Defenders Magazine

On the Ground: Good Fences Make Good Neighbors in Florida

by Cynthia England

© Lisa Ostberg

It was about 7 p.m. and Pam Mesce was sitting quietly at her desk working a crossword puzzle at her home in Copeland, a rural community in Collier County in southwest Florida. Her concentration was jolted when she heard a terrible commotion on her front porch. She went out and saw a panther with her pet cat in its mouth.

"I was so close I could have kicked that panther in the butt but I was scared it would turn on me," she says.

Her son came out and tried to run the panther down, but it headed for some water and then into the Everglades. "I would have shot that panther if I'd had the chance but wildlife officials wouldn't hear of it because it's endangered," says Mesce. "I have two cats now, but they stay inside the house."

Such scenarios are likely to get worse as continued unchecked development here—Collier County is the seventh-fastest growing area in the United States—pushes into panther territory, increasing the likelihood that the big cats will travel through residential areas while looking for habitat, mates and food. Sometimes this food can include someone's pet or livestock.

To find a practical solution to this dilemma, Defenders of Wildlife's Florida office teamed up with the Mountain Lion Foundation in California, which is working to limit human conflicts with mountain lions in the West by building enclosures to protect livestock and pets from predators. The idea is to get people who live in panther territory interested in building the pens so they can live alongside the big cat and other wildlife without having to fear for their animals.

"Human acceptance of panthers is essential for restoring the critically endangered species to a healthy population size," says Laurie Macdonald, Defenders' Florida director.

For a weekend last summer, Defenders recruited some 40 volunteers to demonstrate how easy it is to build efficient, inexpensive enclosures that effectively protect pets and livestock from panthers—or coyotes, bobcats and unrestrained dogs. Even 4-H Club kids and a county commissioner pitched in, alongside volunteers with the Mountain Lion Foundation, Friends of the Florida Panther Refuge, the Florida Wildlife Commission, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Park Service, to construct pens at the homes of two residents who have had problems with predators in the past. "We don't really know for sure if it was a panther," says homeowner and panther-pen recipient Rebecca Galligan, whose dog was found dead in her yard last fall. Galligan will now use the new enclosure to protect her remaining dog, Roscoe, and her new addition, Sable.

Nearby at another residence on the outskirts of Naples, a pen constructed the same weekend will provide similar protection and peace of mind for homeowner Al Sanchez.

"It's such a relief to go to sleep at night and know my goats are now much safer from wild predators," says Sanchez.

Volunteers also built another enclosure for permanent display on the grounds of the Collier County Extension Service. "We had no idea constructing the pens would be so fun and simple," says Daneille Stewart, a 4-H parent who volunteered with her daughters. "We learned a lot that we are putting into practice in our yard. We've constructed a pen for our sheep and another for our goats. It's a win-win-win for people, pets and the panthers."

The enclosures, which are 10 feet by 20 feet and cost about $500, can be modified to include a chain-link floor so that dogs and wildlife trying to get in cannot dig beneath the cage. A chain-link top, covered with a tarp for protection from sun and rain, prevents predators from jumping into the pen. Pets and livestock need only be kept in the pens at night, for the most part, when panthers and other predators are prone to roam and may come looking for prey in residential areas.

"In the end it's just going to take some time for people to learn to live responsibly with panthers," says Elizabeth Fleming at Defenders' Florida office. "The enclosures are one way to help."

With fewer than 100 Florida panthers left—occupying only 5 percent of their historic range—the panthers need every bit of help they can get.

Learn more about Defenders' efforts to protect Florida panthers.

To learn about building an enclosure in Florida panther territory, call Elizabeth Fleming at the Defenders of Wildlife Florida office at 727-823-3888. Detailed plans are available at www.mountainlion.org.