http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/broward/fl-panther-death-20091218,0,1333798.story
SunSentinel.com
Slow down for Florida panthers, state says
Panther road kills approach record this year
By David Fleshler, Sun Sentinel
5:10 p.m. EST, December 18, 2009
Well-marked panther speed zones let motorists know to slow down to 45 mph. The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission is asking drivers to obey posted speed limits and watch for panthers crossing roads at dusk and later. (FWC / December 18, 2009)
A Florida panther was struck and killed by a car in far western Broward County this week, becoming the first panther known to have been killed by a vehicle in the county’s history.
The young adult male panther, which weighed about 110 pounds, was crossing Interstate 75 near Snake Road about 1 a.m. Thursday when it was hit.
“It basically ran out in front of the vehicle,” said Sgt. Mark Wysocky, spokesman for the Florida Highway Patrol.
Chain-link fences extend along both sides of I-75 to prevent panthers and other wildlife from walking onto the interstate.
But the fences don’t extend along its entire length, and the panther was hit along a stretch of 75 that was not fenced, said Darrell Land, panther team leader for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. He said he planned to inspect the area and will look at whether the fence should be extended.
The panther’s death brings the number of road-killed panthers to 14, just one short of the record set in 2007. Road kills are the second-ranking cause of death of the endangered cats, Land said, behind fights with other panthers.
Land urged drivers to slow down in panther habitat, which encompasses a broad stretch of territory from the ranch lands west of Lake Okeechobee through the Everglades to the edge of the Florida Keys.
“Panther deaths, including those from vehicle strikes, have increased, in part because of a rise in its numbers,” Land said in a written statement. “In spite of the modest increase in numbers, every cat remains important to the survival of the species in the wild.”
Land, a longtime panther expert for the state, said he knew of no other panthers killed by vehicles in Broward, and a check of the state’s database, which goes back to 1972, didn’t turn up any.
The panther population has rebounded since the early 1970s, from a low of as few as 30 adults to more than 100 today.
The state and federal governments spent millions to help the species recover, building fences and highway underpasses to reduce those killed on roadways, improving land management to enhance populations of deer and other prey and bringing in Texas cougars to mate with their genetically inbred Florida cousins.
But the loss of panther habitat to urban development has been acute in the fast-growing counties of southwest Florida.
The Sierra Club and the Conservancy of Southwest Florida this week filed a 60-day notice of intent to sue the federal government for failing to stop the destruction of panther habitat by designating federally protected critical habitat.
Ken Warren, spokesman for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, declined comment on the lawsuit notice.