In 1992, the Florida panther had an estimated 40 years left before extinction. The population had dwindled to roughly 30, and inbreeding had caused genetic deficiencies and health issues.
However, Florida scientists weren’t ready to give up on the animals.
Today, about 200 Florida panthers remain. But they face new threats.
Cars are now the leading danger to panthers, accounting for 466 deaths since 1978, according to data from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. As car travel increases during the spring and summer, Florida panthers simultaneously enter their most active breeding season, meaning the risk of vehicle strikes is higher.
While panthers breed year-round, members of the Florida subspecies typically reproduce from March to July, making them especially vulnerable to human-caused risks. Carol Rizkalla, coordinator of the FWC Panther Management Program, said male panthers disperse widely — sometimes traveling up to 42 miles — which makes them prone to car strikes.
“They have large home ranges, and they move around that home range every day, so they are actively crossing roads,” she said. “It’s unavoidable.”
Of the 29 panthers killed by cars in 2024, 19 were male. Because of their wide dispersal, they are found more frequently outside the species’ typical South Florida domain. It’s rare to see breeding panthers north of the Caloosahatchee River in Fort Myers, but a male was spotted in Georgia in 2008 before being killed. More recently, in 2017, two breeding female panthers were seen north of the river.
Assistant professor Hance Ellington works at UF’s Range Cattle Research and Education Center in Ona, an unincorporated community about 50 miles east of Sarasota. There, he monitors local trail cameras, which have captured two male Florida panthers over the years, including one sighting earlier this year.
“The panther population continues to grow,” Ellington said. “It’s not growing super fast, but it is growing, and safely crossing the Caloosahatchee means the population is also expanding its distribution.”
With the species’ expansion north comes greater risk for accidents. The roads panthers cross rarely have lights because they are largely based in rural areas, said Marie Filipek, animal care supervisor at ZooTampa.
“If you can, use your high beams,” Filipek said. “For vehicle safety and human safety and animal safety, just don’t be a distracted driver.”
But Florida panthers face human-created risks beyond cars. Habitat loss also threatens the panther population, as development and road building in South Florida reduce available land.
Organizations like the Florida Wildlife Corridor Foundation aim to create safe passageways for wildlife like the Florida panther. Filipek and her team at ZooTampa tell visitors about the group, which conserves lands from the Everglades to the Georgia border to create a connected 18 million-acre stretch for wildlife to travel across.
The Florida panther is considered an umbrella species, which means their conservation helps protect several other species in their ecosystem. As apex predators, panthers protect against environmental issues by limiting invasive populations that, if left unchecked, could cause damage to other species populations.
It’s why scientists worked to rebuild the Florida panther population in the 1990s, and why organizations continue to encourage state legislators to protect the species.
As Florida’s population continues to grow, prompting more development, Filipek worries about losing sight of the species she works to protect.
“More people are moving here all the time, but making sure that we’re preserving what we have left of our natural habitats is really important,” she said.
