How many more Florida panthers are there - in the wild & captivity?

Question

Back in the mid-90's, they began breeding them with Texas cougars because the genetic make-up was so similar to the Florida panther...has this made an impact on their numbers?

Answer 1

"How many panthers are left in the wild?
The current estimated population of Florida Panthers in the wild is 50 to 70. These numbers are up (from 30 to 50 in 1995) due to the success of the Genetic Restoration Program in south Florida. This population increase is good news, however the panthers still face an uncertain future because of habitat loss. Reintroduction into appropriate portions of their historic range of the southeastern United States remains an important part of the recovery process and is essential to prevent the extinction of the species. "

"As an endangered subspecies the only Puma concolor coryi (Florida Panther) kept in captivity are those in rehabilitation or in breeding programs as authorized by the US Fish and Wildlife Service. There are a number of family lines that are purported to be of the sub-species stock and “owned” by private breeders. The most noted of these are Piper stock cats, the one hundred plus animals that have been bred off of the seven that were purchased from a roadside exhibit in Immokalee, FL, in 1941."

I got to pet a captive one once and get my picture taken with it. Beautiful animal!!

Answer 2

This Site Might Help You.

RE:
How many more Florida panthers are there - in the wild & captivity?
Back in the mid-90's, they began breeding them with Texas cougars because the genetic make-up was so similar to the Florida panther...has this made an impact on their numbers?

Answer 3

i volunteer at a sanctuary on weekends and i live in Florida. the lady has 4 cougars one of which is a Florida cougar, she point out the one thing that you can tell the difference between the Florida cougar an the other 3 was it had a kink at the end of its tall, she said it was due to inbreeding of Florida cougars because their population was scare due to pouching they started getting inbreed. so the male cougar in the cage with them is not Florida but he looks the same besides that kink an hes going to breed with her an hopefully the babies then will not have that flaw anymore, hopefully they can get back into the wild if theres any wild left for them to go to . Florida is majorly being built up an populated