These are not concussed football players. These are a rapidly disappearing icon of the wild
(Puma concolor couguar) that has been on the endangered species list for forty years.
Official figures are: 23 panthers killed last year, and 11 more already dead in 2011. Out of a population of less than 100, that is a rate to extinction. A coalition of conservation groups filed suit in the US Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit today to force the US Fish & Wildlife Service to protect the what is left of the panther's rapidly disappearing habitat midst the human sprawl of South Florida. A lower court ruling dismissed a legal effort to
order designation of critical habitat, and that order is being appealed. The district judge recognized the panther's plight, but ruled because the mammal was put on the list before habitat preservation requirements became part of the Endangered Species Act, the agency was able to use its discretion to deny habitat designation for the animal. Therefore, the decision was beyond judicial review. The conservation plaintiffs are arguing that to deny a critically endangered mammal the protected habit it must have to survive in the wild is an abuse of agency discretion. Without a reversal from the Eleventh Circuit, the Florida panther will become extinct.
Another human story related to
Puma concolor comes from Oregon where the lower chamber of the state legislature voted overwhelmingly to reinstate public hunting of cougars with radio collared dogs. The vote comes after two public referendums on the subject in which Oregon voters humanely decided to outlaw the unsportsmanlike conduct. Apparently, humans are not able to track and keep up with the stealthy predator without help from their canine accomplices and radio tracking devices. Cougar numbers are on the increase in rural Oregon where the usual suspects (ranchers and hunters) are complaining about their elusive competitor. The bill goes to the state Senate where Democrat legislators are expected to vote it down in accordance with the expressed will of their constituents.
