Panther Habitat Loss in Florida
Resulting Human Animal Conflict Threatens Endangered Big Cat
Development leads to habitat fragmentation, exposure to disease and car accidents. Reintroduction and public education may aid survival of endangered Florida panther.
The Florida panther (Puma concolor coryi) is one of 30 subspecies of puma. With less than 100 animals in its breeding population, extinction is a strong possibility. Efforts to save this endangered species largely revolve around preventing human-animal conflict, road accidents and further habitat loss or fragmentation.
The Human-Animal Conflict Situation
As Florida’s human population continues to grow, the situation for wildlife continues to deteriorate. Large predators such as the Florida panther run the highest risk of coming into conflict with humans. With limited supplies of their normal diet, which includes white-tailed deer, rabbit and raccoon, domestic animals become potential prey items. Pets and small livestock such as goats have been subject to predation by the Florida panther.
Contact with domestic cats has also meant that Florida panthers are now being lost to feline leukemia. A number of panthers are captured each year for overall health assessment and radio collaring. Vaccinating these panthers against the feline leukemia virus is now part of the routine.
Habitat Loss/Habitat Fragmentation
But the most critical issue for the panther is habitat loss. And with the encroachment of the human population, any open space left is becoming more and more fragmented. This results in isolation of the few animals that are left in the wild. Florida panthers have difficulty traveling to where other panthers are during breeding season. Today there is only one known breeding population of the species.
Each panther has a home range of 75 square miles or more. Traveling through that home range now means crossing roads. A nocturnal species, the panthers do most of their traveling at night, increasing the risk of being hit by cars. Or coming into conflict with humans.
Reduced habitat also means much more overlap of territories resulting in increased aggression between panthers which results in injury or death.
Measures to Save the Florida Panther
Tracking of radio-collared animals helps biologists to determine where Florida panthers are likely to travel. The information is matched with data on panthers hit by cars as well as being used to assess the effects of planned development on panther activity. Areas of critical importance to this endangered species may be protected in this way.
Providing wildlife corridors in the form of wildlife crossings or underpasses and right of way fencing helps decrease losses of Florida panthers to road accidents. Along the 40 miles of roadways where these mitigation measures have been put in place there have been no panther deaths.
Public education to prevent human-animal conflict revolves around teaching people how to react if they see a panther and how to protect their pets and livestock from panther predation. These steps help improve the image of the panther and create an environment where the panther is welcomed rather than hated or feared.
The next step will be reintroduction of Florida panthers back into appropriate habitat within their historic range. These new populations will be crucial to preventing extinction of the Florida panther as any incident, such as a disease outbreak, affecting the lone breeding population may result in the loss of the species. A minimum of 3 separate populations will be needed to ensure species survival.
There is much to do to save the Florida panther but the efforts underway show promise.
Photo Credit: David Harding
