LISTING AND LISTING TYPE
The state of Florida was the first to classify the species as endangered in 1958. It was subsequently listed in acts relating to endangered species and conservation in the years 1966, 1967, and 1973. The Panther remains an endangered species based on the Endangered Species Act of 1973. Because of the nature of the animals, it is hard to get an accurate estimate of the population size of the Florida Panther. Numbers from 2017 place the population size of the Florida Panther around 414 members, but there is a large margin of error in these estimations meaning there could be anywhere from 222-773 panthers.
RANGE
Pumas are the most widely distributed mammal in the Western Hemisphere with a range that once covered most of North and South America. The decline of the puma species started with European settlement in North America during colonial times. By the year 1890, the puma population had shrunk to a small population in Florida. Habitat loss, declining populations of the species that puma prey on, and climate change has continued to add to this decline.
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This is especially true for the subspecies of Florida Panther. Some of the major threats to the Florida Panther include collisions with vehicles, conflicts between panthers and humans, illegal shootings, and infectious diseases. Because panthers tend to be secretive animals, Florida panthers have a wide range, and their populations have low densities. The Florida panther needs a large landscape to meet its ecological needs. To play to their hunting habits, panthers require a landscape with dense vegetation where prey can be stalked and captured. The optimal habitats for the panther are forest habitats between 1000-8100 square kilometers with areas of different terrain mixed in. Ideally, these areas would be contiguous, meaning that the borders of each type of habitat would be touching. The problem in the conservation of the Florida panther is finding a location that maximizes the land available for the panthers’ environment while minimizing the conflict between panthers and humans.
(Kokosdieb, 2011).
(Gross, 2015)
CURRENT RANGE
The range of the panther is now limited because of urbanization of coasts, highways, and human expansion into territory once inhabited by panthers. According to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the Florida Panther is restricted to about 5% of its historic range. The puma subspecies now consists of only one breeding population in South Florida. Even scarier to think about is the fact that the Florida Panther is now the only breeding population of puma east of the Mississippi River.