Florida FWC Asks Public to Share Florida Panther Sightings, Photos on Website
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) has launched a new website that makes it easy for citizens who spot Florida panthers to share the information online.
The site – https://Public.MyFWC.com/hsc/PantherSightings/ – enables the public to report when and where they have seen a panther or its tracks and upload photos of the sighting.
As recently as the 1970s, the Florida panther was close to disappearing, with as few as 20 animals in the wild. Now there are an estimated 100 to 160 adults and sub-adults. Sub-adults are panthers that have left their mother but are not yet breeding age.
The growing population of this endangered species and its need to roam over large areas mean panthers are spreading beyond their well-documented south Florida range. The FWC has evidence of panther sightings throughout Florida and is getting increased reports from people lucky enough to have photographed a panther or its tracks.
“While it’s encouraging to hear from a person who is excited about seeing a Florida panther, the FWC has to have specific documentation of the panther sighting to provide sound science-based panther management,” said Darrell Land, FWC panther team leader. “We’ve been receiving a lot of panther pictures from people who use trail cameras, and this website makes it easy for them to share that information with the FWC.”
FWC researchers will use the reported sightings to gain knowledge on the range of Florida panthers.
“The comeback of the Florida panther is a great example of what coordinated conservation efforts can accomplish,” Land said. “The FWC is asking people to help document how panthers are responding to these conservation efforts and where they are coexisting with Florida’s 19 million human residents.”
Learn more about the Florida panther at FloridaPantherNet.org/. The site includes information about panthers for people of different interest levels, including a coloring book and activity pages for kids.
The Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission came into existence on July 1, 1999 - the result of a constitutional amendment approved in the 1998 General Election as part of the package proposed by the Constitution Revision Commission.
In the implementation of the Constitutional Amendment, the Florida Legislature combined all of the staff and Commissioners of the former Marine Fisheries Commission, elements of the Divisions of Marine Resources and Law Enforcement of the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, and all of the employees and Commissioners of the former Game and Fresh Water Fish Commission.
Five years later, after consulting stakeholders, employees and other interested parties, the FWC adopted a new internal structure to address complex conservation issues of the new century. The new structure focuses on programs, such as habitat management, that affect numerous species. It will focus on moving the decision-making process closer to the public and did not require any additional funding or additional positions.
