Viable Populations Of The Florida Panther example essay topic

The Florida Panther is one of about thirty subspecies of felis con color. The subspecies, cory i is one of the most rare endangered animals in the world. It has been federally listed as endangered since 1967, and is currently at 50 to 70 individuals in the wild. Though this is an increase in panther population in the last 8 years the future of the Florida Panther is still greatly at risk". Projected populations, assuming the present conditions, indicate that the species may be completely extinct within decades".

(Eager, Walter 2003) The closest relatives to the Florida Panther are the cougar, puma, mountain lion and other Panther sub species. However this rare subspecies has several distinct characteristics such as, white flecks on the shoulders, a cowlick on the back and a crook in the tail. Panthers are solitary and territorial animals and seldom live together except for mating season. Only preliminary data is available on Florida panther reproduction. Current data indicates that breeding may occur throughout the year with a peak in the winter and spring months. The gestation period is around 9 O to 95 days and litter sizes are 1 to 4 kittens, with usually only 1 kitten surviving.

A female has successfully reproduced at 22 to 23 months, and a male has possessed fertile sperm and exhibited reproduction at 26 to 3 O months. The Panthers range was once over 1700 miles in the U.S. and is now a bleak 217 miles of land. The historic range included eastern Texas or western Louisiana and the lower Mississippi River Valley East through the Southeastern States. Even though there are still sightings throughout its historical range, the only viable populations occur in Florida". Historical range of the Panther in the Southeastern United States is now a patchwork of farms, cities, ranches, and rural communities connected by a vast network of highways, railroads, canals, and power line corridors". (Pg 25) This range in South Florida is spread through a now disjointed forest that gives the panther only 5% of it's original habitat.

The only known self-sustaining population occurs in south Florida, generally within the Big Cypress Swamp, Everglades National Park, and the Fakahatchee Strand. Florida panthers reside in upper dry lands such as hardwood hammock, pine flat woods, saw palmetto and cabbage palm thickets, and in wetland areas including cypress forests, mangrove forests, and freshwater marshes. They often den and sleep in the drier scrub and saw palmetto environments. In search of food and safer resting locations, panthers are known to wade and swim through canals and swamps. Preferring secluded habitats away from human activity, panthers rarely visit agricultural lands. They require large remote tracts of land with plenty of prey and cover along with low levels of human disturbance.

Panthers feed and travel during the cooler temperatures and low light levels of night. Whitetail deer, feral hogs, raccoons, armadillos, small alligators, and other small rodents and fowl make up this strict carnivore's diet. Deer or hogs are the preferred prey, taken once a week or so supplemented with smaller prey. Their preferred method of hunting, based on an ability to run at 35 mph over short periods, is to sneak up close to their prey to launch an ambush attack. Panthers kill prey with a strong bite to the throat, back of neck or base of skull.

The Florida Panther has gone from roaming a large land freely to the perils of having a $5.00 bounty on it's head in 1887 and is now grasping for breath on the edge of extinction in 2003. In 1958 the state of Florida listed it as an endangered species, even with this step nothing was really done to preserve the panther until it's federal listing in the "Federal Register" on March 11, 1967. And even though the ESA came out in 1973 it was not a felony to kill a panther in Florida until 1978. By 1981 the first recovery plan was designed with its goal "to prevent the extinction and to re-establish viable populations of the Florida panther in as much of the former range as feasible". (Panther net) These goals were assisted in 1983 when the Florida Legislature established the Florida Panther Technical Advisory Council. In 1987 there was a revision of the recovery plan with its added objective to achieve three viable self-sustaining populations within the panthers historic range.

At the time there was only one population present. Next, the Habitat preservation plan in 1995 "identified occupied and potential panther habitat, threats to habitat, and options to maintain sufficient habitat for a self-sustaining population (a minimum of 50 adults) of panthers in south Florida". (Panther net) Even with these plans in effect the Florida Panther was still declining so in 1995 there was an abbreviated 2nd revision of the initial Florida Panther Recovery Plan and a strategy from landowners to help with the protection of the panther habitat on Private land. The purpose of the revision was to establish in the recovery plan the need for genetic restoration as a necessary component in the recovery of the species. This was vital because without this added the recovery they felt that the plan would not work.

This program, now complete, has successfully restored historic gene flow between Texas cougars and Florida Panthers, giving the isolated population a much-needed boost of genetic vigor. "The Florida Panther is a creature of the landscape. A Panther's health and productivity depend on habitat quality, and the area required to support a breeding population crosses many political as well as geographic boundaries". (Pg. 225) Unfortunately for the Panther it's biggest enemy and supporter is man.

Man needs land to build homes, shopping malls, and gas stations. Who cares if that land is already being populated by other species calling it home? The major threats to the panther are habitat destruction, loss of wildlife corridors connecting habitat, car collisions and inbreeding. All these woes can be laid at the feet of man. Of course it is also man who is now trying to save this beautiful creature and yet still there are others whose desire for money threatens the species. Often the only way to enforce people to follow the laws and conserve is through lawsuits.

The lawsuit brought by the defenders of wildlife in 2000 charges that the federal agencies have negligently allowed permitting and planning to infringe upon essential panther habitat. Twenty-six specific projects in vital priority and other key panther habitat areas are singled out in the suit. "These federal agencies have continually failed to consider the Florida panther in their actions and in their planning", said Rodger Schlickeisen, president of Defenders of Wildlife. "The government's actions are setting a dangerous precedent which, in this case, may allow the elimination of the only known panther population in the eastern United States in favor of irresponsible development". The accusation of the group is that the mass spread of development in southwestern Florida is impacting lands deemed essential to the panther. Without some control over this development the Panthers will lose even more of its habitat, causing probable extinction.

So as with other endangered species the biggest controversy for the panther is land. The Florida panther is an umbrella species. It ranges throughout nearly 1 million hectares in southwest Florida, encompassing a number of distinct natural communities. Protection of the Florida panther protects hundreds of other species of plants and animals that share its range. Panther protection also means clean air, water, and open space for humans. The panther is for the South Florida ecosystem and everglades the " coal miner's canary".

Miners used to bring canary's down into the mines with them as barometer of air quality. The canaries are very sensitive to quality and quantity of air conditions and would become sick or perish before the miners could detect an air problem. The panther is our barometer for the health of Southern Florida environment, which includes humans. The panther requires vast stretches of undeveloped land to survive.

These lands are also habitat for many other plant and animal species, soak up the 55 plus inches of rain we receive each year, purify and recharge our drinking water aquifers, and provide abundant recreational an ecotourist opportunities. Protecting panther habitat also protects black bear, bald eagles, River otters, swallow-tailed kites, alligators, red-cockade d woodpeckers and more. Plus a myriad of specialized plants that grow in South Florida. I think it is clear that I feel that this species is worth recovery and protection.

Unfortunately, the reality of it to me is that the Florida Panther will in the near future go on our list of extinct. It is sad to me to realize this but I just don't have faith in most humans to become less greedy any time soon and that greed will continue to be its greatest enemy. The only true chance for most endangered species is if people wake up and see that we are all struggling to survive within this limited environment of air, water and minerals. So if we cannot learn to preserve other Species, we will have a difficult time preserving the human race.

Reference: Mehr S. David. The Florida Panther, Washington, D.C. : Island Press, 1997 web web web web web web.