State panther biologists are hoping the sometimes cruel fate of nature does not repeat itself this year after they checked on a trio of kittens born to a mother who lost last year’s litter to a hungry black bear.
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission biologists posted pictures of the kittens on Instagram after a veterinary visit, which is a common practice when baby panthers reach their 1-month-old milestone.
“I hope they’re safe from the fires,” one fan wrote online, worried about wildfires deep in the Okaloacoochee Slough near the den.
The kittens’ names are, in the clinical vernacular of biology, K525, K526, and K527. Their mother is PF269.
The newest members of Southwest Florida’s panther family know how to work the camera. In one photo posted on Instagram, K525, or 526, or 527, is shown with its tongue sticking out of a closed mouth. Another baby panther looks ready to eat the camera. A third is asleep in a biologist’s lap.
Every kitten is critical to the survival of the highly endangered Florida panther.
Highly threatened
Once common throughout the southeastern United States, somewhere around 225 Florida panthers are estimated to live in the wilds of South Florida today, including rural Lee and Collier counties.
First to blame is the bounty placed on the panther in 1832 due to the threat it posed to livestock and game animals, which resulted in its near-extinction by the mid-1950s.
By the late 1900s, the second factor stunting the wide-ranging panther’s population was the massive growth in Florida, along with the construction of homes, subdivisions, malls, and restaurants to accommodate the growing population.
Today, the land the panther has left to roam on is less than 5% of its original range across Florida and other southeastern states. As development continues to encroach on panther habitat, the result is evident in the number of panthers hit and killed by vehicles. Four have been killed by cars so far this year. A vast majority of the 26 panthers killed last year were vehicle strikes, so were the 13 in 2023, the 27 in 2022, and so on.
And that is despite the construction of wildlife underpasses, lower speed limits at known panther crossing areas, and extensive public relations efforts.
Few panthers die of old age. If not hit by a car, panthers typically lose their lives to another panther in a territorial dispute, or to a hungry predator.
That’s what happened to PF269’s litter of three last year when the bear found the den.
Starting again
Only one-third of panther kittens make it to one year old due to the often-brutal realities of the natural world. Nature is also resilient, and the panther had her new kittens last month.
The mother of K525, K526, and K527 left to hunt in the southwest corner of Hendry County before panther biologists from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission would risk entering the den with the necessary supplies to examine the kittens, determine their gender and weight, and microchip them for future identification.
Another part of their equipment was a telemetry device that kept the crew advised about the distance between it and a GPS-fitted collar on the mother panther. If it didn’t start beeping fast, they’d be fine.
“We set up a bio box — what we call a biologist in a box, which is like a remote telemetry system,” said Carol Rizkalla, coordinator of FWC's panther management program, who was part of the assessment team. “We listen for her signal. When we start hearing her, then we know she’s on her way back. We prioritize what we do so that if she does come back, and we have to cut it short, we have the most important measurements.”
The kittens are in great shape.
“We documented three males, they were all right around five pounds. And all seemed healthy and no indicators of inbreeding,” Rizkalla said. “No genetic deformities like the kinked tail or the cowlick. So all, all appears great.”
Rizkalla hesitated before speaking her next words, as if saying them out loud might bring last year's events to a repeat.
“It's not the best news, but the biologist who is in charge of the slough did tell me that he is aware of a bear den not too far from the panther den,” she said. “At least just this year, the kittens are still alive. The bear hasn't found them yet.”
Environmental reporting for WGCU is funded in part by VoLo Foundation, a non-profit with a mission to accelerate change and global impact by supporting science-based climate solutions, enhancing education, and improving health.
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