, pointing to large paw prints, about the size of my fist, in the soft sand. We follow the prints through tall pines and sabal palms festooned with air plants. A check of a motion-triggered camera trap Kelly placed there reveals that FP224 walked by just before 9 p.m., two evenings earlier.

Her tracks are thrilling to see—a reminder that Florida still has wilderness and large cats, some of them resilient enough to live unseen along the fringes of the expanding suburbs.

-more-

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/magazine/article/florida-panthers-return-imperiled-by-development-feature

[keithsw]

1. I live amongst them

Have only saw an alive one, one time in my life. I have friends who have lost goats, miniature ponies, dogs, cats etc to them. We are encroaching too much on them. I have seen a few dead ones along the road. The main cause of death for them is getting hit by cars

[taxi]

2. I don't agree with the heading above

Aren't the panthers being forced into the areas that they're being spotted? It's called dislocated. One can look at RLSA (rural land stewardship areas) as example. More and more habitat is lost, credits allow expansion into protected areas, yet are based on voluntary compliances.

[keithsw]

3. For the first time

ever, they have been spotted north of the Caloosahatchee river. Maybe they are referencing that

https://www.news-press.com/story/tech/science/environment/2020/02/13/female-florida-panther-and-kitten-were-documented-north-of-the-caloosahatchee-river-again/4748808002/

[taxi]

4. Nope. They say where

It's to the east of Collier Blvd, south of the interstate. The planned developments will be on 43,300 acres to the east of there. Estimated population growth is 300,000.
The panthers in the article will be trapped in the relatively narrow strip of land between the two areas. They won't have a way out, and that's the least of their troubles to be.

[msongs]

5. panther vs python. hmmm nt

[soryang]

6. I saw 2 in the last 4 years

One on state route 40 about four years ago, this was a large male that bounded across the highway in front of my car. The second time was about a year ago, I saw a smaller one bound across route 407 just west of I 95. I was astounded both times, because i had lived in florida for decades and spent a lot of time fishing in isolated areas when I was younger and had never seen one in the wild before.

[taxi]

7. It is true that the Florida Panthers made a comeback.

The efforts of everyone responsible and participating in their recovery are truly remarkable. That part of the story is fine and they deserve applause. There are other factors affecting wildlife in Florida though. One of them is the loss of the physical everglades. More to the point, what the everglades are now as compared to what they were then.
Before lower Florida began to grow by draining wetlands the Everglades were about 3 million acres. That was in the early 20th century. A hundred years ago when someone said everglades they meant that 3 million acres of wetlands. And that much unused land was a problem for some. It was then decided to protect half of that land, establishing the Everglades as a park. That sounds fine, but it wasn't. It allowed for the unnamed half to become unincorporated rural lands.
Here's another way to view this. If one wanted to develop in the Everglades it would be nearly impossible to do so. Impossible because that million and a half acres are a national park. But if that development was on unincorporated land, change the zoning, pay the fees, and build the factory. In the public eye nothing has happened to the Everglades, the park is safe.
If anyone is thinking the loss of half of the area is acceptable and the panthers still have plenty of room, let's examine what has happened recently. In large part because of invasive species like the python, roughly 90% of the small mammals are gone. Panthers have to move or die. That's why we see them. If the author wants to write about how wonderful it is that they are expanding their area, that's fine. But it doesn't really tell the whole story.

[soryang]

8. Thanks for your explanation

i was concerned about that. one of the panthers I saw was in a national park area along route 40. Yet, that park is pretty busy with hunters, "mudders," and tourists imo. The other on route 407 was on some undeveloped area but i don't think it's protected in anyway. I wondered whether or how they could survive. I've seen areas similar in nature, literally, along the 95 corridor in Florida, disappear quickly under commercial and residential developments repeatedly. Not too far from the site on rte 407 which i passed by yesterday, there are large construction projects and I saw a huge fire, which appeared uncontrolled several miles to the west on 528. The development seems relentless.