The Florida panther should remain classified as an endangered species under the Endangered Species Act, U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson told President Donald Trump’s administration Tuesday.

Nelson’s letter to Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke follows the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s announcement in late June that it is reviewing the status of the panther, along with 21 other endangered species and one threatened species in the Southeast.

Tuesday marked the close of the public-comment period for the panther’s status review. Such reviews are required under the Endangered Species Act. They are conducted every five years by the FWS “to make sure that all species listed as threatened or endangered under the Endangered Species Act continue to have the appropriate level of protection,” according to the FWS website.

Together with @MyFWC we've used the best available science to update the Florida #panther population estimate. https://t.co/PE8J59iwiq pic.twitter.com/de6onsqgpJ

— US Fish and Wildlife (@USFWSSoutheast) February 22, 2017

Nelson — a Democrat facing re-election in 2018 who could see Gov. Rick Scott as a challenger — said in his letter to Zinke that changing the panther’s status as endangered could hinder the “good progress” made since the species was federally classified as endangered in the 1960s.

“Unfortunately, many of the original threats to the panther’s survival continue to pose a threat today,” Nelson wrote.

Over the past 10 years, he said, at least 140 panthers have been killed by vehicles, a number that also represents the estimated size of the current adult panther population.

“Clearly, there is a need for additional resources to protect the panther from vehicle collisions,” Nelson wrote.

Do you have information on Florida #panthers? We want to hear from you! https://t.co/AVIpEGVUU2 Pic: Mark Lotz, @MyFWC pic.twitter.com/XgIOPjGSuj

— US Fish and Wildlife (@USFWSSoutheast) July 5, 2017

The senator also cited habitat loss as a major threat to panthers: “It is critical that future development effectively balances the panther’s needs,” he wrote.

In asking for the panther to remain classified as endangered, Nelson joins Republican Congressman Vern Buchanan, who sent a letter last week to the FWS asking for the agency to “maintain current federal protections to prevent one of the world's rarest cats from becoming extinct.”

“Alarmingly, your agency's standard review comes less than a year after 32 panthers were struck and killed by vehicles on Florida roadways — the highest number of panther-involved accidents ever recorded,” wrote Buchanan, whose Southwest Florida district includes areas that are known panther habitats. “Such traffic fatalities have risen more than 65 percent since 2012, outpacing the number of documented panther births. These roadkills are in addition to other causes of death, including poaching and disease.”

