VIRGINIA
TECH WILDLIFE PROFESSOR
HELPING TO SAVE FLORIDA
PANTHER
BLACKSBURG,
Feb. 12, 2003 -- With
few Florida panthers
now in existence,
Mike Vaughan, Virginia
Tech professor of
wildlife and sciences
in the College of
Natural Resources,
has been appointed
to serve on the Florida
Panther Scientific
Review Team (SRT).
Vaughan and other
SRT members have made
several trips to Naples,
Fla., to interview
state and federal
biologists directly
involved with the
recovery of the Florida
panther.
Currently
the SRT is in the
stage of reviewing
literature and scientific
research from the
past twenty years
on this endangered
species. After evaluating
the veracity of the
conclusions, the researchers
will prepare a report
for the U.S. Fish
and Wildlife Service
and the Florida panther
team to use as they
develop a recovery
plan.
The scientists began
their research last
summer and hope to
issue their report
by June of this year.
Vaughan and three
other scientists make
up the SRT. They include
Michael Conroy of
the University of
Georgia, Paul Beire
from the University
of Arizona in Flagstaff,
and Howard Quigley
of the Wildlife Conservation
Society.
The
endangered Florida
panther is a large,
long-tailed cat with
a great deal of color
variation that once
inhabited many southeastern
states and the lower
Mississippi River
Valley. The Florida
panther is a subspecies
of what Virginians
and others call the
cougar or mountain
lion. Of all North
American cat species,
the Florida panther
is the most endangered.
Numerous
sightings of the Florida
panther are reported
each year, but it
is unlikely that the
population of these
panthers exists outside
of Florida. Vaughan
says, " Approximately
75 to 85 Florida panthers
are left in the wild."
"The Florida panther
continues to be a
victim of habitat
loss, environmental
contaminants, motor
vehicles collisions,
prey scarcity, and
even immune deficiencies,"
Vaughan explains.
"The SRT report will
help those directly
responsible for the
recovery of the Florida
panthers determine
the most effective
way to save this endangered
species."
To
obtain more information
on the Florida Panther
Scientific Review
Team contact Mike
Vaughan at (540) 231-5046,
or mvaughan@vt.edu.
