Hunting decimated the population severely. The Florida panther is the only subspecies of mountain lion that remains in the eastern United States. Large-scale depleting of wilderness areas for human development has further reduced their habitat and also their number. Since then, the subspecies’ numbers have risen to around 200 individuals. In 1995, eight female Texas cougars were introduced into the population to infuse new genes, five of which bred successfully before being removed from the wild. The remaining population was severely inbred. Mainly due to hunting and habitat fragmentation, Florida panthers almost died out by the 1970s, when there were fewer than 20 specimens left. That severely reduced the panther’s food supply, and the species was nearly extinct by the mid-1950s. They were perceived as a threat to humans, livestock, and game animals.Ĭattle impacted the panther’s well being in the 1930s and 40s when thousands of white-tailed deer were slaughtered to eliminate the tick that causes Texas cattle fever. They ranged from Canada to the tip of South America and inhabited every region of the United States.įlorida panthers were massively hunted after 1832 when a bounty on panthers was created. In the 1800s, cougars were one of the most widely distributed animals in the Western Hemisphere. With continued human population expansion, habitat suitable for panthers and other wildlife is quickly diminishing. Today, they only live in the southwestern tip of Florida. The Florida panther’s historical range extended from Florida to Louisiana throughout the Gulf Coast states and Arkansas. In 1982, the Florida panther was chosen as the Florida state animal by a vote of elementary school students across the state. Without the Endangered Species Act, the Florida panther, most likely, would no longer exist. Wildlife officials estimate there are only between 120 – 230 adults and sub-adults left in the wild. The panther was one of the first animals listed under the Endangered Species Act and is still one of the most endangered mammals in the world and the most endangered cat in North America. It is a subspecies of puma, also known as a mountain lion or cougar - the last breeding population of the subspecies surviving east of the Mississippi River. couguar – Puma concolor couguar) is a North American cougar that lives in tropical hardwood hammocks, pinelands, and mixed freshwater swamp forests of South Florida.
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