The Florida panther is the last subspecies of Puma still surviving in the eastern United States

Why is the Florida Panther ENDANGERED?

Historically occurring throughout the southeastern United States, today the panther is restricted to less than 5 percent of its historic range in one breeding population of fewer than 100 animals, located in south Florida.

• The panther is threatened with extinction, and human development in panther habitat negatively impacts recovery. Panthers are wide ranging, secretive, and occur at low densities.
• They require large contiguous areas to meet their social, reproductive, and energetic needs. Panther habitat selection is related to prey availability (i.e., habitats that make prey vulnerable to stalking and capturing are selected). Limiting factors for the panther are habitat availability, prey availability, and lack of human tolerance.

Restoring listed animals and plants to the point where they are again secure, self-sustaining components of their ecosystems is a primary goal of our threatened and endangered species program.  To help guide the recovery effort, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) prepares recovery plans for listed species native to the United States, pursuant to section 4(f) of the Endangered Species Act of 1973 (Act), as amended (16 U.S.C. et seq.), unless such a plan would not promote the conservation of a particular species.  Recovery plans describe actions that may be necessary for conservation of these species, establish criteria for reclassification from endangered to threatened status or removal from the list, and estimate the time and cost for implementing the needed recovery measures.

Recovery plans describe actions that may be necessary for conservation of the species, establish criteria for reclassification from endangered to threatened status or removal from the list of threatened and endangered species, and estimate the time and cost for implementing the needed recovery measures.

Habitat loss, degradation, and fragmentation are among the greatest threats to panther survival, while human intolerance of panthers is one of the greatest threats to their recovery.

Vehicle strikes and problems associated with being a single, small, isolated population have continued to keep the panther population at its current low numbers. Potential panther habitat throughout the Southeast continues to be affected by urbanization, residential development, conversion to agriculture and silviculture, mining and mineral exploration, and lack of land use planning that recognizes panther needs. Public opinion is critical to attainment of recovery goals and reintroduction efforts. Addressing social opposition to panthers will be the most difficult aspect of panther recovery and must be resolved before reintroduction efforts are initiated.

The Fish & Wildlife Service  issued the first Florida Panther Recovery Plan in 1981.  The plan was revised in 1987 and 1995.  In 2001, the Service initiated the process to revise the plan a third time.  The draft third revision of the Florida Panther Recovery Plan was made available for public review and comment on January 31, 2006.  This draft of the recovery plan includes specific recovery objectives and criteria to be met in order to reclassify (downlist) and eventual delist the Florida panther under the Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended (Act).  This revision of the recovery plan, which is currently being finalized, identifies the recovery needs of the Florida panther and outlines the necessary actions needed to achieve recovery.  The draft plan is available for review at http://www.fws.gov/verobeach/

The strategy for Florida panther recovery sets an intermediate goal of downlisting from endangered to threatened with the ultimate goal of delisting. To achieve both the intermediate and ultimate goals, the recovery plan identifies three objectives which, collectively, describe the conditions necessary to achieve recovery. These objectives are:

1. Maintain, restore, and expand the Florida panther population and its habitat in south Florida and, if feasible, expand the known occurrence of Florida panthers north of the Caloosahatchee River to maximize the probability of the long-term persistence of this metapopulation.

2. Identify, secure, maintain, and restore habitat in potential reintroduction areas within the panther's historic range, and establish viable populations of the panther outside south and south-central Florida.

3. Facilitate panther conservation and recovery through public awareness and education.

To realize these objectives for downlisting and delisting, this plan presents objective, measurable criteria that when met would result in a determination that delisting is warranted. These criteria are based on the number of individuals and number of populations that provide for demographically and genetically viable populations as determined by several population viability analyses to ensure resilience to catastrophic events. The threats to the Florida panther will need to be addressed to attain these criteria.

Downlisting of the Florida panther should be considered when:

1. Two viable populations of at least 240 individuals (adults and subadults) each have been established and subsequently maintained for a minimum of 14 years (or two generations).

Delisting of the Florida Panther should be considered when:

1. Three viable, self-sustaining populations of at least 240 individuals (adults and subadults) each have been established and subsequently maintained for a minimum of fourteen years.

2. Sufficient habitat quality, quantity, and spatial configuration to support these populations is retained/protected or secured in the long-term.

A viable population, for purposes of Florida panther recovery, has been defined as one in which there is a 95 percent probability of persistence for 100 years. This population may be distributed in a metapopulation structure composed of subpopulations that total the appropriate number of individuals. There must be exchange of individuals and gene flow among sub-populations. For downlisting, exchange of individuals and gene flow can be either natural or through management. If managed, a commitment to such management must be formally documented and funded. For delisting, exchange of individuals and gene flow among subpopulations must be natural (i.e., not manipulated or managed). Habitat should be in relatively unfragmented blocks that provide for food, shelter, and characteristic movements (e.g., hunting, breeding, dispersal, and territorial behavior) and support each metapopulation at a density of 2 to 3 animals per 100 square miles (259 square kilometers), resulting in a minimum of 8,000 to 12,000 square miles (20,720 to 31,080 square kilometers) per metapopulation of 240 panthers.