EAGLE i: DAR learns about ‘Panthers at your door’

Chris Curle / Eagle i

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Biologist, Larry Richardson, also is an acclaimed wildlife photographer. His book, "Florida's Unsung Wilderness: The Swamps" is available at local bookstores.

Photo by Larry W. Richardson

To see Florida panthers up close and personal, visit the Naples Zoo on March 15th for its annual Save the Panther Day (Www.napleszoo.com). You'll meet U.S. Fish and Wildlife biologist, Larry Richardson and other experts at the Panther Glade exhibit. There will be activities for children and you'll learn how to get involved in panther conservation.

Florida panthers still roam Southwest Florida and some of them might be passing through your neighborhood.

No kidding. We think of wild animals as being in the wild, but one of our area’s premier panther experts says that we humans are moving into their wilderness and they can’t move out.

The result is that there are endangered Florida panthers living among us. That was what the Marco Island Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) heard recently from Larry Richardson, a U.S. Fish and Wildlife biologist at the nearby Florida Panther National Wildlife Refuge.

Richardson gave his “Panthers at your Door” power point presentation at the group’s February meeting at the Eagle Creek Country Club.

Richardson explained that many of the remaining 70 to 100 panthers are fixed with radio collars, so he and other experts can track them as they move around Southwest Florida, including developed areas.

One big cat spent a week or so in and around the Berkshire Lakes neighborhood in Naples off Radio Road. Another was tracked frequently on Keywaydin Island. Why there? Wild pigs; fine dining for a panther.

There were reports several years ago of panther tracks on Marco Beach.

Although panthers are meat-eating predators, there is no record of a panther attacking a person. Their ideal dinner is deer, raccoons, rabbits, armadillos and wild hogs.

Richardson said that loss of habitat is killing the cats. They are hit by cars or killed by other panthers as they try to find new territory, territory that doesn’t exist.

The refuge is 26,400 acres within the heart of the Big Cypress Basin. Of course, the panthers don’t recognize the boundaries and seek space where they can. To learn more, go to (fws.gov/floridapanther).

To learn about the Marco Island Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution, please call Kay Zeigler at (239) 642-0711.

The DAR luncheon meets at 10:30 a.m., the third Thursday of each month. The club welcomes members from other chapters who are living in or visiting the area. The club also welcomes potential members.