Florida panther death rate in 2016 ties for worst year (2015) on record
Florida panther deaths in 2016 tied for the worst year on record, and it was the deadliest year yet involving car collisions, a nonprofifit group said Wednesday.
A total of 42 panthers died in the wild last year, matching the 2015 total, according to fifigures posted by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, a group made up of local, state and national government natural resource and environmental professionals.
More than 80 percent of the deaths were of panthers killed by vehicles. There were 32 vehicle-related deaths, s u r pa s s i ng t he prev i ous record of 30 in 2015.
The majority of the deaths — 70 percent — occurred in Collier and Lee counties in Southwest Florida, where one of the heaviest concentrations of panthers lives. The Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission estimates that between 100 and 180 panthers remain in the wild.
“These fifigures sound the death knell for a sustainable Florida panther population in the wild,” said Jeffff Ruch, executive director of PEER. “Without suffifficient protected habitat, there is no viable recovery for this alpha predator.”
The Florida panther was federally listed as an endangered species in 1967 and under the Endangered Species Act in 1973. The species nearly died out in the mid1990s, with an estimated population of just 20 to 25 by 1995. Conservation efffffffffffforts helped the population grow to an estimated 100 to 160 by 2012. Their biggest threat is the loss of habitat due to urban sprawl and development.
According to the FWC, there were 14 recorded panther births in 2016 and 15 in 2015.
M o s t p a n t h e r s t o d a y are located in Lee, Collier, Hendry, Miami-Dade and Monroe counties. The FWC monitors panther activity using radio collars.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service will consider removing the panther from the endangered species list when three populations of at least 240 individual panthers, excluding dependent-aged kittens, have been established, and suffifficient longterm habitat to support the populations has been established.