Controversial Mates Brought Spark to Panther Population

Fifteen years ago, there were only 25 Florida panthers left. In a state that loves its strip malls and condo complexes, the big cats' habitat was paved over. As if homelessness and becoming roadkill weren't enough, when a population dwindles to just a couple dozen animals, genetic diversity becomes a problem. The panthers were becoming so inbred that they couldn't reproduce. Melody Roelke, a veterinarian who has tracked the big cats for years, said, "We were actually watching the extinction process right in front of our eyes."

The weakened cats seemed to know their outlook was dire. Roelke says, "They would be lying there in the tree like, 'Oh, just let me just die up here,' because they lacked any kind of vigor."

That's when geneticist Stephen O'Brien of the National Cancer Institute swooped in with a plan to save the species. Eight female pumas were relocated from Texas to infuse a little genetic excitement into the population. It was a controversial move, but it seems to be working.

Creating hybrids is generally frowned upon by conservationists and the Endangered Species Act. Florida panthers and the Western pumas are both cougars (a.k.a. mountain lions); the Florida panther is just a subspecies that adapted to life in the swamp. So it's not like they were creating ligers. And, O'Brien argues, interbreeding between these subspecies goes way back — it's the development that nearly wiped out the panthers that also cut them off from their Western mates.

The fact that the Eastern and Western cats are the same species led some people to argue that it wasn't necessary to resort to any heroics to save the Florida panthers. But the panthers' isolated, unique habitat may have helped them develop traits that aren't seen in any other subspecies. They're also the top of the food chain and key to keeping the ecosystem in balance.

So, now, fifteen years later, the population has tripled and the new generation of panthers is much healthier. "They look a little bit like Arnold Schwarzenegger versions of cats," says O'Brien.

Craig Packer, an ecologist at the University of Minnesota, agrees that bringing in the pumas was the right thing to do. He says the argument for keeping a subspecies genetically pure at any cost is a bit like stamp collecting. It's important to protect rare species, but inbreeding can be devastating, and if the panther disappeared, the ecosystem wouldn't be far behind.

Hybrids aren't the solution to restoring the damage we've done to biodiversity, but in this case, it seemed to be the right choice.

But don't get too excited yet. A tripled population still means there are less than 100 Florida panthers left. Last year, 24 panthers were killed, many of them along Florida's highways. Although they're a protected species, they don't have any protected habitat because they were added to the endangered species list before it came with the perk of "critical habitat." As Martin Matheny noted, the Fish and Wildlife Service hasn't denied a development request in panther territory since 1993, and now there's only 3,500 square miles of habitat left. Panthers need that real estate more than any developer does; without a home, even the Arnold Schwarzenegger hybrids don't have a chance at survival.

Take action to get Florida panthers their designated critical habitat.

Photo credit: MacJewell