The Panther Capture Season at CREW Continues

By Nan Mattingly, CREW Trust Volunteer

FWC is learning more about Florida panthers through their FLM focused research

As we explained in our latest blog post, a primary objective of capturing and radio collaring Florida panthers and bobcats is to identify a mysterious disease affecting our felids, feline leukomyelopathy disorder (FLM). 

When a cat is captured, Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) biologists look to obtain tissue samples to study in an effort to advance our knowledge of FLM. Combined with trail cameras illuminating documentation on panthers and bobcats, tissue samples may help to unlock the key to this devastating disease.

The most notable symptom of FLM is rear leg weakness or even paralysis. Trail cameras have captured some heartbreaking examples of cats and kittens showing difficulty walking. Severe cases of FLM can result in death. Check out the FWC website (myfwc.com) to see videos of a panther and a bobcat demonstrating that rear-leg weakness. 

In Collier County, FLM was first discovered around the National Audubon lands known as Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary in 2018. Since then, cases of FLM have been documented in several south Florida counties. Testing has focused on toxins such as rodenticide, infectious disease and nutritional deficiencies but the mystery hasn’t yet been solved.

Why is this investigation of the causes of FLM urgent? The Florida panther underwent a severe decline in population during the 20th century. No reliable numbers exist but it is believed that the panther population was fairly robust at the end of the 19th century, yet by the 1970s the population had almost disappeared, mainly through hunting. In 1973 the Florida panther was declared an endangered species and since then the numbers have grown slowly, reaching the current estimate of approximately 120 to 230.   

FLM is only one of the contemporary threats to the panther population. Since most of the remaining panthers live south of the Caloosahatchee River, there’s a distinct geographic limit to the gene pool. With about 1,000 people moving to Florida every day, construction is destroying the panther’s essential warm climate habitats – wetlands, swamps, upland forest, and stands of saw palmetto. In addition, A male panther needs about 200 square miles to establish his own territory. The end result for panthers is increased car fatalities and intraspecies aggression due to a lack of territory. Without wildlife corridors like the CREW lands to connect large swaths of habitat, the panther is finding it more challenging to mate and breed.    

Bobcats, too, are susceptible to FLM and can provide valuable data to aid both species, but their population numbers are not as dire as those of the panther for several reasons. For one thing, bobcats are not as fussy about habitat – they can adjust to an urban or suburban environment. In a wild habitat, a bobcat needs a range of five to six miles, but in an urban setting they can be satisfied with only one or two miles. Bobcats are opportunistic carnivores and survive on a wider variety of prey than the panther. They prefer rabbits and rodents but they will also eat small reptiles, birds, feral cats, carrion and eggs. While the Florida panther lives only in the southwest corner of Florida, the bobcat is present in most of the U.S. and in Florida it’s found in all counties except in the Keys.   

When we protect our native Florida felids like the panther we in turn preserve their habitat, which benefits many other species – including our own – under the umbrella of their reach. Additionally, the research that the FWC panther team performs paints a broader picture of the Florida panther’s future, closely intertwined in the preservation of our limited natural resources. Panthers require our protection, so that future generations may enjoy the same diverse ecosystems, watersheds, and native environment that has attracted generations of Floridians to live and grow alongside these wild felids. FWC research is key to the survival of Florida’s state animal, the endangered Florida panther, but always remember that your input is incredibly valuable too! Please report panther sightings (and bobcats with FLM symptoms) with a video if you have the where-with-all to do so! 

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Panther Capture Season at CREW

by Allison Vincent

photo by Thomas Reinert of FWC

Staged and ready after months of planning stands a congregated group of biologists waiting for a call. They shiver outside the CREW office field station, enjoying the unusually cool temperatures and wide open view from the pole-barn near a utilitarian series of land management buildings used to manage the CREW lands. They’re waiting for word from the houndsman, still out searching for signs of Florida’s big cat, the Florida panther, and our smaller wild felid, the bobcat. 

Bobcat (left) and Florida panther (right)

When the call comes in that a bobcat has been tracked and treed, they load up the warmed-up swamp buggies and rendezvous with the houndsman in a remote area of the CREW lands. This time, they’ve tracked another male bobcat, not a target for collaring this season, given the biologists’ interest in females who might produce a litter of kittens that could provide developmental information about the feline leukomyelopathy (FLM) affliction. If they track a panther, they plan to collar it regardless of the sex.

Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission have collected varied tissue samples from all FLM positive animals to analyze with a wide array of tests in order to attempt to decipher the root cause of the disorder. 

https://myfwc.com/wildlifehabitats/wildlife/panther/

The dogs respond to the houndsman’s signal and regroup, alert for the next search. The houndsman Cougar McBride, contracted by the FWC, is a second generation tracker and has worked throughout the Americas as far south as Paraguay, South America capturing jaguars. Here in Florida, the aptly named houndsman works collaboratively with biologists to safely track our endangered Florida subspecies of Puma concolor to supplement biological research and improve the chances of restoring the historic population of this important endangered species.

A major component of the panther program is radio collar data which tracks the range of these native predators. Using game cameras as a preliminary step, the panther team has a general idea of capture zones. This season they chose the CREW lands because of frequent game camera footage of panthers, including one that happens to have no ears – an indication of his age and survival skills. Capture zones where panther kittens were observed on the game cameras were avoided to prevent any conflict between the hounds and kittens. Safety of these wild felids is of the utmost importance and biologists will often walk away from a capture if the conditions are not right. 

It’s still early in this year’s capture season and it’s an ongoing saga that we’ll report back on in future blogs. The research and understanding these seasons bring to our collective understanding of this elusive animal cannot be overstated. Their status as an endangered species serves as an umbrella to protect other wildlife and wildlife corridors throughout their range. In the years to come, the story that emerges from our understanding of their expanding range and recovering numbers will affect all Floridians.

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Florida Panther: https://www.fws.gov/refuge/florida_panther/wah/panther.html

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