The Impact of Various Causes of Panther Death

Table 1. Showing the impact of various causes of panthers’ death:

Panthers sometimes use all habitat types, but they majorly rely on forested areas with dense understory vegetables for their rest sites, den sites, and stalking cover. The collected data shows the causes of death of different panthers in 2019 and 2020 within Florida. Out of the 53 panthers that died in 2019 and 2020, 2019 saw 31 deaths of the Florida panthers according to the raw data collected, while only 22 deaths in 2020 (Geodata, 2021). That means there were more panther deaths n 2019 than in 2020. The data also shows that the most common cause of panther deaths in both years was Vehicular trauma. Of the 53 panthers that died in 2019 and 2020, 44 panthers died due to vehicular trauma, as seen in  Figure 1  and  Table 2. Vehicular trauma is a collision that involves trucks, autos, or motorcycles in which the panthers are left severely injured or dead. The vehicular trauma as the main cause of death among the Florida panthers is due to the roadways that bisect the panthers' key habitats, hence becoming hotspots for the collision. Therefore, there is a need to implement measures that can reduce the high human-related panther mortality. One essential requirement is to create a designated wildlife crossing along the major highways and the roads that cut across the panther habitats. Besides, having designated passages together with fencing is also important since it can naturally prevent the panthers from walking along the roads and highways, reducing vehicular trauma deaths (Jensen, 2018). It is also important to avoid driving through the panther habitats. Panthers are primarily active between dawn and dusk (Peppard, 2018). They normally prefer to rest when the sunshine is at its peak. It is, therefore, necessary to limit the travel through the panther habitats during nights and dawns when the panthers are likely to be most active. That will reduce the risks of collision with the panthers, and as a result, reduces vehicular trauma deaths. The data also shows a limited number of panther habitats in the North. However, several panthers are dispersing to the Northern parts. For instance, a panther was hit right adjacent to an entry into the grove on the northern side. Therefore, the wildlife organization needs to limit this movement of panthers to the North by increasing the number of habitats in the Southern region. Besides, it is also important to provide them with breeding areas if they may need to breed their young ones hence moving to the northern parts to search for better breeding areas. The key limiting factors for the Florida panthers are the availability of habitats, prey, and lack of human tolerance. Loss of habitats, fragmentation, and degradation are the greatest threats to the survival of panthers, and the lack of human tolerance also threatens the recovery of panthers (Frakes, 2018). The panther mortality as a result of vehicular trauma is a threat to the potential population of panthers. The potential panther habitat within the southeastern parts of Florida continues to be affected by urbanization, construction of roads, mineral exploration, and agricultural conversion. These are the major factors that are limiting the further expansion of the panther population. 

References 

Peppard, A. F. (2018). ‘A cross burning darkly, blackening the night’: Reading racialized spectacles of conflict and bondage in Marvel’s early Black Panther comics.  Studies in Comics ,  9 (1), 59-85. 

Frakes, R. A. (2018). Impacts to Panther Habitat from the Proposed Eastern Collier Multiple Species Habitat Conservation Plan: A Quantitative Analysis.  Report prepared for the Conservancy of Southwest Florida, Naples, FL , 34. 

Jensen, A. J. (2018). Crossing corridors: wildlife use of jumpouts and undercrossings along a highway with wildlife exclusion fencing. 

Geodata. (2021).  Florida Panther Mortality . Geodata.myfwc.com. Retrieved 5 July 2021, from https://geodata.myfwc.com/datasets/3aa8eaa2a5ee4ce9912ad4d1edd8f613_7/explore?location=29.121112%2C-82.799267%2C6.64&showTable=true.