News Update
PEER: Florida panther facing possible extinction
Staff report
Enviro-Net
For the fifth year in a row, mortality of highly endangered Florida panthers has substantially exceeded births, resulting in a net loss of 103 panthers since 2015, according to figures posted today by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility.
The 2019 numbers also reflect a record high percent of vehicular deaths and a rising mortality among females of reproductive age, whose survival is key to re-growing the population.
“Florida panthers are in a slow-motion spiral toward extinction,” stated Tim Whitehouse, Executive Director of PEER, which unsuccessfully sued to win designation of critical habitat for the Florida panther, noting nearly 90% of known panther deaths are from vehicular collisions.
Florida offers little safe habitat for panthers, with less available each passing year, he said.
The 2019 figures from the Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission show that another 27 panthers perished, 24 from vehicular collisions. In the first few days of 2020, a 28th panther was also killed after being hit by a car.
Only 11 kittens were born in 2019 litters, well below a replacement level, continuing a negative five-year trend. Litters last balanced deaths in 2014, and, since 2015, Florida has experienced almost twice as many panther deaths as births, resulting in a net loss of 103 panthers during that period.
The last official “Recovery Plan” for the Florida panther was published in 2008. It calls for two populations of 240 panthers each before removing it from the federal list of endangered species. Prospects for meeting that goal appear to become increasingly remote, however.