After hours and hours of public comment, Florida Fish and Wildlife Commissioners approved a measure that modifies its role in a federal management plan for the state animal, the Florida panther.
The cats have been on the endangered species list for decades, and are still believed to not exceed 200 in number. The FWC coordinates with the federal government on efforts to help the species prosper, but Wednesday approved new guidelines softening its role and shifting emphasis to the recovering population's role on humans instead of the other way around.
A policy paper the agency released in conjunction with Thursday's discussion listed sustaining a southwest Florida panther population, the only breeding population in the state, rather than growing it "while addressing the challenges associated with human-panther coexistence."
Environmental groups had hoped the agency would keep its policy of trying to expand two other small populations in the state to 240 each, though many expressed satisfaction with some aspects of the plan, including restoring degraded habitat and encouraging the installation of panther crossings on roadways.
There was a clear divide among those who spoke.
Ranchers and other landowners in areas in and near Florida panther habitats said some of their livestock has fallen prey to the predators.
Cliff Coleman of Black Boar Ranch, which features grounds where visitors can hunt various species of deer and other prey, said something needs to be done about the excess of panthers in southwest Florida. He urged the commission to move some of the population north — anything to keep them from picking off the animals stocked at his ranch, as well as cattle, because the population is growing so quickly that panthers' normal prey — deer and rabbits — aren't getting their numbers up quickly enough to meet the demands of panthers.
“They're destroying the habitat up there, as far as there's too many in that area,” he said. “Up there there's no prey base yet; there's very few white tail deer, there's no hogs.”
Those who opposed the new rules said the commission is misguided in its approach.
“It is more than just losing some calves or building new neighborhoods,” 9-year-old Megan Sorbo told the commission. “If our precious wildlife, such as the Florida panther, is to have that long-term well-being, you're charged with protecting that and those needs come first, not ours as humans.”
Some even went to far as to suggest the commission push for the ability to more easily "take" panthers that pick off livestock or in some other way affect humans. In recent weeks, it was revealed that Commissioner Liesa Priddy, a rancher near Immokalee, is asking the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to let ranchers in her region take (code for kill or harass) panthers that are deemed a nuisance. That request is separate from what was discussed Wednesday, but many in the audience seemed to see a connection.
“Only three percent of our population are hunters, but they seem to be the only stakeholders this commission listens to,” said Carole Baskin of Bg Cat Rescue, a nonprofit big cat sanctuary in Tampa. “It has some perverse sanctity, at least in the minds of other hunters.”
Baskin also seemed to be referring to an upcoming Florida black bear hunt the commission approved in June, which is slated to take place October 24-31 — another reason environmentalists packed the room in which the commissioners met at a Fort Lauderdale hotel.
The commission, according to the News Service of Florida, approved the "harvest" of 320 bears during that time, and paved the way for more than that to be killed by denying new Commissioner Robert Spottsman's suggestion that the hunt be shut down after a day or two if the quota is met.
Florida's bear population was listed as threatened from 1974 until 2012. Since then, exurban sprawl and the popularity of saw palmetto berries — a dietary staple for bears — as a dietary supplement for humans, as well as the lure of unsecured garbage, have driven bears into residential areas.
Now, they will be hunted for the first time in 31 years. Critics call the October "harvest" nothing more than a trophy hunt at a time when there aren't really even any accurate population estimates for the Florida black bear.
Officials said there would be no over-hunting of bears, despite the fact that nearly 2,000 hunting permits have been sold ($100 for residents, $300 for non-Florida residents).
Those opposed to the hunt said they don't buy that.
"You have put us on track to go over the quota in the first two days," said wetlands biologist Lee Cook, according to NSF. "That, combined with the nuisance bear kills and the car kills, could put us right back on the endangered species list, which we all worked so hard to get them off."
This article appears in Aug 27 – Sep 2, 2015.