You've just gotta wonder how Florida Fish and Game comes up with these population numbers. When these genetic defect issues were first noted, and the population was thought to be doomed, the wildlife researchers were scrambling to get field data. I remember one panther was darted, but died when it was mortally injured falling from the tree. There were plenty of ranchers in southwest Florida that were very tight lipped about panther sightings. The story was they had tolerated the panthers for years, but considered the game biologists more of a menace. The were fearful of government interference in their property rights. So who knows how accurate that number of 33 actually was. Sure does look good for your project when you can put out numbers that have more than doubled..........doesn't hurt your annual budget requests either.



Now here's another little tidbit that I have personal knowledge of. A few years ago, I was riding my mountain bike down a trail in Everglades NP. I spotted a large bird up the trail that was trotting down the road, maintaining its distance. It finally flew off, and I knew exactly what it was.........a wild turkey. Now this was a shocker. I grew up in Miami, and have probably logged as much time in and about that park, as most of those rangers during their tour of duty. Since I had never seen a wild turkey in the park in 30+ years of visits, I went over to the Royal Palm ranger station to announce my sighting. The ranger wasn't overly surprised. He explained to me that they had re-introduced several osceola turkeys to the Long Pine Key area of the park. I told him that I was a longtime Miami resident and had never seen one in the park, EVER. He maintained that turkeys had been there in years past, therefore justifying the re-introduction project. He also expressed some concern, as one of the local Long Pine Key panthers was spotted stalking them. Why settle for coots and curlews, when you can dine on turkey......lol........Gotta love it!

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