Current Panther Distribution and Habitat Use: A Review of Field Notes Fall 1999-Winter 2000
McBride R. 2000. Current Panther Distribution and Habitat Use: A Review of Field Notes Fall 1999-Winter 2000. Alpine, TX
December 6, 1999, marked the beginning of the FWC's twentieth year of capturing and monitoring the Florida panther. It was a year for records, including 15 new panthers that were added to the sample (Table 1). Six other panthers were treed for scheduled re-collars and 14 collared panthers were treed accidentally while hunting kittens or by random chance (Table 2) . Six additional panthers were treed whose collars had stopped transmitting, and one escaped puma was treed and returned to the Seminole Theme Park, bringing the total to 41 panthers treed in 85 days (Table 2). Our efforts were successful ·in spite of a record number of collars that malfunctioned, and whose recovery took up 64% of our capture season. During the 85 days of capture effort, 54 days were spent recapturing six priority F1 and Texas females (Table 3). Had these collars been working properly an even greater number of new panthers could have been added to the sample. Because panthers with failed collars are as difficult to catch as those with no collar at all, our catch would be equivalent to 21 new captures in 85 days. This is a number unheard of in the history of panther recovery work in South Florida. Another record was the twelve panther mortalities that occurred from summer 1999 to spring 2000 (Table 4). These mortalities were mitigated somewhat by the birth of five new kittens since December 24th. The most significant news from this season has been the population expansion in Big Cypress National Preserve south of I-75 and the measurable impact that the introduction of eight Texas females has had on the South Florida panther population as a whole (Tables 5-7). Eight new panthers were captured in the Turner River Unit of Big Cypress, bringing the total number of collared cats in BCNP south of I-75 to 14. Seven other panthers were confirmed by sign. This population had declined to zero at one time. See Appendix for a calendar of capture season events.