Defenders' Experts
Florida Panther History
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Pre-Columbus
Florida Panthers roamed throughout the southeastern United States from what is now Arkansas to portions of South Carolina and south to Florida.
1600s to 1900
Panther range became restricted and fragmented as European settlers expanded. Panthers were persecuted as perceived threats to humans, livestock, and game animals.
The Eastern Cougar (Puma concolor cougar) was extirpated from its range in the Eastern U.S.
1887
Florida authorized a $5 bounty for panther scalps.
1947
Defenders of Wildlife was founded on April 25th.
1950-1976
1950
The Florida Game and Freshwater Fish Commission (now known as the Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission) listed the panther as a game animal to be hunted only during deer season or as a nuisance.
1958
The Florida Game and Freshwater Fish Commission (now known as the Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission) closed the season on panthers.
1967
The U.S. Department of the Interior listed the panther as endangered.
1972
First field surveys for panther sign were conducted in south Florida. Panthers were verified in the Fisheating Creek area of Glades City.
1973
Congress passed the Endangered Species Act
1974
Congress approved the purchase of Big Cypress National Preserve – 570,000 acres of swamps and uplands in southwest Florida.
Florida purchased another 75,000 acres of panther habitat to form the Fakahatchee Strand State Preserve.
1976
Florida Panther Record Clearinghouse was established.
1980s
1981Florida Panther Recovery Plan was established, outlining actions to recover the subspecies.
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission expanded field research to capture and radio-instrument panthers for study.
Panther population verified at 30 to 50 adult panthers left living in the wild.
1982
Schoolchildren voted to adopt the panther as Florida’s State Mammal.
1983
Florida Legislature passed the Florida Panther Bill to establish the Panther Research and Management Trust Fund. Proceeds from the sale of panther license plates benefit the Fund.
1986
Florida Panther Interagency Committee was formed to coordinated activities and information exchange between agencies involved in panther recovery (Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, Florida Department of Natural Resources, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, National Park Service).
Wildlife underpasses were included in the highway design for conversion of State Road 84 (Alligator Alley) to Interstate 75.
1988
Texas cougars (Puma concolor stanleyana) were released in northern Florida to evaluate the area’s potential as panther habitat for reintroduction.
1989
Florida Panther National Wildlife Refuge was established, protecting 24,000 acres of panther habitat.
1990s
1991
Florida Panther License Plates went on sale with proceeds going into the Florida Panther Trust Fund.
Captive breeding program was established. Six kittens were removed from the wild population to start the program.
1992
Four more panther kittens were removed from the wild for the captive breeding program.
1993
Florida Panther Reintroduction Feasibility Study is initiated with the release of 10 Texas Cougars in North Florida (Puma concolor stanleyana).
Wildlife crossings and fencing were completed in the conversion of State Road 84 to Interstate 75.
Florida Panther Habitat Preservation Plan was approved by the Florida Panther Interagency Committee.
1994
The Florida Panther Society, a grassroots education and support group, was formed to promote public support for panther reintroduction and recovery.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service approved a Genetic Restoration plan to restore historic gene flow between Florida Panthers and other cougar subspecies, thus restoring genetic health of the Florida Panther population.
The Northeast Florida Panther Education Program was initiated to educate residents in the region whose actions and attitudes may have a direct effect on the survival of reintroduced panthers and the natural ecosystems that are important to panthers and other wildlife.
1995
The Florida Panther Reintroduction Feasibility Study ended, concluding that reintroduction is biologically feasible and revealing the social and political issues that need to be addressed.
The Genetic Restoration program was implemented with Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission release of 8 female Texas Cougars into the panther population in south Florida
The Northeast Florida Panther Education Program was completed, reaching approximately 1000 areas residents through a pamphlet, slide presentations, and a county fair display. Funded by a grant from the Florida Panther Trust Fund.
1998
Community workshops on Public Acceptability of Florida Panther Reintroduction are held in North Florida by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission and the Florida Conflict Resolution Consortium.
1999
The memorandum agreement for the Florida Panther Interagency Committee (FPIC) expired and the committee was dissolved.
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service took the lead in panther recovery, acknowledging their responsibility at a meeting of the Florida Panther Technical Advisory Committee.
Florida Panther Interagency Working Group was established, adding the U.S. Forest Service and the South Florida Water Management District to the agencies implementing panther recovery programs.
PantherNet, an interactive website funded by proceeds of the Florida Panther license plate, was launched by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.
South Florida Multi-species Recovery Plan was approved.
2000 - Present
2000
Conservationists file suit to protect panthers. Defenders of Wildlife, National Wildlife Federation, Florida Wildlife Federation, Sierra Club, and Collier County Audubon Society sued the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and Federal Highway Administration for failure to protect the critically imperiled Florida panther by allowing increased loss of panther habitat and ignoring the best available science, including the 1993 Florida Panther Habitat Protection Plan and the 1999 South Florida Multi-Species Recovery Plan.
A Panther Sub-team of the Multi-species Ecosystem Recovery Implementation Team (MERIT) was formed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to develop a landscape-level strategy for panther conservation that can be applied in the regulatory context.
Captive Breeding program received permission to attempt breeding between the remaining panthers removed from the population in the early 1990s. Breeding occurred, however the panthers were already at the end of their breeding years and no kittens were produced.
2001
Genetic Restoration Program implemented in 1995 was a success, showing a reduction in the occurrence of inbreeding traits in the panther population. Five of the original 8 female Texas Cougars (Puma concolor stanleyana) successfully bred with Florida Panthers (Puma concolor coryi) producing over 30 kittens.
Panther population verified at 70 individual panthers left living in the wild.
Defenders of Wildlife launched the Habitat and Highways Campaign to reduce the impact of roads and highways on wildlife and habitat, and to incorporate wildlife conservation into transportation planning.
Debates within the MERIT Panther Sub-team revealed concerns about unsound scientific analysis in panther literature.
2002
Florida Panther Recovery Team commissioned an independent Scientific Review Team to summarize and review existing panther data, data analyses, and literature.
MERIT Panther Sub-Team produced a Draft Habitat Conservation Strategy and a Map of panther habitat.
The U.S. District court in Washington, D.C. dismissed the lawsuit filed in 2000 on procedural grounds, finding that the case was framed too broadly.
2003
Conservationists filed two new lawsuits to protect panther habitat. The National Wildlife Federation, Florida Wildlife Federation, and The Florida Panther Society, Inc. sued the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service raising the same concerns as in the previous lawsuit while avoiding the procedural problem.
Senator Lieberman (D-CT) sent letters to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers asking detailed questions about the agencies failure to protect panther habitat.
Two Florida Panther Recovery Team reports were released:
- Habitat Assessment to Identify Potential Sites for Florida Panther Reintroduction in the Southeast (Thatcher et al.)
- An Analysis of Scientific Literature Related to the Florida Panther (Beier et al.), which exposed unsound science used in both panther management and in the Federal Agency’s development permitting process.
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) monitoring program detects Feline Leukemia in four panthers in Collier and Hendry counties. FWC and the National Park Service initiate a program to vaccinate panthers against the disease.
Panther population verified at 80 individual panthers left living in the wild.
2004
The Florida Panther Society and The Friends of The Florida Panther National Wildlife Refuge cooperatively launched the Panthers & Pavement Campaign to raise awareness of and reduce panther deaths on roads, which had reached a record high of 10 in 2003.
Data Quality Act challenge filed by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER) and Andrew Eller (18 year veteran biologist of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service) requesting that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service correct unsound science in panther documents that was found by the Scientific Review Team. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service fired whistleblower Andrew Eller.
Court rules in Conservationists favor, revoking the permit issued by the U.S Army Corps of Engineers for the Florida Rock Industry mine that would have destroyed over 5,000 acres of panther habitat. The Judge found that the permit was “arbitrary and capricious” because it did not consider the project’s cumulative impact on the overall loss of panther habitat.
2005
U.S. district court rules in favor of Conservationists. The judge ruled that the Corps of Engineers failed to consult with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service regarding the impacts on the endangered Florida panther of nationwide dredge-and-fill permits issued in 2002 under the Clean Water Act.
PEER/Eller Data Quality Act Challenge upheld by U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, conceding that it had been using flawed science in assessing the habitat and population of the endangered Florida panther. Outgoing Director, Steven Williams, orders the affected documents to be corrected by the end of 2005.
The Florida Panther Recovery Team begins meeting again with a goal to complete a draft recovery plan by the end of 2005, after a one-year lapse without a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service leader. Defenders of Wildlife is a member of the Recovery Team.
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