Shocking News As 12 Endangered Florida Panthers Have Been Struck & Killed By Cars This Year Alone

Heartbreaking news as a total of 12 Florida panthers have been struck and killed by vehicles in 2023. Two of the big cats were found dead in Florida last week, with a total of four killed just this month.

Sadly, a total of 66 panthers have been killed since 2021, 109 in 2017-2020, and 118 in 2014-2016. The leading cause of death for Florida panthers are car collisions, per Florida Fish and Wildlife. 

One of the endangered panthers found last week was a 4-year-old male that was discovered on Sunday in northern Collier County on Immokalee Road. The second was a 3-year-old male that was found in northern Hendry County on County Road 833.

On November 6th, a male panther was struck by a car and found dead in Hendry County, and the next day, a female panther was also struck by a car and found in Glades County.

Florida panthers are the larger of Florida’s two native cat species (panthers and bobcats). They once roamed the entire Southeast of the United States, but due to human encroachment, vehicle collisions, poisoning, and hunting, they are now only found in a region of Florida along the Gulf of Mexico, as well as in Georgia. The core population of the species is found south of Lake Okeechobee.

The Florida panther is a subspecies of the western puma which is found in only half of their original range, primarily in mountain and desert regions in Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming.

Thankfully, Florida panthers were added to the U.S. endangered species list in 1973 and it is illegal to harm or harass them in any way. There are only approximately 120-230 panthers remaining in the wild in Florida, per Florida Fish and Wildlife.