McMullen is a maverick in the field

Jim McMullen is a maverick. For 30 years, the Golden Gate resident has tracked the Florida panther on his own, without the backing of any state or federal agency and that's how he prefers to operate.

"I've never hooked up with any wildlife agency although I was asked. I thought I could get a bigger picture of panther habitat by doing it alone," he says.

But over the next few years, McMullen hopes to combine his efforts with all state environmental groups to develop a moratorium platform against development, which he contends is threatening the Florida panther.

"The Florida panther, our state animal, is one of the most endangered mammals in North America, and nobody's doing anything about it," he says. "I haven't heard the phrase 'Endangered Species Act' to stop development in like seven or eight years here." It was because of his concern for the Florida environment and the panther's future, that he left The Conservancy in 1980 to devote full time to tracking panthers and teaching environmental education programs from pre-school to college level across the state.

To give impetus to his program, McMullen raised a female panther from a kitten through adulthood in a breeding program, naming her"Tracker." For 18 years, Tracker accompanied McMullen on school visits and swamp treks until she died of old age.

McMullen's adventures and research inspired his book, "Cry of the Panther," which made the New York Times bestseller list. Now he is working on his second book about the panther and hopes to complete the piece next year.

He reflects on his continued efforts to save the Florida panther in the face of the increasing amount of development he says is hampering those efforts.

"We're going to be sitting here and there's not going to be anything left," he predicts. "In 30 years, a father and his son will visit a museum where the Everglades used to be and there'll be a stuffed panther on exhibit and the father will say 'oh that's some animal that lived here 30 years ago.'" McMullen accuses county officials of adding to the problem by encouraging development to increase tax coffers.

"They say with more growth, there's more tax base, so we can build more and better roads," he says.

McMullen said he was disappointed to learn that the Miccosukee tribe requested a panther be removed from the Loop Road area because it interfered with ceremonial dances.

Submitted photo

James McMullen raised Tracker from a kitten. She accompanied him on educational presentations until her death.

"They're native Americans but I guess they've been Americanized," he says. "That panther and her kittens were in their own habitat, the Big Cypress National Preserve, and they were just standing there watching, but fortunately the Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission isn't going to remove them." McMullen says at the time of the Ave Maria proposal, he wanted to get the Conservancy of Southwest Florida, the Collier County Audubon Society and county commissioners to take a stand against the project.

"It's smack dab in panther territory and I asked why there has to be over-development in a given area because the impact is unbelievable, not only for the panther but for us," he contends, adding that residents chose to live in these areas because of the unique environment.

"They didn't come here to look out their window and see a golf course, or a six-lane highway or condos all over the place where there was once critical habitat for the panther," he chides.

Despite his age, McMullen has no plans to slow down his educational efforts regarding panther protection.

"I'm 63 but I'm going to continue to do my environmental education program, because I'm a helluva environmental education teacher and no one can take that away from me even though the developers want to hang me," he says.

McMullen is not swayed by wildlife agencies' opinions of him and his efforts.

"They say I'm not a biologist. I don't claim to be a biologist," he says. "I'm just out there working hard trying to find out where our panthers are and what we can do to save them because when you save the panther, you save the human being. We use the same elements of survival, water, and air. They're being destroyed right in front of us and the developers don't care."