Deadliest month ever for Florida panthers, with nine killed

This April will go down as the bloodiest month yet for the Florida panther. So far, nine of the endangered cats have died, all but one killed along Southwest Florida highways and roads. Seven were males, almost all of them at the young age when they start looking to establish their own territory. Altogether, 20 panthers have died this year, a number on track to outpace last year’s record-breaking 41 fatalities. Why so many died, wildlife officials say, is simply a gory measure of their success. “It’s not the best way to document that increase, but it’s still a fact we have to take into account,” said David Schindle, Florida panther coordinator for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The number also speaks to the increasing pressure from development on the wide-ranging panthers — particularly males, which each need a territory of about 200 square miles. In recent months, the notoriously shy cats have made some unusual appearances: In March, a panther was photographed sitting on the porch of an east Fort Myers house. Two weeks later, a visitor to the Corkscrew Swamp spooked a panther sitting on a boardwalk and videotaped it racing past her...more