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Save panther, true Native American
The Citizen Upper Keys Bureau lately has
reported on the endangered Florida panther, Felis concolor coryi, due to
its slow but gradual emergence from as few as 29 animals to as many as
90 animals at last count. This rare mammal, once virtually everywhere in
North and South America, is now found in isolated areas out West and, on
this side of the Mississippi, only in South Florida's wildlands. It is
known by many names, including cougar, mountain lion and puma.
The Florida panther's population has been
bolstered by the introduction nine years ago of eight female Texas
cougars, the closest cousin of the Florida panther. The gene restoration
program was undertaken because the small group of isolated cats were
inbreeding, creating the genetic formula for extinction through leaky
heart valves and sterility. The Texas cougar was chosen by biologists
because the two Felis concolor subspecies commonly mated before man
separated the cats through eradication programs and development.
A healthier gene pool is emerging that
will enable the big cats to multiply, but, as we all know, with each
solution comes another problem. To survive, panthers need wild land to
roam. Other than to mate or raise young, the cats are solitary creatures
that do not socialize in prides.
Each male panther needs a home range free
of other males of up to 250 square miles. Each female has a home
territory of about 70 to 100 square miles. How many uninhabited square
miles are there left in South Florida for a growing population of
panthers?
As Florida's west coast pushes ever
eastward and as Dade and Broward counties push ever westward, where will
Felis concolor live?
We are seeing a ripple effect caused by an
increase of man's presence in South Florida out on Loop Road in mainland
Monroe County. Last week, we reported the close encounters folks near
the old logging town of Pinecrest — about a third of the way down Loop
Road — have been experiencing with three panthers.
An adult female and her two almost-grown
offspring show no fear of man. The Miccosukee Tribe has vowed to protect
their children by shooting the animals if they come their way. An
enclave of new tribal homes lines the east side of Loop Road just as it
comes off the Tamiami Trail at Forty-Mile Bend, and children play in
those yards. That no recorded attack by a Florida panther on a human is
known to exist is no consolation.
Loop Road was carved out of what is now
the Big Cypress National Preserve about 100 years ago, and man has lived
there in one form or another ever since. Many landowners refused the
government's offer to buy them out in 1974 when the preserve was formed.
Native Americans, of course, have resided in the Big Cypress and the
Everglades much longer. No one can blame folks there for wanting to
protect their children, but if we have any real concern for the survival
of Felis concolor we must find a way to provide habitat.
Saving the panther means saving what's
left of wild Florida.
But as it stands, much of its habitat is
occupied by man, more and more each day. No wonder close encounters
startle us to sound the alert. But, really, shouldn't we expect to come
across these animals more often if we now occupy their last bit of
natural habitat?
There is only so much land left. The
once-gigantic Everglades is currently one-third its original size. We
have drained it, parceled it off, grown fields of tomatoes in it, hunted
and fished and used our airboats and our swamp buggies in it, planted
thousands of acres of sugar cane and citrus at its northern extreme,
built highways across it and tapped it for gas.
There may be no solution for saving the
Florida panther from extinction. But make no mistake, as goes the
panther, so goes the beauty and wonder of natural Florida.
If we say it is too late for the panther,
then what we are really saying is that it's too late to preserve what
remains of our natural environment. If man is not willing to provide
habitat for this creature, we may as well relegate the Florida panther
to zoos now and initiate the caged life support of this once magnificent
cat, this true Native American. |
