Environment

The Florida Fish Wildlife Conservation Commission is adding to the 2025 panther mortality list with the news that another of the big cats has been killed.The remains of an 11-year-old, female Florida panther (K408) were collected August 29, 2025, next to Jane’s Scenic Memorial Drive in Copeland, Collier County. The suspected cause of death was a vehicle collision.

The battle over “Alligator Alcatraz” came to a head in a Miami-Dade courtroom. Judge Kathleen Williams has granted a temporary restraining order that has stopped any future construction on the site.

DeSantis assured Alligator Alcatraz would have zero impact on the Everglades. However, light pollution and additional construction on the site has led to multiple lawsuits to shut the facility down.

Moments after a ribbon was cut in a Hendry County field Tuesday, pumps were opened and the first of 55 billion gallons started filling the new C-43 reservoir and filtering of that water began."This is a big deal," Ben Albritton, Florida State Senate president said during a ribbon-cutting ceremony moments before the pumps started up.

The summer’s Tour De Turtles, a race hosted by The Sea Turtle Conservancy, made a stop at Coquina Beach South in Bradenton. Organizers will tag 11 nesting turtles on various Florida beaches and track which turtle travels the farthest distance in three months.

American oystercatchers at-large are making gains. But in Florida, the state-threatened shorebird is struggling to hold onto habitat.

Several conservation-related organizations gathered in the Everglades Sunday morning to protest a state-proposed plan to place an immigration detention facility at the former Everglades Jetport inside Big Cypress National Preserve.The proposal, made recently by Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier and dubbed by him as the Alligator Alcatraz, would convert the abandoned jetport into a detention center for immigrants with criminal records.

A new report from the Florida Fish & Wildlife Commission shows that 407 manatees have died this year in Florida as of last week. Brevard County on the east coast and Lee County on the west have been the hot spots so far this year for manatee deaths, according to FWC figures.

Gifted lands created parks and preserves—now one Sarasota County commissioner is pushing to rezone and sell part of it to himself.

Mound House, a museum dedicated to the history of Fort Myers Beach, has a new public water quality monitoring station. The station collects 14 types of water quality data, including temperature, salinity, turbidity, pH and depth.