Wishful Thinking - the Florida Panther

Originally published on Audubon Guides on September 24th, 2012

Twenty seven squirrel monkeys lived on an island at the Florida Monkey Sanctuary in Venice, Florida. They had no interest in swimming to freedom. There was no land close enough on the other side of the encircling moat that offered a chance to leap to. They were content on their island oasis.

My parents ran the sanctuary and we lived on the property when we were kids. One night while my siblings and I slept, our dogs made an awful racket. My mother asked my father to find out what was happening. He listened to the screams from the porch and stepped no further from them. One by one, the dogs returned, limping and bloodied. In the morning, my father investigated. All 27 monkeys were dead. He traced cat tracks the size of his hands; one adult and two kittens and determined that an endangered Florida Panther (Puma concolor coryii) swam across the moat with her young and hunted each and every one. Oddly, she ate none. My father’s theory was that she was teaching her kittens to hunt and quite effectively at that.

The Florida Panther is considered one of the most endangered animals on the planet. Technically they are a subspecies of the Mountain Lion, aka Puma, Cougar, Painter, Swamp Screamer and Catamount (mascot of my Alma mater – the University of Vermont – Go Cats Go!). The panthers are the last breeding population of the cats east of the Mississippi. They once ranged from Alaska, south to Tierra del Fuego in South America. In the United States they are restricted to the western states with the exception of 120-160 panthers that roam from the Caloosahatchee south to the Everglades.

Florida Panther © Pete Corradino

Florida Panthers are slightly smaller than the Mountain Lions out west. Adult males weigh in at 165 lbs, compared to western cats that top off at 260 lbs. Panthers measure over seven feet in length from nose to the tip of tail.

There are many sightings of panthers with descriptions of spotted cats or black cats that I chalk up to wishful thinking. Typically these are Bobcats (Lynx rufus) or a trick of the eye. Bobcats are a third of the size and are spotted with a six inch tailed compare to a three foot tail. The notion of a black panther may come from the black leopards from the Tarzan movies, the political group, their appearance at dusk or melanistic bobcats that have been sighted in Florida. The panther is golden brown with fur similar in color to their food, the White-tailed Deer (Odocoileus virginianus).

I was born and raised here and have yet to see a panther. I’ll keep looking and keep up my wishful thinking. 

Fence Me In

Originally published on Audubon Guides on August 13th, 2012

Traveling across the Everglades, a motorist will see signs that caution “panther crossing”, and “wildlife on roadway”. Speed limits are reduced at night to protect nocturnal species. Hundreds of miles of fences stretch from one side of the state to the other. Wildlife is often observed behind the fence and one might wonder if you’re traveling through a zoo or you are part of the zoo.

The Big Cypress National Preserve, established in 1974, is a vast 750,000 acre wilderness in the heart of the Everglades. Three main roads cut through the preserve. I-75, also known as Alligator Alley runs east/west from Fort Lauderdale to Naples. SR-29, aka Panther Pass runs north/south along the western border of the preserve and US-41, aka Tamiami Trail cuts just above the southern boundary of the Preserve and runs from Miami to Naples.

Wildlife crossings in the Everglades\

In the 90’s, the Florida Panther (Puma concolor coryi) population dropped precipitously low to an estimated 35 cats. Various methods were used to help the population, including introducing eight Texas Cougars, installing reduced speed limit signs in popular panther habitat and building wildlife underpasses and overpasses. The majority of the passes were built along I-75 with an additional 6 passes built along SR-29. They were built in locations where an unsustainable number of road fatalities to panthers had occurred as well as American Alligators (Alligator mississippiensis), American Black Bear (Ursus americanus), White-tailed Deer (Odocoileus virginianus) and many other species.

A White-tailed Deer safe behind a fence © Pete Corradino

Fencing helps redirect the wildlife to the bridges where they can safely cross, prevents vehicular accidents and maintains contiguous habitat for animals that are known to wander far and wide throughout the wet and dry seasons.

In January of 2012, Florida DOT installed solar-powered, Remote Animal Detection Systems in areas where fences are not practical. LED-slit signs flash when the RADS are triggered, warning motorists of wildlife on or near the roadway.

White-tailed Deer © Pete Corradino

Safe from vehicles, the deer in the photo was grazing behind the fence, oblivious or uncaring that I stood just fifteen feet away. It also happened to be inside the Panther Refuge…..

Stop It - The Burmese Python - Part I

We must do everything we can to rid the Everglades of all invasive plant and animal species. That’s a seemingly impossible task at this point for the supposed invasive species capitol of the world. We must also prevent the importation and introduction of any new species to protect the currently out of whack balance of South Florida’s ecosystem. Having said that, I am enraged by the ignorant media coverage regarding the “big snakes” in the Everglades. In December of 2011 an article titled “Severe mammal declines coincide with proliferation of invasive Burmese pythons in Everglades National Park” was published and the media-led hysteria that followed offered tabloid style headlines that fed into people’s natural fears.

“Pythons Rule Florida’s Everglades”

“Pythons and Anacondas Dominate Food Chain”

“Burmese Pythons Picking Florida’s Everglades Clean”

“Pythons have stranglehold on Everglades”

A local NBC anchor suggested without a trace of skepticism that the population of the invasive giants was well over 200,000. This is a stunning climb up the food chain from a few years ago when the estimate was 9000, then 15,000, 30,000 and then inexplicably 150,000. Now 200,000 plus? Stop it.

Burmese Pythons (Python molurus bivittatus) are endangered in their native Southeast Asian range, thanks to poaching and exportation for the pet trade. People buy them as pets because they’re cuddly or they’re constricting. Sometimes it’s hard to tell the difference. They get to be big, growing to lengths over 20 feet. Eventually they’re the ideal pet they once were and owners dump them in the Everglades. Many were thought to have escaped into the swamp in 1992 when Hurricane Andrew devastated Homestead, Florida, home of many reptile breeders and importers.

The scientific paper that has flamed the frenzy claimed that Northern Raccoons (Procyon lotor), Virginia Opossums (Didelphis virginiana) and bobcat sightings (both live and road kill) are down about 99% from a period of time that predated the python infestation. Now one of the co-authors is distancing himself from the suggestion that pythons are to blame. He says it’s possible, but he blames the media for drawing a correlation between the two.

They did note that top predators like the Florida Panther (Puma concolor coryi) and Coyote (Canis latrans) (an Everglades new comer), populations had increased but did not suggest that they could be culprits in the population declines of prey species such as raccoons and opossums. Nor did they mention the severe drought the Everglades National Park has experienced and what effect that might have on the need for certain species to seek out better habitat.

The analysis of the scientific paper was lacking and the media did not do their due diligence to understand the entire issue. The shocking headline was enough to craft an exciting tale of reptile Armageddon. I’ll explain more about the biology of the pythons, the threat they pose and what we need to do to stop it - Tomorrow.

Living and Dying on State Road 29 - Part II - The Florida Panther

The tide of development continues to lap at the shore of wilderness. There are surges of construction that erode the natural landscape, recede and swell again. As cypress, pine and palm fall to the waves of encroaching bulldozers, buildings rise and along with them warning signs. Watch your speed. Go slow. Wildlife may be present. Did you just hit something?

Panther Crossing signs along Treeline Avenue in Fort Myers and County Road 951 in Naples have disappeared one by one, replaced by speed limit signs. Forests replaced by strip malls.

A sign along State Road 29 in the Western Everglades suggests that only 30 of the Endangered Florida Panthers (Puma concolor) remain in the wild. The actual number is closer to 100 thanks to the efforts of state and federal biologists who introduced eight female Texas Cougars (Puma concolor) to South Florida in 1995. Despite a different common name, the cats belong to the same species and are separated only by the Gulf of Mexico. In fact the cats go by Mountain Lion and Puma in other regions of North and South America. Here in Florida, the last remaining breeding populations east of the Mississippi River struggle to hang on as the relentless waves of humanity lap against their territorial shores.

While the introduction of more genetically fit individuals into the Panther population bolstered genetic diversity in the Florida cats, the problem still remains, Panthers need vast stretches of undisturbed habitat. Males require an estimated 150 square miles and do not tolerate other male encroachment. Biologists believed that enough habitat remained in South Florida to accommodate up to 250 of the big cats.

Unfortunately we lose 10% of the Florida Panther population every year as roads seep like rivulets into cat country. State Road 29 has long been the biggest offender. Year after year vehicle accidents claim the lives of panthers crossing that road. Today, fencing and wildlife crossings help funnel them from one side to another, but where there are no crossings, accidents persist.

Humans can only be fenced out for so long.

Florida Panther at Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary

I still have yet to see one in the wild but check out the video taken by a volunteer at the Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary in Naples, Fl.

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.

Kingdom of the Monkey Skulls

Another for my mother (12/27/2005) - Three years gone by but your voice echos through my adventures.My father once joked that when archaeologists discover this site in the future they'll theorize that an ancient race of tiny people lived and thrived here. In fact, the ground beneath my feet today was the site of my childhood home and the Florida Monkey Sanctuary until 1988. Many monkeys found refuge here. More were born here and some were buried here. When my mother sold the property 20 years ago, many of the monkey cages were torn down. I returned in 1993 to see what had become of the place. An older man had moved in with his even older mother and I was content to know that the land was well taken care of. Flash forward to 12/27/2008 and today's visit. The house has been torn down and burned due to termites. The owner long since gone. The land is now used as a horse ranch. The neighbor's yard is less than welcoming. I don't test the dog or my speed. But we have permission to walk our old property. Beautiful old oaks cast their branches out over sandy soil. Margaret, a Clydesdale and my first horse (and the first word I ever spoke - Mah-gwet!) is buried here.What appears as a ditch is a dried up moat that encircled two islands. Peter's Island (named for my grandfather) was inhabited by squirrel monkeys in the 70's until a Florida Panther swam across and taught her kittens how to hunt. The bridge was built by my dad and me when I was 13. The next owner built the handrails, but our bridge to nowhere actually went somewhere. As a kid the island was completely forested and seemed to be a dense impenetrable jungle that I would always try to explore.Spread across the 10 acres were several corn cribs that functioned as housing for several hundred primates over the course of 20 years. On past explorations I had discovered little remains of the Sanctuary but I forged further into the "creepy" corner of the property and found three round concrete slabs that once were the foundations for the corn cribs. A shallow pool remains. My sister Tiffany called it creepy and I think she was referring to the NW corner. The NE corner was always creepy to me and I would run as fast as I could - from what I don't know.
As I explored further I instantly recognized the distinct aqua blue color of the swimming pool that once belonged to a troop of Weeper Capuchins. On rare occasions I would have the good fortune of hosing out the cages. The pool was always the toughest to clean. It was a task normally relegated to my mother or father. I must confess that while hosing the cages, certain monkeys would come down and shake the cage. I don't know if they were tainting me or playing, but I would spray them. They looked peeved but they always returned. I tell myself they were having fun. An orange tree grows at the edge of a concrete slab. No doubt the consequence of a discarded seed or two. The monkeys and apes were fed Monkey Chow as well as grapes, apples and oranges that my family prepared for them. (Marshmallows were always a vice of several sugar-loving simians). Today the ancient ruins from the 70's are lightly covered by tropical vegetation. Water pipes remain buried beneath leaves and soil. Bones of long past primates rest just beneath the surface. To the casual observer, all of these subtle clues might be dismissed. To me, they are my Machu Pichu. Relics of my childhood that echo a memory of my mother.

6th Florida Panther Killed on Road

"A two- to three-month-old female panther was struck by a vehicle and killed in Everglades National Park on Monday night.The incident occurred at 10:15 just before the park’s entrance station, according to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. The body was collected by a Park Service ranger and transferred to the Naples FWC office late this afternoon. It will remain until a necropsy can be preformed.

The person who hit the panther noticed the mother standing by, but didn’t see any other kittens. The kitten who was killed did not have a kinked tail or cowlick.This is the 15th panther death this year, six of which have been killed on the roadways, FWC reported."

-Fort Myers News-Press, September 30th, 2008

*sigh*

The park entrance in question is the main entrance which brings you to the famous Anhinga Trail, Mahogany Hammock Trail as well as the small town of Flamingo at the southern end of the park. The park stays open to accommodate the campgrounds but the road to Flamingo is long - 39 miles - and no doubt people speed on the 35 MPH road. I don't know if that's the case here, but either way - one more Endangered Florida Panther is dead.

View Larger Map

Dead Panther Society

One more Cat has joined the notorious Dead Panther Society. Panthers are on the prowl and that means careless speeders running over the endangered mammal.

The same day the Fort Myers News-Press ran their annual rundown (so to speak) of the natural history of Puma concolor there was a road fatality in North Naples. Panther biologists estimate anywhere from 80-120 of the cats survive in the wild, so every death is tough to bear, but the accident on Sunday night didn't need to end with a dead cat. The couple that first noticed the injured cat called Collier County Sheriffs but 10 minutes later, the injured panther staggered into the road where it was hit again by a motorist who apparently was oblivious to the commotion on the side of the road as well as the speed limit posted there.

15 cats were hit and killed in 2007. Up from 11 in 2006. With never ending development continuing to push further into the swamps that the panthers call home, there is no doubt that fatalities will increase and suitable habitat may be gone within a few decades.

CLICK here for the recent news article.

The map I created below shows locations of fatalities from around the Everglades since 1972. Click on a bulb to get more information about each panther.


View Larger Map

A Super-sized Christmas Everglades tour with the Millers

When Lisa suggested she wanted to bring her family on my Everglades tour I was elated. When she told me there were 24 family members that would join me for this pre-Christmas excursion I had to super-size the plans. Our regular 14 passenger vans would not do. It was time to break out the 25-passenger "Funmobile"!
I worked with Lisa in Vermont from 2002-2006 before she took the helm of the Four Winds Nature Institute - a community based environmental organization staffed with some of the best educators around. She's just "super" and one of my favorite people. I must admit that guiding her family around the Everglades was a daunting task. Imagine the headlines if I inadvertently drove the entire family into a lake of alligators? It's the exact reason the President of the United States and Vice-President are not aloud to travel together - although I'd be glad to drive those two into said lake. I met the group in Fort Myers and after being chased away from our designated rest area/parking spot by an over zealous rest area/parking spot security guy, we found a better spot, left the caravan and headed south for the Everglades. The Miller family was every bit as energetic and enthusiastic as Lisa. It was almost scary. I'm used to my family gatherings where games of Monopoly are routinely ended by an "earthquake" and angry passengers threaten to leap from moving cars. But I digress as usual.

The boat cruise took us out to the edge of the Mangrove forest along the Gulf of Mexico where I could blissfully forget that not only did I lock the Funmobile key in the bus. I locked them both in there. Don't tell the boss. And if he's reading this. I'm just making it up for this story. Which I'm not. We were treated to a first for me on our Wildlife Drive when a 5-foot Eastern Diamondback Rattlesnake slithered across the road. It paused. Rattled and eventually slithered into the sawgrass. A good reminder to watch our step along the way. (Apparently I was saved by my mother at the age of 5 when I wandered in our backyard and almost stepped on a Rattlesnake. other than that -this was my first wild one). On my tours, I always talk about the natural history as well as the troubles and the successes the Everglades have endured. I'm always concerned that environmental problems are a downer, but throughout the day, any mention of Everglades restoration success was met with spontaneous and unsolicited cheering. It was the most endearing thing I've experienced on a tour since a 5 year old boy told me back in 1999 that he wanted to save the Everglades so the Panthers could have a home.
My biggest worry for the day was selling the airboat as a legitimate part of an "eco-tour". They are noisy, but in the shallow waters of Lake Trafford and the Everglades, there is no other way to explore, lest one wishes to wander through the mucky swamp water of the most densely populated alligator lake in the world. Do they degrade the environment? Do they have a negative impact on the plant and wildlife. I will argue no. I hope I convincingly sold that. You have to experience it to understand it.

Our December 23rd trip was a day after the Winter Solstice. For the last 5 years I have led night-time solstice hikes up Mount Equinox in Manchester, VT. Although I missed it this year, it was nice to spend this day experiencing the solstice in a new way. I was hopelessly late getting to our airboat ride which was met with spontaneous and unsolicited cheers as the setting sun provided fantastic scenery around the lake.

The following day I discussed successful restoration projects in the Everglades and looked back to see the reaction of my new guests. They smiled and continued to listen. No spontaneous applause. I won't begrudge them of this reaction. It might be unfair to hold others up to such a high standard - There's really no family quite like the Millers.

Cat Fancy

Ever wonder who reads the blog? Apparently the biggest demographic is house cats, but I can't say they actually read the blogs so much as scan the pictures and bat at the screen when the videos play (pictured below- Zatcat from Plymouth, MA). This is true for their human counterparts, including one reader in Rowley, Ma and another in Tuscon, AZ who say they "skim" but they get the gist of the blog. And that's what I'm going for. I simply want people to get a general idea of what I'm talking about.



Apathy runs rampant even here in the Jungle apartment where I can't even get my own cat to read the blog, until as General Tso (pictured below) says - I include more "cat related content". So without further ado, to appease my feline and because I'm too lazy to actually write something this evening - here is an email exchange between my mother (who was working at Coolidge State Park) and myself from 2005 wherein she requests information regarding Mountain Lions (and for the sake of an Everglades tie-in - Florida Panthers) and I respond with utmost seriousness.

Mom's questions in Black - My answers in ORANGE with 2007 responses in BLUE.

From: "Pete Corradino"
To: "'Janey'"
Subject: Answers
Date: Fri, 21 Jan 2005

are the males bigger than the females?
Yes – Males average 150 lbs, females 90
Florida Panthers are smaller

are they related to domestic cats?
Yes, they are both in the Felidae family

do they eat dead stuff ?
Yes, they often kill their prey, cache it and return for it over the course of a few nights

do they breed in captivity?
Yes

do they eat monkeys?
They range all the way to the southern tip of South America and can be found in the same habitat as many species of monkeys, so most definitely.
Species name is Puma concolor and known as Puma in South America

where can you buy one
Ebay

why do they pace in captivity
Stress

why do you pace in captivity
Stress
and sometimes if i need to pee

can they interbreed with other cats, i.e. a nice big fluffy lion?
There genetic makeup has diverged to the point where that combination would not produce viable offspring. (I have to check if that is 100% correct)
That is true but Lions and Tigers can reproduce - but their offspring can not.

do they mate for life?
No – they are solitary and only find one mate for a very short breeding cycle

how many are there in the US?
Very tough to find this answer!
There are about 80-100 in Florida and several thousand west of the Mississippi with more and more moving into the eastern United States

are they found outside the united states?
Weren’t you listening? I just said they are found all the way down to South America. Also found in Canada

where is the largest population of mountain lions found?
West of the Rockies – highest density might be a good way to ask that question….Don’t know the answer to that though.
I knew at one point. It was in my VINS slide show that I can't find. This is turining out to be more work than I wanted.

can I have the answers to these questions when you get them?
Yes

how big do they get .. how tall, how much do they weigh?
males can be up to 265 pounds, males can be 8 feet in length (including a 3 foot tail!)
oddly enough I said above that males weigh up to 150 lbs - so obviously I make stuff up?

how far can they jump?
they can jump up 15 feet and leap 30 feet

do they eat people?
10 people have been killed by mountain lions in the last 15 years. They rarely get the chance to eat them although they have inferred that we taste like chicken. They have been known to bite campers in the privates.
In 2004 - a teenage camper at Coolidge State Park came up to my mother at the Ranger Station and announced that a coyote had just bit him in the privates (he used another word that I have changed so as not to offend young readers.) Anyway - that explains the running joke in our family about animals biting people's privates.

what do they eat?
Ungulates (Moose, Deer, Elk), Turkey, Dogs, Cats and a variety of other small animals

are they found in all 50 states?
They were at one time but now they breed in 10 states and are sporadic in others.

how long do they live?
They average about 18-20 years but can live 25-30 years in captivity

do they make good pets? ... hahahaha
They have been known to bite people in the privates

how many cubs in a litter?
average of 3

where do they sleep at night?
in a cave, tree cavity, earthen den, in a tree

how long do the cubs stay with the mom?
they stay with mom for an average of 15 months but up to 2 years.

are they nice or do they bite (from abigail)?
They have been known to bite people in the privates. They all have different personalities, they can be shy, they can be aggressive, they can be lazy

do both parents raise the young
The dads are useless and would sit on the couch and watch football if they could. They would root for the Panthers.
This is true.

what is a bunch of mountain lions called .. bevy, pride or are they solitary?
They are solitary
But a group of Polar Bears is an Aurora and a group of Weasels is a Sneak.

are they nocturnal?
They tend to be nocturnal, but will be diurnal when the prey species is

do they have friends?
George Bush would consider them terrorists, but there are many organizations that support their reintroduction and conservation

can you hunt them (you can in montana)
In several states yes, but they are a Federally listed Endangered Species

can you eat them (you can in montana .. they taste like chinese food ... hahahah)
Wow
My mother actually ate bear and mountain lion when she lived in Montana.

I'll think of more.
You do that.

It should be noted that my Mother - the English major from the University of Vermont asked every question in this email without capitalizing. So it's not my error! I guess that is acceptable in emails.

Special thanks to Tiffany Berish for supplying the archived email and Amanda Harden for suplying the photo of her cat reading the blog. If your cat/other pet reads the blog, send a photo and I will post.

Survivalman: Pete and Mike's Everglades Nightmare

It's 8:40 am on Sunday August 19th and I'm sitting in the middle of the 80,000 acre Fakahatchee Strand State Park. The cell rings and the ID flashes RESTRICTED. I nervously pickup and the sheriff on the other end says in a low, gravely tone - "We found your friend".

I arrived at the Fakahatchee at 8:50 am on Saturday. My friend Mike from Vermont had planned to meet me for an excursion into the swamp to locate rare ferns. Mike is a well-conditioned hiker, a seasoned outdoorsman and knows more about ferns than anyone I know, but he asked me along because I'd be interested and because hiking in the swamp in August is best not done solo. Our meeting time was 9 am and by 9:15 I worried that there had been a change of plan. I left a message on his phone in Vermont since he is cell-less (no service in many places in Vermont...mountains you know) and waited another 30 minutes.

Disappointed, I headed to a near by state park to explore a bit and later headed to the old Calusa Indian shell mounds of Marco Island to poke around. The heat, insects and lightning finally forced me to call it a day around 5 pm and I headed home.

As I reentered my cell service area, several messages came in, one from Mike's wife, hoping he had found me as that was the plan. When I returned her call she was worried. He had not checked in which he always does. When he had not returned by 9 pm I joined in on the worrying and began the search for Mike.

The park staff was gone for the day, so I called the county sheriff's office where they asked "Fakahatchee? Never heard of it." It's the largest state park in Florida. My mom's voice in my head gave me direction so I did what she would do anytime one of her kids was missing for more than 8 hours. Several calls to Broward County Sheriff and Florida Highway Patrol turned up nothing. Calls to the local hospitals turned up nothing. "Maybe he is in jail?" one deputy suggested. I laughed and that too turned up nothing. I spoke to Mike's wife again. He had not returned, but I got the description of his car and license plate. By 10:30 pm I had decided I would have to make the drive back to the Fakahatchee which is an hour and 30 minutes from home. I know him well enough to know that if he had arrived after I left at 9:45 am, he would not want to miss the chance to find these ferns, but the 11 mile road in called Jane's Scenic Drive is a legitimate wreck of a road. As they continue to do Everglade's restoration in the park, they are letting the road go and there are not so much pot holes as there are craters filled with water.

By the time I arrived at 12:30 am, it's pitch black and an ominous sign leading down the lonely stretch of road reads "PARK CLOSED DUSK TO DAWN". I continue on and the first time my truck goes axle deep in the water I think there is no way Mike could have made it out here in a Toyota Corolla.

I start the odometer at the Ranger station and slowly make my way down the dirt road. Moon Vine covered trees weighs heavily on the canopy. I'm driving through a tunnel of green - my headlights illuminating each ephemeral flower. I can't say that I'm not nervous out here. I'm in an enormous area inhabited by random squatters. This is where people hide out. At 1:15 am, my lights bounce off a compact car pulled up in front of a rusted old gate. It's empty and my heart sinks. Mike is out there. It rained 3+ inches today and the temperature has dropped 25 degrees. I also recognize this spot as the place I photographed the bear 2 weeks ago.

Thankfully Verizon has good coverage and I'm able to call the sheriff's office. There must have been a shift change. The woman on the phone knows exactly where I am and within 45 minutes she has dispatched 2 patrol cars, a K-9 unit and a chopper. It's 2 am when thee patrolmen arrive, slowly dipping into and driving out of the water holes in the road. One officer tells me he spoke to Mike Saturday morning at 6 am. Mike had explained our plans and the officer told him there was a criminal in a white truck on the loose out here. His last words to Mike - "Don't get lost".

The swamp here is thick. They want to send the K9 unit in before they loose Mike's scent, but it's pitch black and there are water moccasins and gators here, not to mention an abundance of thorny plants. It's too dangerous so we wait for the chopper. They have infrared and night vision, but out here in the darkness, pilots can loose the horizon, not knowing which way is up or down. They spend 40 minutes doing an 8 mile search and find nothing. The jungle is too thick to penetrate to the ground and the spotlights turn up nothing. At 3:30 am Mike's wife in Vermont asked me "Is there still hope?" There was no choice but to hope. But at 4 am they called the search off until daybreak.

A patrolman stayed at the scene and I headed back to the sheriff's sub-station in Everglades City. They want to ask me a few more questions. Seriously - I think I might be a suspect.

At 7 am I wake up in my truck outside the sub-station. My head is pounding, my body aches from sleeping in a bucket seat. There are 5 police units idling in the parking lot. I'll ignore my environmental voice. Inside they are planning the search. Police from Lee County, Collier County and Wildlife Conservation are ready to head out. The chopper is about to go back up.

I ask if I can help and they tell me to stay put. I now know I am a possible suspect in his disappearance. I stay put, but the crazy in me thinks it funny to imagine leaping in my truck and taking off, starting a high speed Everglades chase. You know you'd watch it. I need sleep.

At 8:30 am a police vehicle with a trailer of ATVs speeds down the road. I'm guessing they found him and these guys don't want to miss the chance to use their toys.


At 8:40 am on Sunday August 19th the cell rings and the ID flashes RESTRICTED. I nervously pickup and the sheriff on the other end says in a low, gravely tone - "We found your friend. And he's ok."


The chopper had begun a slow, methodical search and spotted him quite a distance from his car. (Map is a very rough estimate of location) They dropped an MRE (Military Meals Ready to Eat) to him and made the plan to extract him.

At 9:40 am on Sunday August 19th and officer stops by my truck and tells me the rescue team is lost. The trail they left behind had disappeared.

By 11:45 am, 27 hours after he became lost, Mike and rescuers emerged from North America's largest swamp. Thorn-scratched and Mosquito-bitten, a dehydrated and elated Mike arrives at our original meeting point. His wife said he never misses meetings and I couldn't be happier to see him make this one.

During the night, the officers asked me all about Mike. Would he be prepared for this? What was his health? Where were you going? Did he have a cell or GPS?

I told them that if anyone I know could survive this, Mike could. He's always prepared. He's fit. He knows what to do. And he did. He had arrived at 6 am on Saturday and decided to trek a bit before we were to meet. He went a bit off trail, left two markers, found a life-list fern, took a picture, looked around and was lost. This is easy to do and if you think it would not happen to you? Try it. Everything looks the same. The brush is thick and you can easily loose track of direction. (As I stood talking to the officers at 4 am, we argued about which direction we were facing. I was wrong. As was officer #2.) But at 8:30 am on Saturday, Mike, knowing he was lost, prepared to endure an unknown amount of time waiting for rescue.

He had planned to return to the vehicle and head back to meet me, so water, snacks and other survival gear were in the car. He would have to survive on what he had, but most importantly he stay put. Instead of wandering and getting more lost and excessively dehydrated, he found a gator hole full of water. This offered an opening in the canopy to see planes or helicopters above. It also provided water if necessary (and in 95 degree heat the murky water was). He made a bed of sawgrass (surprisingly soft?!?) and a shelter of palm fronds. Around 5 pm, a massive black thunderhead moved in and poured 3+ inches of rain down. As the sun dipped, the temperature did as well, needling down towards 70. Try telling someone that 70 degrees is not cold! Keeping an eye on the grunting gators across the hole and listening to the frogs and barred owls through the night, he waited. When the first chopper flew over and disappeared, he had no chance to signal them. He even considered the helicopter was looking for the criminal that was on the loose. Disappointed, he waited for sun up; sure they would be looking for him at first light. It wasn't until 8 am that the helicopter began the search, but soon enough, they found a thirsty, tired man waving his hat and filthy shirt at them.

I would have freaked out and wandered in this situation. So I'm in awe of Mike for enduring this experience. The wet, the cold, the wildlife, the uncertainty of rescue. It was a simple mistake. One lost trail, but Mike kept his wits about him, stayed put, had an excellent understanding of the environment and thankfully came out alive. Most people would fret about the animals but Bears, Alligators and Panthers were the least of his concerns. Considered - yes, but staying hydrated and preparing to be in a place where he could be found assured he survived his Everglades nightmare.

I think Mike's wife will be implanting a GPS chip on him when he returns to Vermont!

Putting the "Mental" in Environmental

I can't take all of the credit, but my goal in returning to my native state was to help save the Everglades and I did it! As of last week, the United Nations removed the Everglades National Park from the list of Endangered World Heritage sites! How exciting is that? The Everglades and the National Park are no longer endangered! (If this gets boring, there's lots of sarcasm at the end! And a picture of a bunny which usually makes people feel happy!)



"The World Heritage List includes 851 properties forming part of the cultural and natural heritage which the World Heritage Committee considers as having outstanding universal value. These include 660 cultural, 166 natural and 25 mixed properties in 141 States Parties. As of October 2006, 184 States Parties have ratified the World Heritage Convention."

The Everglades National Park was deemed worthy of this list and joined hundreds of other global landmarks in 1979 and was designated "endangered" in 1993 due to urban sprawl, agricultural pollution and rising sea levels. In the spring of 2000, Congress approved a $20 billion dollar, 40 year Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Project (CERP) that would see the feds footing half the bill and the state paying the rest. The state projects and funding was well supported by the governor at the time, but federal money has trickled in over the last 7 years and has come no where near splitting the costs. The world's largest wetland restoration project has suffered for it. Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush (R) was a strong supporter of the project as were most Florida politicians on both sides of the aisle, but sadly the White House neglected commitments and left the project to languish, causing ballooning budgets, stalled projects and increased threats to the 8000 square mile Everglades ecosystem.

As you have read here -

• the Florida Panther is once again close to extinction



• lakes are at record lows



• arsenic-laden mud is being removed by the ton from the bottom of Lake O and placed ???



• severe algae blooms in the gulf, caused by nutrient overloaded runoff from ag areas threaten the sea beds and the coastal communities



• estuarine nurseries still barely cling to life



• and aquifers are not only near empty but are being intruded upon by salt water inflows.

So it was with absolute glee (If you here a siren in your head, then your sarcasm alarm is working) that environmentalists from around the state applauded the UN's decision to drop the Everglades "endangered" status a few weeks ago based on progress with the restoration project and overall lessening of environmental damage.

See - I did it. In 7 months I have helped turn around the greatest destruction of a wetland ecosystem in the world.

I had a little help from the Bush Administration and Deputy Assistant Interior Secretary Todd Willens who recommended to the UN that the "endangered" label was a distraction to sites that were in greater peril. I mean it hasn't rained on the Pyramids in Egypt in months! The Serengeti has more elephants than poachers can shoot and right now there are dozens of people peeing in the streets of the World Heritage site and ancient city of Nessebar and it must be stopped!

Never mind several dozen species of invasive plants that are crowding out the native sawgrass, never mind the urban sprawl that sucks up billions and billions of gallons of water a day to water our invasive plant filled lawns! The "endangered" status is an "embarrassment" to the White House and the best way to eliminate it is to eliminate the word "endangered!"

It's as easy as that. aaaaaaand I'm caaaaalm again.

When told about the upgraded status of the Everglades National Park, Park Superintendent Dan Kimball said "What...WHAT?"

The Park Service and several scientists recommended the Everglades had a long way to go and should remain on the list. And it does have a long way to go. So no applause for my efforts just yet.

ACTION STEP? Provide you suggestions in a form of a comment.

And Happy Birthday Jacob - the big 10.
Keep on Peddlin'

Unlucky #13

I've been gone for a few days as I have been driving the east coast tour out of Fort Lauderdale while our new guide was away.

Since my last post, Florida Panther #9, 10, 11, 12 & 13 were all struck and killed by vehicles in SW Florida. There are now no more than 90. The most ever killed by vehicles in one year was 11 in 2006. With all of the development, I feel there is no hope for them.

The UN just delisted the Everglades as an Endangered World Heritage site, claiming the threat of development does not put the ecosystem at risk any longer. This is the equivalent of giving George Bush the Nobel Peace Prize. There is not a shred of evidence that the Everglades is at any less of a risk than it was when it was listed. Hard to imagine how they came to that conclusion.

I may seem cranky. I have my reasons which I will explain here soon enough. It's hot. Fort Myers set a record on Monday when the thermometer hit 98 degrees. I've never experienced a 100 degree day in Florida. (Oddly I've experienced 4 in Vermont.)

It hasn't rained much either.

By the time this is posted, I will have awoken at 4:45 am and driven across the Everglades to guide on the east coast (on Thursday 6/28). I'll watch for panthers and pray for rain.

Aqua Roulette or Why I Hate the Weather Man

Previously on JunglePete's Everglades Adventure -

I don't know why subscribers received a recap of the the first ten blogs. I had nothing to do with it, but apparently at least one of you enjoyed them again like fond childhood memories of H.R.Puffenstuff and Ooops All Berries Captain Crunch. You liked it so much the first time, you had to have more.

The 9th Florida Panther was struck and killed just off of the interstate on Tuesday. The record for vehicle caused fatalities was 11 in 2006. I would imagine that record will be broken.

Funny thing about forecasts. This afternoon I went to a speech by Jim Cantore of The Weather Channel.

He's the guy on TWC usually standing somewhere around the gulf of Mexico when a massive hurricane is about to hit. Never mind the storm surge, the 75 mph winds and the shingles flying by. He wants you to know it's dangerous!

He was announcing the 2007 Hurricane Report for about 500 members of the Fort Myers Chamber of Commerce. (chamber meetings....and you thought Red Algae was fascinating!) His estimates were a bit more tempered than the official report of 17 major storms for this year. He predicts 10. Of course last year they predicted 15 and there were 0 so the margin of error seems to be +/- 15.

His message was that hurricanes are still impossible to predict. His goal is to make sure people "get out of the way". Except for him. And despite the fact that it's hard to know where they will hit. So really just be prepared. Evacuate if you need to and don't if you don't have to. Depends on where the storm will go. Predictions say north into the gulf but it could turn at any moment. Keep watching your TV and if Jim Cantore is outside of your house you probably should have evacuated.

In 2005 after Katrina, leery Texas residents evacuated in droves as Hurricane Rita bore down on the Lone Star State. (Don't mess with Texas does not apply to acts of God.) More people lost their lives on the evacuation routes than from the actual hurricane. Moral of the story? Don't evacuate? Or maybe just don't watch the weather channel. It may cause freak outs.

If traffic was bad with millions of people on the roads during "the season", imagine what it will be like with 6 million people trying to go north. Or east if Jim Cantore tells us to. Or just get away from the storm or don't evacuate. It's really up to you. Just stay tuned. It's all too confusing and really a game of aqua roulette. Where will the rain and storm surge hit? Spin the wheel of doom!

Typically we get about 12 inches of rain from November to May (aka the dry season) Over the last 6 months, south Florida has experienced one of the worst droughts and until Monday we have had 3.5 inches of rain. Fires have scorched millions of acres across the state and many were hoping for a tropical storm to bring rain. Fortunately the rainy season has begun and the official start of the hurricane season begins June 1st. We have received nearly 7 inches of rain since Monday which has suppressed many fires and extinguished the chants for a tropical storm.

As meteorological forecasting technology becomes more sophisticated we seem to have less accurate forecasting. Maybe it is just me. Personally I like how they predict weather in Ecuador - with the weather rock seen below attached to the green rope.

If the rock is swinging - it is windy
If the rock is wet - it is raining
If the rock is violently shaking - there is an earthquake.
and so on...

We can't predict very well where hurricanes will hit until they are far too close. We have too many people living directly in the paths of hurricanes. Here at Casa Pedro y Ma-Le we're preparing our hurricane plan, but the best prepared person has to prepare for the least prepared person as well, because when water, gas, food and other necessities are in short supply, the unprepared look to the prepared. It makes me a bit nervous.

I have lived in Florida for 28 years of my life and have yet to experience a hurricane. (Got a tropical storm in Vermont in 1998 though!). Here's hoping I still don't this year. As for the 17 predicted major storms? Let's hope the weather man is wrong as usual.....

Flat Cats

A recent article in the Naples News detailed the death of the 8th Florida Panther this year. It was suggested that at this pace the cats were set to "demolish" last year's record of 11 road kills for the year.

The 3 year old cat was hit 10 miles east of the National Park. CLICK HERE for my custom map of every Florida Panther fatality since 1972. You can see that the only two of the Florida Panthers have been hit in the area that this one was hit on Tuesday. The suggestion is that there are more panthers and they have needed to expand their range. (Probably slightly true) This concerns people. Imagine Florida Panthers in your backyard! (One had "menaced" a goat farm...not the same goat farm i visited though). It should be noted that there have been 16 fatalities caused by (Pumas, Cougars, Mountain Lions) since 1890 in the US and Canada combined! There are an average of 6 attacks on humans a year across this range and there have never been attacks in Florida in this time.

What people are not considering is that we are in the midst of one of our worst droughts ever in Florida. No water means the cats need to follow their food source. Deer, pigs, armadillo seek out water too and where they go, the cats may follow. There is simply not enough water out there. Combine the lack of water with the serious fire situation, we have fires popping up every day across Florida and already over 40,000 acres of Everglades have burned. So is it possible that lack of water, fire and food is pushing the cats out of the dried up swamps?

With 6 million people in southern Florida now, it must be difficult for the cats to not come into contact with humans. And amazingly it's still rare. But sadly, like shark and alligator attacks, the media sensationalizes stories and the sheep that humans tend to be take the bait. If only they would stop and consider, but I guess everything the media says is true.....

Not in My Backyard

Oh this title could mean so many things today. I said to MaLe that I would go write and she said in her adorable Ecuadorian accent "Will you write about the perpetual fart smell outside?" The insideous smell has returned this evening after a few week hiatus and you would think people would be up in arms over a smell so foul. But I guess we all did move in to a place where a sewage treatment plant is in our backyard.

People don't seem to mind much in their backyards here. Malls, limestone quarries, nuclear power plants, golf courses. Build it and they will come. Oddly, Panthers, Crocodiles, Alligators and Manatees are objectionable to those that find their presence intrusive and a damper to a certain lifestyle.

The South Florida Water Management District just warned all communities in and around the Everglades that no more water will be drawn from the Everglades, which would seem like a good thing. People are still coming. Nearly 1000 people a day move here and communities are being told - Find another source of water. Desalinization - Recycle Water - Reduced Consumption. Heck - I know where they can get some partially treated waste water. Many have their eyes set on the Florida aquifer - the largest aquifer in the world that lies quietly 1000 feet below the limestone, fun parks and interstates.

Yesterday the 6th "Florida Panther" in 2007 was hit and killed by a vehicle on Interstate-75. (Click here for a map I'm working on of Panther fatalities) There is an estimated population of around 80-100 cats in the Everglades. They have been dubbed the most Endangered mammal on the planet. The thing is, the Florida Panther has long been considered a subspecies of the Mountain Lion Puma concolor (aka Cougar, Puma, Painter, Catamount (shout out to the cats in VT), Screamer and Nittany Lion.) The population had dropped to around 20-30 just 20 years ago and they were so inbred that they had numerous physical and physiological mutations. A cowlick on the nape of the neck, a kinked tail, leaky valves in the heart and males with testicles that did not descend. (stop giggling little sister) Fish & Wildlife introduced 10 Texas Cougars into the population a few years ago to expand the gene pool. They are the same species, but when mixed, would the Florida Panther cease to exist? In truth, the Texas Cougar and Florida Panther are essentially the same animal, with very few distinct genes, so the answer is no. But many found the transplants to be an abomination. Funny thing was, in 1993 when they studied the genes of cats in the Everglades National Park and the Big Cypress National Preserve, the Park cats had DNA from a South American Puma! Biologists knew something was odd. No cat would range that far. They determined that these "non-native" genes had entered the population about 40 years earlier. Apparently, an owner of a roadside zoo back in the 50's had released his cat into the wild. He refused to admit it but decades later, the evidence is still present in the Florida Panther population.

The cats are the natural heritage of the Everglades. The landscape would be severely diminished without them and while the species would still survive from Alaska down to Tierra Del Fuego under other names, the loss of the Florida Panther subspecies would be disheartening. So 6 cats in 3 months is terrible, regardless of their genetic stock. 16 in 18 months is even worse.

There is less and less room for the panthers to roam. A male requires about 200 square miles and refuses to share with another male, often leading to confrontations and occasionally death of one cat. The steady erosion of habitat continues and as people continue to relocate and expand their habitat it would seem soon there will be none left for the cats. Sadly and certainly, not in my backyard.

Gators in the Night

Every once in a while I get to do something that I've always wanted to do. Something that I've built up in my mind AND the experience actually lives up to the expectation. And really, who wouldn't want to wander nearly a mile into a gator infested cypress swamp in the middle of the Everglades with nothing but the light of the moon to lead the way?

Every day that I take a full day trip for the Everglades Day Safari we go to the Fakahatchee Strand State Preserve. It's a 20,000 acre preserve near the west coast that is known for Ghost Orchids, Florida Panthers and the Seminole Indians whose village "guards" the entrance. MaLe and I were heading back from Miami and drove across Tamiami Trail, the first road built across the Everglades. We took a detour down the Loop Road, an historic old dirt road that always promises good wildlife. It didn't fail tonight, providing White-tailed Deer, Pig Frogs, Whip-poor-wills and a 4 foot Water Moccasin that I thought was just a stick in the road. I straddled it doing 40 and by the time I turned around, it had slithered off into the night.

Further west on Tamiami Trail we passed signs - Panther Crossing - and then spotted this. The signs are real. There are panthers out here - maybe 80-100, but this was unreal, a 15-foot tall fabrication for a roadside zoo in the swamp. At around 9:30 pm, with the full moon on the rise, we stopped at the Fakahatchee Strand State Park parking area next to one of the many Seminole villages along the Tamiami Trail. (Click for map - The village appears at the bottom near a small pond. We walked out to the smaller pond at the top of the map. )Here was the entrance to the park, with a few hundred feet of limestone gravel walkway along a well vegetated canal leading to an 8/10 mile boardwalk out to a gator hole. I warned MaLe to step in the well lit areas. We know that snakes are out a night and gators feed at night too and live in the canal. So tread carefully. (I didn't tell her about the gators in the canal, so she is finding out as she reads this.) The Moon Flowers were blooming. Each flower - blooming only once and never again.

We passed the fenced in Seminole village, palm-thatched roofs peeking over the top, air conditioners humming along with crickets. By the time we made it to the boardwalk, most of the blood had been squeezed out of my hand. MaLe insisted she WAS terrified AND that was ok. Fear serves a purpose. My only concern was the first pool before the boardwalk, but we had made it past without incident. I've never heard of a bobcat attack and although we had found fresh scat on the boardwalk just days ago, I wasn't worried. With diaphanous moonbeams casting shadows of cypress on the boardwalk, we wandered further towards the gator hole, fireflies twinkling and diving, whip-poor-wills whistling in the distance.

The boardwalk was built out to a "gator hole" where mama gator lives and raises baby gators year after year. She's a lock on the daily tours, but without flashlights we would be hard pressed to locate her down among the Fire Flag leaves and mud. We took a photo, hoping for a glimpse of something stirring in the swamp and couldn't have been happier to catch the amorous response of dozens of fireflies and the white, glowing pairs of eyes of 3 small gators. Mama was no doubt near by. Our walk back out was no less magical. Here we were, 30 miles from city lights, tip toeing through the backyard of a few dozen Indians and listening to the cries of short-eared owls and the restless chirps of hundreds of crickets. I've always wanted to do this.