The new panther home is to be in the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge in southern Georgia, which is ranked as the most suitable of nine potential sites throughout the southwest. The refuge has 400,000 acres under protection with an abundance of deer and feral hogs for prey, reports the Florida Times Union. The panthers would be able to roam into both states very freely. The second area up for consideration is the Ozark National Forest in Arkansas. Both areas are good for the release of the 240 cats, but the petition is only for Okefenokee. A few years ago panthers with radio transmitters were introduced into the area and when the survivors were picked up, the experiment was deemed a success.

However this plan has yet to go forward since many people who are neighbours to the Okefenokee area fear that introducing the panthers there would cause  harm to their livestock.

According to the Fish and Wildlife Service spokesman Ken Warren, relocating the panthers takes more than just science – it is also about their larger effect on the human population. Both sides are divided, and they have valid arguments. It remains to be seen what the federal government will decide.

The Florida panther was placed on the endangered species list in 1967.  By the 1990’s the panther population was at an all time low of just 25 cats, and were suffering from serious hereditary defects because of extreme inbreeding.  Such defects included kinked tails, cowlicked hair, very low sperm count and heart deformations.

As a last effort to save the big cats, conservation managers introduced eight female panthers from Texas into the population.  Five of the females bore cubs (all cross bred with Texas/Florida genes) the following year, and the cubs were stronger and more resilient to disease.  Now there are over 100 panthers in Florida.  While the population needs to grow into a sufficient population of between 500-1000 animals, this was a step in the right direction.

Today, although their habitat is larger than it was in the 1990’s, the Florida panther are confined to a small area close to human settlements in southern Florida.  The panthers prefer large areas, and there’s more habitat in central and northern Florida.  Male panthers have wandered through the maze of orchards, ranches and roads that lie north of the southern habitat, but females seem too shy to do so, writes Wired Science.  Researchers track the animals using radio-transmitter collars with microchips.  This research can help policy makers consider the panthers and make legislation regarding protected areas.

Humans will have to keep a close eye on the Florida panther for a long time, ensuring that inter-breeding does not become a problem again.  Meanwhile, the panther’s success carries a hopeful message for conserving fragmented populations of endangered animals such as lions and tigers.  Moving animals to keep populations genetically healthy may become a cornerstone of saving species.

The first was from CNN online,  about Kenyan wildlife officials rounding up and moving thousands of zebras and wildebeest from a northern park to Amboseli National Park to feed starving lions and hyenas.  The lions and hyenas have started going after local livestock, because the drought that Kenya recently suffered from has killed many of their prey animals in the park.  This also impacts tourism – Amboseli is one of Kenya’s top parks, and most tourists go there to see the animals.

Then, halfway around the world, another item that has been in the news caught my attention.  Partly because it’s important, and partly because when combined with the above story all I could think at first was “hhmmm”.

As various news outlets have recently covered, animals and plants have been dying in Florida due to a bout of unusually cold weather.  Animals such as the endangered manatee was featured for several nights on evening broadcasts as they huddled in springs trying to stay warm.  The New York Times In Transit Blog mentions that thousands of “cold-stunned” sea turtles were rescued.  Sadly, animals died from the cold, including manatees, sea turtles and crocodiles.

What struck me is that both of these stories exist due to drastic weather changes, and yet stories appeared around the same time in other media outlets announcing that the number of people who “believe” in climate change has gone down since Copenhagen.  How can people not believe in climate change, or be concerned about what is happening in our world, when they learn stories like the above?

The other thing that struck me about the stories is what a strange world we’re living in now, and it’s likely to become even stranger.

What did the two news stories make you think?  Other than simply, “hhmmm”?