A Wildlife Article from All-Creatures.org

Florida Panthers' future hangs in the balance—does government plan to save the rare cat?

From Reality Checks with Staci-Lee
August 2024

One of the agencies involved in panther protection is the state agency Florida Fish Wildlife Commission (FWC). Every year they receive a budget of about half a billion, you read that right, to conserve and protect the state’s imperiled wildlife and water. But they have sordid history of doing the opposite. The commission has always been stacked with hunters and developers never conservationists.

Going going gone. These species may end up being just a memory as they continue to lose their land and life. Clockwise from upper left: crested caracara (Isabel Gottlieb); tricolored bat (Scott Altenbach); Florida panther (fotoguy22); eastern indigo snake (Dirk Stevenson):

The Florida Panther is Florida’s official state animal but may not be around much longer if developers have their way. Written on Florida’s own Department of State website “The most endangered of all Florida's symbols is its state animal, the panther (Felis concolor coryi) which was chosen in 1982 by a vote of students throughout the state. The Panther has been protected from legal hunting in Florida since 1958.

It has been on the federal endangered species list since 1967 and on the state's endangered list since 1973. The future of this large animal depends entirely on the management decisions that are made today on its behalf. The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission is responsible for management and preservation of this endangered State Animal, but only with your support will the Florida Panther remain a part of our unique wildlife community.” Would be a tragedy to throw away this species for development we don’t need.

Who really sits on FWC’s commission? (Hint: they're not conservationists)

One of the agencies involved in panther protection is the state agency Florida Fish Wildlife Commission (FWC). Every year they receive a budget of about ˝ a billion, you read that right, to conserve and protect the state’s imperiled wildlife and water. But they have sordid history of doing the opposite. The commission has always been stacked with hunters and developers never conservationists.

Every day it seems there is a new assault on the open space these magnificent animals have called home as long as they have roamed the earth. As developers continue to carve up their dwindling habitat with the apparent blessing of the state, we all lose OUR open space to private holdings. In 2015 one of the Florida Wildlife Conservation (FWC) commissioners came under fire for trying to get panthers on the hunting list.

I remember this battle because it was just another example of the FWC doing anything but conservation. Since 2007 I personally watched them:

• allow for a black bear massacre that made national headlines,
• destroy the water and food of manatees with toxic and banned in Europe herbicides
• lie about truth that most sea turtle hatchlings die from light pollution before getting to the water
• and on and on it goes.

In an article from 2015 it states that FWC commissioner ‘Aliesa Priddy, a third-generation Collier County rancher and Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation commissioner who is part of a growing group of ranchers, hunters and landowners who say the Florida panther is nothing special and should be removed from or reclassified on the federal Endangered Species List.

....

Please read the ENTIRE ARTICLE HERE, including.

• How many (or few) panthers did you say we still had left?
• How do we save a species few are truly trying to help?

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Posted on All-Creatures.org: August 19, 2024
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