The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission posted its revised panther position paper on Wednesday and is expected to adopt the paper at its September meeting.
While the original draft painted the panther as a fearsome creature with the ability to ravage cattle ranches and hunt down humans, the new draft focuses more on carrying capacity (how many panthers can live in a certain area) as well as goals for working with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
The first paper said Florida would not participate in any expansion of panther habitat, that the state would not work toward establishing a second population.
“I don’t know who had input on the first version, but there are more numbers and statistics in this one, and that’s a good thing,” said Manley Fuller, with the Florida Wildlife Federation in Tallahassee. “I think there’s been a lot of internal discussion that involves the input from the commission’s biological staff.”
Although the position paper couldn’t be found online Wednesday, The News-Press obtained a copy and later verified its existence with FWC.
During a June meeting in Sarasota, Commissioner Ron Bergeron put a halt to adopting the paper. Other commissioners were ready to move forward with the paper, which says Florida will not participate in panther recovery beyond the cats that currently live in South Florida — mostly Collier County.
Some at the meeting said they were afraid the state was moving toward a panther hunting season and that the position paper was the first step.
The majority of public comments at that meeting and during various surveys suggests that Floridians want to protect the panther. Ranchers are much less likely (56 percent) to support panther conservation than the public (91 percent), a University of Florida report from earlier this year says.
The Florida panther is one of the most endangered species on the planet, with FWC biologists estimating there are 100 to 180 in the wild. Although some people argue that a Texas cougar genetic introduction was the end of a “real” Florida panther, biologists say Florida cats and Texas cats exchanged genetics hundreds of years ago.
The current federal panther recovery plan says there must be three separate populations of 240 individuals before the animal can be removed from the Endangered Species list. Two populations of 240 would be required to lower panthers from endangered to threatened.
The first FWC position paper says those goals are unrealistic and that the state will not help relocate panthers north of Lake Okeechobee and the Caloosahatchee River, water barriers female panthers haven’t been found north of in decades.
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DNR Confirms Cougar Sighting in Marinette County
Officials say evidence shows the cougars are males “dispersing from a breeding population in the Western United States.” The DNR says there is no evidence cougars are breeding in Wisconsin.
Cougars are a protected species and they cannot be hunted.
The big cats are not a threat to public safety, the DNR says. “Cougars are not considered a threat to public safety, and in the unlikely event that a person is confronted by a cougar, face the animal and spread your arms and open your coat or jacket to appear larger. If a cougar approaches, make noise and throw rocks or sticks,” says a news release from the DNR.
If you spot a cougar, fill out this form on the DNR website: http://dnr.wi.gov/topic/WildlifeHabitat/MammalObsForm.asp
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