As panther deaths in Florida surpass last year's total, the push is on for more wildlife crossings

We are only halfway through the year, and more panthers have been hit and killed on Florida roads by cars than all of last year.

Vehicle strikes are the number one killer of the panther. Each year, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission's Panther Pulse page tallies the dead.

"I think that it's really important to teach people how to coexist with not only Panthers but all the animals that share Florida with us," Tiffany Burns, Associate Curator at ZooTampa, told ABC Action News reporter Michael Paluska.

ZooTampa recently teamed up with the non-profit fStop Foundation to monitor trail cameras. In February, ABC Action News reporter Michael Paluska and photojournalist Reed Moeller traveled deep into the wilds of Polk County, hoping to catch a glimpse of the majestic panther on camera. No luck, then. But, months later, a lone male panther crosses into the frame of one of their cameras.

"It was an adult male," Burns said. "He did have a little bit of what seemed to be a front paw injury. He wasn't limping a little bit. But body condition. He looked very good, very thick, healthy."

"Is it a testament to protecting wildlife that we're seeing these panthers on cameras this far north?" Paluska asked.

"It's a great thing to see the panthers come up north; they have a population in South Florida. And if we want that population to expand, which we do, they have to expand their territory, especially the males; the males are going to use a larger, wider range. But we also need those females to follow. So, step one is getting the males to expand that range. But it'd be great also to see some females moving more north. That I-4 crossing is huge. They've tracked bears that have traveled along I-4 and could not cross and had to turn back. The same goes for Panther; we want this connecting land so that these animals can expand their territory without the collision of vehicles or even the threat of vehicles."

The new crossing is lined with six cameras from the fStop Foundation.

Continue reading at Push for more wildlife crossings as panther deaths surpass last year's total (abcactionnews.com)