Essay About Florida Panther Refuge

📌Category: Animals, Environment, Social Issues, Zoos
📌Words: 724
📌Pages: 3
📌Published: 19 June 2022

Hello, my name is Zoey Ciura. We all know the Florida Panther, right? It’s our state animal and is a big part of Florida’s pride and culture. The truth is that this poor creature is going extinct, and it’s our fault their population is decreasing. We need to save this important and historic animal before it’s too late.

The Florida Panther is found living in warmer climates like wetlands, swamps, and upland forests. This species is found in Southern Florida in places such as the Everglades National Park and Big Cypress National Preserve. The panthers hunt mostly at night, eating a strictly carnivore diet that includes white-tailed deer, raccoons, and other medium-sized mammals and reptiles. The big issue about these species is that these panthers are slowly but steadily going extinct. ”The panthers have lost roughly 95% of their historic habitat, and their current range is now  squeezed into a few protected areas such as Big Cypress National Preserve and Florida Panther National Wildlife Refuge, as well as some private lands.” (Bransliver, Connie. “Florida Panther.” Earthjustice, 25 Mar. 2011, https://earthjustice.org/irreplaceable/florida-panther.)

Humans are the ones at fault. Because of our over expansion into the Florida Panthers territory, the panthers are losing more and more land, leading to a decrease in their population. Not only is the endangerment of panthers affecting their species, it’s also affecting other organisms and the ecosystem. How you may ask? Well, the Florida Panther is an umbrella species, meaning that they are the heart of the ecosystem community within their habitat. (Animal, Regular. “Florida Panther • Florida Wildlife Federation.” Florida Wildlife Federation, https://www.facebook.com/FlWildFed/, 2022, https://floridawildlifefederation.org/florida-panther/.)

Because of the significance of the Florida Panther, it shines light on other endangered animals and how their habitats are being destroyed by humans. Organizations like the Florida Panther Refuge provide habitat for a total of 126 bird species, 46 species of reptiles and amphibians, 22 species of mammals and a large variety of fish. (Rescue, Big Cat. “Florida Panther Facts, Florida Panther Photos, Florida Panther Videos and Florida Panther News.” Big Cat Rescue, https://facebook.com/bigcatrescue, 10 Jan. 2020,  https://bigcatrescue.org/florida-panther-facts/.)

By saving the panthers, we also unintentionally protect many other species. Florida Panthers are still crawling back from the brink of extinction and the construction of new houses, roads, and hunting continues to squeeze the panthers and its neighbors out of existence.

To me, these animals are more than just objects on a list, they are living innocent organisms that are about to go extinct because of our greediness. It affects me that these innocent creatures are being harmed because it’s us humans' fault that they are being endangered. Me (being a human) makes me part of the problem. They can’t do anything to save themselves, so it’s up to us to save them. As individuals, we can help prevent further endangerment of the panthers by protesting to protect their land and educating people about the panthers. (Club, Sierra. “Florida Panther Protection | Sierra Club.” Sierra Club, 6 May 2015, https://www.sierraclub.org/florida/calusa/florida-panther-protection.)

You could also donate to a charity dedicated to saving wildlife or protecting Florida Panthers. All of which will contribute to improved species and land protection for the panthers.”By protecting Florida's vast interior rural landscape from development, creating wildlife corridors to connect conservation areas, and diverting panthers away from our roads, we can give the big cat a protected home and safe paths to travel.”(Bransliver, Connie. “Florida Panther.” Earthjustice, EarthJustice, 2022, https://earthjustice.org/irreplaceable/florida-panther.)

Making their land protected can highly affect the population of the panthers. The government does have some laws in place to protect the panthers. These laws include The Florida Wildlife Corridor Act that aims to protect green spaces, drinking water, and wildlife such as panthers, and the Endangered Species Act which prohibits harming or killing endangered species and bans the import and export of the endangered species. (Main, Douglas. “Florida Enacts Sweeping Law to Protect Its Wildlife Corridors.” Animals, National Geographic, 30 June 2021, https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/article/florida-wildlife-corridor-legislation-unanimous-environmental-law.)

Though having these laws in place has helped keep the Florida Panther from being extinct, there is still so much we can do to protect these creatures.

All in all, I think we can all agree that humans are the ones at fault. Because of our over expansion into the Florida Panthers territory, the panthers are losing more and more land, leading to a decrease in their population. We can fix our mistakes by protecting Florida's vast interior rural landscape from development, giving the panthers a safe environment, and diverting panthers away from our roads. If we could put these ideas into motion as soon as possible, we could help save the panthers from the brink of extinction. Thank you so much for your consideration and I hope to hear from you soon. Together we can save this historic species.

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