Four highly endangered Florida Panthers were killed by vehicles during a week, an unusually deadly period for rare species.
According to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Committee, one of the Panthers was between 8 and 10 months old.
The death spyme began on May 1, when a 1-year-old Florida Panther died at State Road 29, followed by a man estimated to be 4-5 years old, who died the following day, McClatchy News reported.
Two days after May 4th, a panther under the age of one was found dead, according to FWC’s Panther Pulse.
The most recent fatality discovered on May 6 was a two- or three-year-old female Panther who was killed on State Route 29 in a total of four panthers in the first week of May.
All were killed in vehicles in southwestern Florida in Hendry or Collier County.
Florida state animals have experienced an increase in deaths from vehicle strikes over the past 20 years, officials said. Of the nine deaths documented this year, eight come from vehicles. Photo by Rodney Kammauf of the National Park Service
“As the nation grows, habitat suitable for Panthers and other wildlife will shrink,” according to the FWC. “The Florida Panthers usually live in remote, undeveloped areas. However, as the number of Panthers and the number of people living and recreating them in Florida increases, there is also the possibility of meeting Panthers.”
Death is the latest blow to less than 250 adult Florida Panthers species estimated to remain in the wild.
“We’re not going to stop the state from growing. In many ways, growth is good,” Traci Deen, president and CEO of Florida Conservation, told McClatchy News in December. “But as we grow, we must increase the pace of land conservation, or we will lose species like the Florida Panther.”
According to the FWC, the number of Panthers killed in vehicles has been increasing since 2000.
According to Audubon’s Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary, the species has plenty of room to roam, with men claiming 150 to 200 square miles of territory.
State Route 29, which runs southwest Florida, is a particularly deadly corridor for its species. Three of the nine Panthers dead this year were hit while crossing that path, records show.
