36 endangered Florida panthers killed this year, highest death toll since 2016
Three dozen endangered Florida panthers died this year, the most in nearly a decade, according to the state's Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.
It's the most panther deaths since 2016, when 42 panthers were killed.
2024 outpaced the previous year for panther deaths in May, according to the commission's statistics. November and December were particularly deadly months for the big cats, with 10 of this year's 36 panther deaths occurring then. But it wasn't all doom and gloom for the species: A litter of three young Florida panther cubs was confirmed to be living in the Okaloacoochie Slough State Forest in August.
Just between 120 and 230 adult panthers are alive in Florida, according to the Florida Department of Environmental Protection. The highly-endangered species once lived across the Southeast, but the population was decimated, primarily by hunting, according to the National Wildlife Federation. Now, the big cats are mostly within one region of Florida, along the Gulf of Mexico, and remain susceptible to low genetic diversity, illness and habitat loss.
Another huge threat to the species is cars and other vehicles. Of the 36 panthers killed in 2024, 29 were killed by vehicles, according to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. One panther was struck by a train. Four panthers had "unknown" causes of death, and just two of the cats were killed by predators, according to the commission.
Panther Crossing, an organization dedicated to reducing the species' car deaths, said that at least 239 Florida panthers have died in vehicular collisions in the past decade — more than the amount of adult panthers confirmed to be alive today.
Officials and activists have urged motorists to slow down and pay attention to their surroundings in the South Florida counties where panthers are known to be active.
"We have a growing human population and the infrastructure, the roads, the buildings, the higher traffic and higher speeds ... all of that is happening right in the heart of the last remaining occupied habitat for the Florida panther," said Elise Bennett, the Florida and Caribbean director at the Center for Biological Diversity, in an interview with CBS News earlier this year. "They've been kind of cornered into this little area of Southwest Florida, and that's where we see the majority of these roadkills."
