Florida panthers getting mauled by cars

Florida panthers (Puma concolor coryi) and cars do not get along so well. Last year, cars struck and killed a record number of the federally endangered cats. Wildlife officials confirmed the sixteenth Florida panther death for 2009 on December 30th. The previous year only ten were struck and killed by cars, and the previous record was set in 2007 with 15 killed. With only a hundred in the wild, every single individual matters.

In a press release, Florida director for Defenders of Wildlife, Laurie Macdonald, said “Unless we take actions to avoid such tragic losses to Florida’s native wildlife, records such as these will continue to be reached each year as more and more roads and developments are built. The toll that vehicle collisions are taking on the panther’s population is a serious obstacle to their recovery, and the roads and vehicles themselves are inhibiting the panther’s efforts to expand its range.”

Still, the Florida panthers have started on the path toward recovery. In 1987, only 20 to 30 Florida panthers remained in the wild. This smaller and geographically isolated subspecies of the broader ranging mountain lion (also known as cougar, puma, panther, or catamount) may already suffer from inbreeding. Over the past couple of decades, conservation biologists have implemented some very successful measures to help the tawny cats recover, including building wildlife crossings that allow the panthers to cross busy roads without encountering traffic, and directional fencing that guides panthers away from busy roads. These measures have been taken on some roads but obviously not all, including the stretch where the sixteenth Florida panther of 2009 was killed.

Source : http://blogs.discovery.com/animal_news/2010/02/florida-panthers-getting-mauled-by-cars.html