Hiking in the Florida Panther National Wildlife Refuge

To my knowledge - no one has been eaten by a Florida Panther since pioneers settled into Florida. It's possible a Calusa or Tequesta was gnawed upon in the pre-colonial days when 3000 or so of the cats roamed throughout Florida but i've seen no report of even an attack in the last 250 years. So it doesn't seem all that silly to me that the entrance to the Florida Panther National Wildlife Refuge is marked with signs for hiking trails.

Panthers on the other hand have not been so lucky in the presence of humans. In the last 10 days, 3 of the final 100+ remaining cats roaming the farms and swamps in the pre-dawn hours suffered an Edison/Ford/Firestone fate while attempting to cross a road. Lights, metal, rubber - and the sleek, speedy cats were dead from a vehicle strike.

The National Wildlife Refuge was established in 1989 and is the occasional home to anywhere from 5-11 Panthers. It's located just Northwest of the I-75/SR 29 intersection where one of the aforementioned cats was hit and killed last week. Fences line both roads to help keep all wildlife off them but sometimes they get around them or go through them after a sleepy driver has created an opportunity by going through it first. It happens once a week.

There is a short 1/3 mile trail (blue) and a 1 1/3 mile unimproved trail (yellow) that visitors can explore on but much of the 26,500 acre refuge is off limits for the protection of the panthers and their habitat. Of all of the places I have explored in the Everglades I have yet to visit but after attending the Friends of the Florida Panther Refuge Annual Meeting tonight I have put this high on my list of things to do. Plus I have a brand new camera.

Florida Panthers are a subspecies of the Mountain Lion (aka Puma, Catamount, Puma, Swamp Screamer) and have been restricted to the Big Cypress and National Park area of the Everglades. Human development continues to chip away at their habitat and although their numbers have increased from 32 in 1995 to 100+ today, more cats and more roads means more negative human/panther interactions. I won the photo below and a ceramic paw print cast at the meeting this evening. The photo was taken with an infrared camera and shows CFP #78 (Collared Florida Panther #78) and her kitten to the right. The collar is used for tracking and when mom stops roaming, biologists know she has denned up and it will soon be time to check in on her and hopefully tag her new born kittens with tracking devices.

Habitat loss is a persistent threat with new developments planned within prime endangered Panther habitat. Vehicle fatalities continue as young disperse and attempt to find new territories - often fatally. And negative public sentiment continues to jeopardize the species survival plan as new and old residents take exception to what they ignorantly consider to be a dangerous animal.

There is more at stake here than just the Panthers. As their habitat goes, so goes the habitat of the Black Bear, American Alligator, White-tailed Deer, Pileated Woodpecker, Woodstork, Roseate Spoonbill and many more. Stewardship is not compromise. Stewardship is protecting the natural ecosystem for their benefit and ours.

If you live here in Florida or elsewhere consider a donation to the Friends of the Florida Panther Refuge and help protect a national treasure. If you do I'll give a guided tour when you come to visit.