Panthers prowling back

This story from the Naples Daily News makes interesting reading. Watch out for a big cat near you!"A plan setting benchmarks to take the Florida panther off the endangered species list is set to be announced.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has taken years to finalize the plan, which changed little since the agency unveiled a draft plan in January 2006.
The big cat has been staging a precarious comeback from a toehold in Southwest Florida, but the plan envisions taking decades, if ever, to declare the panther back from the brink.
Scientists credit a program that transplanted eight female Texas cougars into the panther population with replenishing the gene pool and boosting the number of panthers from fewer than 30 in the 1970s to between 100 and 120 panthers today.
Despite the progress, the panther continues to face an uphill climb to recovery because of threats from increasing human population and development in panther habitat, the recovery plan says.
“Working with our partners and the public is critical if we are to continue making strides toward recovering the Florida panther,” Fish and Wildlife Service regional director Sam Hamilton said in a statement Wednesday.
The plan sticks to an earlier goal of having three “viable, self-sustaining” populations of panthers totaling 720 animals — a goal that will require reintroducing the panther across the southeastern United States.
New to the final plan is an interim goal of having at least 80 panthers in each of two unspecified reintroduction areas and not losing any ground in Florida. The next step is to translate the 230-page recovery plan into more panthers in the wild, environmental advocates said."
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