Endangered Florida panthers are facing multiple deadly threats: “Sprawl kills”

In early January, an endangered 2-year-old Florida male panther known as UCFP479 became the first to die this year in a vehicle collision along a rural southwestern Florida road. Two weeks later, a 10-year-old female panther was fatally struck by a car about 70 miles away.

They will not be the last to die this year.

In 2024, 36 panther deaths were recorded by state wildlife officials, which was the most since 2016. The majority of those deaths are the result of collisions with vehicles, including one that was struck by a train, state statistics show.

An estimated 120 to 230 adult Florida panthers live in the wild in the state’s southwestern corner, where they are faced with a booming human population and the accompanying development.

Panther Crossing, an organization dedicated to reducing the species’ car deaths, said that at least 239 Florida panthers have died in vehicular collisions in the past decade — more than the amount of adult panthers confirmed to be alive today. 

Loss of habitat

The Florida panther, which is similar to but smaller than the Western cougar or mountain lion, once roamed across a large swath of the southeastern U.S. Hunting and habitat loss have decimated the species’ numbers and confined them to a shrinking space of about 2 million acres (809,000 hectares), according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Indeed, along what were once narrow country roads in eastern Collier and Lee counties there are numerous major projects under way that will create tens of thousands of homes and the traffic that comes with them.

“We’re at a critical juncture now,” said Michael McGrath of the Sierra Club, which recently led a tour of panther country for journalists and activists. “We’re going to see more and more deaths. Sprawl kills.”

Environmental groups have been fighting an uphill battle to curb some of the development and vow to continue those efforts.

“You can see all of that land is primary panther habitat,” said Amber Crooks, environmental policy manager at the Conservancy of Southwest Florida. “We have to fight until that last decision is made.”

Elise Bennett, the Florida and Caribbean director at the Center for Biological Diversity, told CBS News last year the situation was “heartbreaking.”

“We have a growing human population and the infrastructure, the roads, the buildings, the higher traffic and higher speeds … all of that is happening right in the heart of the last remaining occupied habitat for the Florida panther,” Bennett said. “They’ve been kind of cornered into this little area of Southwest Florida, and that’s where we see the majority of these roadkills.” 

Conservation efforts

The Florida panther is the only established population of pumas east of the Mississippi River, according to the state Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. They have been listed as federally endangered since 1967. A 26,600-acre panther refuge was established in 1989 next to the Big Cypress National Preserve, west of the Everglades.

In 1981, the state began capturing panthers to check their health, administer vaccines, take genetic samples and fit them with radio collars to track them.

The panther population at one point in the 1990s dropped to around 50 animals, in part because of inbreeding that caused numerous health problems. That led officials to import eight female Texas pumas to Florida to breed with males, helping boost panther numbers and improving their genetic diversity. The offspring are considered to be Florida panthers and are protected under the Endangered Species Act, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

A litter of three young Florida panther cubs was confirmed to be living in the Okaloacoochie Slough State Forest last August. 

Characteristics of panthers

Florida panthers resemble the cougars and pumas found in the American West, with beige or tan fur and white markings underneath. They eat various types of prey, especially deer and raccoons.

Males tend to roam more than females in search of territory and sometimes are spotted near the Orlando area. One male was shot and killed by a hunter in Georgia in 2008, wildlife officials say. Because males roam more, they are more prone to being struck by vehicles.

Other threats

Panthers face the threat of disease, including a form of feline leukemia transmitted to them by domestic cats. Bobcats also are prone to the disease.

A 2002 outbreak of feline leukemia killed at least five panthers, federal wildlife officials say.

Another emerging disease appears to cause weakness in the rear legs of panthers and bobcats, many of them seen walking unsteadily on trail video cameras.

“We encourage the public to continue to submit footage and pictures of wildlife that appear to have problems with their rear legs,” the Florida wildlife commission said in an online post.

Some are killed through fights among themselves, especially males.

contributed to this report.