Feds on hunt for Florida panther killer

Chad Gillis | The (Fort Myers, Fla.) News-Press

IMMOKALEE, Fla. — A Florida panther killed two months ago was shot, and federal investigators are offering a $15,000 reward for anyone who can help identify the gunman.

Initially, the March death just north of Florida Panther National Wildlife Refuge here was reported as road kill. But biologists later confirmed the death was the result of a gunshot, not blunt trauma associated with vehicle collisions.

Florida panthers, a subspecies of mountain lion unique to the Sunshine State, are critically endangered with a population of fewer than 100, according to wildlife biologists and animal advocacy groups.

The big cat is the second panther that has been shot in this area of Collier County since October. The first, now named Uno, will live the rest of its life in captivity at after someone shot it in the face with birdshot and then again in the rear.

That 2-year-old male panther is now blind.

"It was near where Uno was shot," said Nancy Payton of the Florida Wildlife Federation's Naples office. "Then I thought, 'Is there a connection between those two incidents?' It makes me wonder if there are other panthers in that area also suffering similar fates."

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the federal agency charged with enforcing the Endangered Species Act, is leading the investigation.

Shooting or otherwise harming a panther is a violation of the Endangered Species Act. Florida considers it a third-degree felony with a maximum of five years in prison and a $5,000 fine. The federal punishment is a maximum one year in jail with a $100,000 fine.

The Florida panther population was believed to consist of a few dozen cats in the 1980s and '90s. The state introduced female Texas cougars in the late '90s as a way to increase the genetic variation of the Florida panther, which crossbred with cougars hundreds of years ago as their range was connected across the Southeastern USA.

Jaclyn Lopez, Florida director for the Center for Biological Diversity, said the group makes donations to these types of cases to help protect endangered animals such as panthers, California condors and red wolves.

"All odds are against them, which make it difficult to understand why anyone would intentionally shoot a panther," Lopez said. "We're really hoping there is someone out there with information about who may have done this."

Since 2008, gunshots have killed five panthers have been killed by guns since 2008, according to Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission records. Three of those happened in Collier County, the center of the panther's remaining range.

"It might just be reflecting that person's animosity toward panthers," Payton said. "Maybe it was intentional to have him suffer. There is that mentality out there: 'Whack 'em, stack 'em and pack 'em.' "