It was just a few days ago that this sixth month old Panther kitten was found by the side of the road, barely 35 pounds and not yet separated from her mother. Another victim of the intersecting needs of a growing population of people and a shrinking population of an endangered animal struggling to survive among human beings encroaching upon their habitat.
Unfortunately, this is the fifth panther killed this year because of road strikes. Last year was the highest year for fatalities, 17 panthers killed. And with an estimated population of only 110-120 panthers left, that's a huge dent for their numbers.
Fragmentation is the biggest threat to these beautiful big cats. And unfortunately, building fences and crossings for these cats can cost as much as $350,000 to $500,000 each! And the worst part, they work. The I-75 where there are panther crossings there has been zero fatalities since their construction.
The conservation biologists who care for the panthers had to leave this poor girl out overnight, observing and waiting to see if her mother came looking for her, because most likely she was not completely weaned. And when Mom comes looking for her lost kitten, it increases the chance that she too could become a victim of the highway. Another fatality and on top of it, a breeding female, which means less offspring to help build up the population.
So what are Conservation biologists doing to try to protect the panther?
“Once we identify a female that has started denning behavior, we go out close to the area where we know the den is, and we set up what we call a ‘biologist in a box’. Basically it is a radio receiver hooked to a telephone and so when the female takes off to go hunt ... the 'biologist in a box' will call us and it will let us know that she has left the den site.
“And then we rush into the area where we have a rough idea where the den is from triangulation with the radio signal, and so we rush in and try to find the den while she’s away hunting," Ranger DeGross said. "Then we go in and we basically do run-ups on the kittens, weigh them, we take a skin sample, we take a fur sample, we give them dewormers, and then we also put a little chip in their neck, basically a little rice-sized bar code chip, in their neck, and that’s basically what we do."
But they are doing their best to keep track of the kittens born, tag them and make sure they are healthy when they find their den. But the stories are so heartbreaking. If the kittens aren't chipped and they can't find the den, then tragedies like the following happen.
Radio Collars and Trail Cams Aid in Search of Orphaned Kittens
Article and Photo by Mark Lotz, FWC Panther Biologist
There were three reported Florida panther deaths in March, two of which were the result of vehicle collisions. The third, female Florida panther #172 (FP172) was first captured by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) on November 12, 2009 in the Addition Lands of Big Cypress National Preserve. FP172 at capture. Biologists used location points generated by this collar to search for her orphaned kittens.
Months later, FP172 gave birth to three male kittens a mile north of I-75 (Alligator Alley) near the 59 mile marker. We deployed our “biologist-in-a-box” (den monitoring device) on February 19 and headed out the very next day to mark the kittens. They were about two weeks old. Subsequent tracking of FP172 three days a week from a fixed-wing aircraft, as we do
with all radiocollared panthers, indicated everything was proceeding normally with the growing kittens. However, on March 22 we heard a distressing signal emanating from FP172’s collar, one that indicated she was in mortality.
There is a mechanism inside the collars that doubles the pulse rate of the signal when it has been motionless for two hours. When we arrived at the scene we were not surprised to find that FP172 had been killed by an adult male panther. It was suspected she was vigorously defending a deer kill for herself and her young. (See http://floridapanther.org/...
for a discussion of female panther IA.) Not only was a fresh deer cache found near FP172’s body, but the odors of two potential meals had attracted the attention of a 7-foot alligator that unfortunately was missing half of his lower jaw.
Knowing that FP172’s kittens were only six weeks old and not able to survive on their own we began what ended up being a three-day search. Although it has been done in the past, using hounds to track these kittens was not an option. The kittens were too young: not big and fast enough to tree safely. They could too easily be accidently killed by the dogs.
The original den site had been vacated a couple of weeks prior. A hammock with a cluster of telemetry points was scoured and ample evidence of their presence was found. Unfortunately, nothing was “last-night-fresh.” The kittens were nearing the age when they follow their mother to kills and begin the weaning process so naturally the hammock where FP172 had cached her meal, and where her body laid, was searched on more than one occasion. Cameras were set up on the deer cache in hopes of capturing a curious or hungry kitten but to no avail. Locations with only one telemetry point were also searched and FP172’s day beds were found but there was no evidence the kittens were with her at the time. We even searched likely areas between locations and were able to find day bed sites but still no kittens. After days of searching with the help of telemetry data and trail cams it became apparent they would not be found. Sometimes the odds do fall in favor of the cats. We have successfully located orphaned panther
kittens in the past, raised them in captivity and released them into the wild. Technology can increase those odds. Radio collars and trail cameras are useful devices not only in gaining important data for research, but also for managing the panther population (as in this search) and providing insights into the panthers’ struggle for survival.
Source
It's common for mothers to protect their young but then to lose another three kittens because of not being able to find her den is heartbreaking. This work is important.
Biodiversity is important, these big cats serve a purpose as top predators by keeping prey in check, killing the weak and keeping their numbers low. They also happen to be beautiful creatures that deserve to keep their habitat from being broken apart because of roads and human beings that cannot take the care to just slow down a bit and pay attention to the animals they share their environment with.
Just last night I gave a little talk about how biologists figure out where to put the crossings to spend as little money as possible. If you use areas where panthers are most likely to cross, mortality rates in the past and their most favored habitats, you can build crossings in the most favorable places and hopefully have a big impact while asking for the least amount as money as possible.
The best case scenario is not segmenting the national parks in Florida at all but that's not reality. And to fence in freeways and add crossings all along all the highways is also not realistic (and just fencing would be just as bad because then you would wind up with inbreeding and an inability for the population to move in the huge amount of area they need as large carnivores).
These cats are an important part of this ecosystem in Florida as are every single creature that fits an essential niche. We can save them, but we have to find the funding and the will to make room for nature among our unchecked growth.
Local organizations:
If you want to learn more, you can travel to Florida Panther net.
Florida Panther Refuge
National Organizations:
Defenders of Wildlife
National Wildlife Federation