Florida’s Creatures Great And Small

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The Florida panther once ranged throughout the American southeast, from the lower Mississippi River valley eastward to Florida and the Atlantic coast. Today, this species survives only in the subtropical swamps and forests of South Florida.

If we lose the Florida panther, we lose the last of Florida’s true wilderness,” says Chris Belden, speaking in the authoritative tones of a man who is an expert on the subject.
Which, of course, he is. As Florida panther rescue coordinator for the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service in Vero Beach, Belden oversees a 40-member recovery team that includes local governments, non-government organizations, landowners and other partners. The success of the program has seen the panther population grow from a handful of animals in the mid-1980s to more than 100 today.

“We use radio telemetry to track them,” Belden explains. “Sighting reports by individuals are simply not reliable enough.” He goes on to explain that two healthy females from a Texas population of panthers were brought to the Sunshine State in the mid-1990s, adding genetic variability to the group of about 20 animals remaining in Florida at that time.

Read the entire article in the March 2009 issue

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