Defenders of Wildlife Call on FL to Recommit to Panther Recovery
Posted June 23, 2015 0815 am
SARASOTA, Fla. - The public is invited to weigh in on the future of the Florida panther at a meeting of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission this afternoon in Sarasota.
Experts
from the nonprofit Defenders of Wildlife will be in
attendance to urge the state to reconsider a recent
policy statement, which recommends the agency shift
resources to focus solely on the panther population
below the Caloosahatchee River in South Florida.
Laurie Macdonald, Florida director of Defenders of
Wildlife, says the agency should aim for at least three
separate panther populations across the state.
"There has been a growing population of panthers in
South Florida, but that's not recovery," she says. "One
breeding population is not recovery. So now's not the
time to back off."
The state's policy paper also suggested the panther's
endangered status will be revisited. Macdonald says that
would be premature.
"The panther's original range was throughout the
southeastern United States," she says. "They ranged all
the way from Arkansas into Florida. The only population
now is in South Florida."
Ranchers have complained to state officials about
panthers preying on livestock. Defenders of Wildlife
promotes programs to help ranchers build predator-proof
enclosures.
The public meeting will get underway at 1:30 p.m. at the
Sarasota Hyatt.
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