PDF Florida Panther
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Fewer than 200 Florida How can we help? Our environmental promise panthers now inhabit the » Drive carefully in panther territory At FPL, we understand that caring for the environment is just as important as providing customers with affordable, reliable power, now Sunshine State’s remote *Purchase a “Protect the Panther” » and in the future. Florida license plate cypress swamps and This is reflected in our efforts to protect the air we breathe, the water and land we use and the plants hardwood hammocks, mostly and animals that share our planet. As a clean- energy company, we’re committed and dedicated south of Lake Okeechobee. to minimizing our impact on the environment and the place we all call home. Florida panthers are long-tailed cats that weigh FPL and the NextEra Energy family of companies between 70 and 160 pounds and measure up to embrace an environmental policy that is part six-feet long. Males average up to 150 pounds; of a company-wide Code of Business Conduct females usually weigh less than 100 pounds. & Ethics. Every year, company officers and managers reaffirm this pledge in writing. These skilled hunters prefer to eat white-tailed deer * Every year, $25 from the registration fees from every Florida panther license plate goes to the Florida Panther Research and Management and wild hogs. Instead of chasing their prey for Trust Fund to protect the Florida panther long distances, Florida panthers use their stealth as hunters to single out and ambush their prey. Our promise in action Before the 1800s, Florida panthers roamed Resources Our passion for protecting the environment is very throughout the southeastern U.S. from Arkansas personal. After all, we live here too. That’s why we to Florida. As more people settled in the Southeast, Florida Power & Light Company work closely with federal, state and community panther numbers decreased through hunting and www.FPL.com/panthers organizations to help minimize impacts on natural habitat loss. Today, the pale, brown cat is much resources and protect the Sunshine State’s wild Florida Panther Net: treasures. more likely to be seen on specialty license plates www.floridapanthernet.org or sports memorabilia than in the wild. In addition, we’re constantly working to improve our U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service: standards by building cleaner power plants. Automobile collisions and territorial aggression www.fws.gov between panthers are the two most important Through our environmental programs, we’re helping causes of panther mortality. Habitat loss is also a to minimize habitat loss from construction and concern for the large cats, since they require large reduce water use. We work every day to make Florida Panther home ranges in which they live and hunt. Florida a better place for all of us, including our wild treasures like the Florida panther. For more information on the Florida panther Breeding and raising kittens and other Florida wildlife, please visit Changing the way www.FPL.com/panthers On average, female panthers will start breeding we can all help protect when they are a little over two years old, while males mature at age 3. After mating, females give Florida’s wild treasures birth to a litter of up to four kittens. The kittens are born in simple, secluded dens, usually in dense vegetation to protect them from sun and rain. Mothers raise their kittens for up to two years, Kittens are light brown or tawny, with spots teaching them to hunt and survive on their own. to help them hide in vegetation. EN006-1304_25738 CHARLOTTE GLADES PALM BEACH LEE HENDRY 90 MILES range of an adult female COLLIER Big Cypress BROWARD Natural Preserve Primary Habitat MIAMI-DADE Secondary Habitat MONROE 150 MILES range of an adult male R. Kautz, et. al. 2006. How Much Is Enough? Landscape-scale Conservation for the Florida Habitat Panther. Biological Conservation 130:118-133 Florida Panther Facts ✹ The Florida panther is a unique subspecies of cougar known as Puma concolor coryi ✹ Panthers hunt at dusk and dawn ✹ Panther habitat includes cypress swamps and hardwood hammocks www.FPL.com/panthers 1907 1950 1958 1967 1981 1989 1991 Systematic drainage Florida panther Florida panther U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Scientists began Florida Panther “Protect the Panther” south of Lake Okeechobee declared a game listed under listed the Florida panther on the capturing panthers National Wildlife Florida license begins, opening the area to species to be taken state law as an original endangered species list and attaching Refuge established plates went on sale agricultural and residential only during deer endangered radio collars in Collier County Timeline development season or as a nuisance species Early 1900s Early 1970s Early 1990s 2007-Today LESS 1800 500 1950 THAN 20 1975 30-70 2000 100-160 Panthers Panthers Panthers Panthers 1837 1941 1973 1982 1995 John Lee Williams, an associate About 10,000 white-tailed deer, one Endangered Florida panther Florida imported of Audubon, reported panthers of the panthers’ main sources of food, Species Act named state eight female Texas were numerous in many parts were killed by state-contracted hunters became law animal cougars to breed of Florida because of possible infestation by with panthers Texas cattle fever ticks Photos courtesy of Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.