Florida panthers, conservation photography are new programs at SCCF
By MEGHAN McCOY
The Sanibel Captiva Conservation Foundation is offering new programs this winter in celebration of its 50th anniversary of incorporation.
Public Outreach Coordinator Alexis Horn said the programs and events are geared towards getting more information out to the community on what makes Southwest Florida so special.
The first new program, Florida Panthers and Wildlife Corridors, will kick off at 10 a.m. Jan. 12, at the SCCF Nature Center. The program will be held once a month until the end of season.
“They are a very important part of the ecosystem for Southwest Florida,” Horn said, who used to work for the National Sierra Club running their Florida Panther Program for almost three years. “This is something near and dear to my heart.”
Horn, a Florida native, and biologist in her previous life, said growing up she viewed panthers as almost mythological because they were so rare.
“Still I have never seen one in the wild. It’s like a ghost. It was just one of the species that gets in your head and you can’t let it go,” she said. “They are very shy and don’t want to be around people. They are not something we have to fear.”
The Florida panther is on the third consecutive year of record breaking deaths due to habitat loss.
“Their biggest challenge is habitat loss. With habitat loss comes less space for them to live, as well as higher human interactions, so road mortality, people seeing them in their yards,” Horn said.
On a positive note, the first female was found across the Caloosahatchee River this year, the first time since 1973.
The Florida panther numbers dwindled between 20 to 30 individuals, which is critical, Horn said because the species was almost gone. As a result eight Texas female cougars were brought to Florida to try and boost the population.
The females were present from 1995 to 2003.
“It was a great success. We are at about 100 to 180 Florida panthers now,” Horn said. “Their primary habitat is south of the Caloosahatchee River. There is one spot that is protected on the river and the males would swim across it no problem and would go all the way up to north Florida looking for females. But, there were no females. Getting one female across the river is huge for the population.”
The Florida panther habitat used to expand to Alabama and Tennessee. Unfortunately with all of the panthers residing south of the river, they are faced with territory battles, otherwise known as intraspecific aggression.
“They will fight until the death. The male needs about 300 square miles as a territory and a female is about 175,” she said. “I guess you can have about three panthers in one territory. Two females and a male.”
Horn said the Florida panthers are important for the area because they are an apex predator.
“A lot of people are reporting higher numbers of coyotes. If there were more panthers, they would actually control the coyote population,” she said.
An example of the cascading affect is wolves at Yellowstone. Horn said they had been removed from the park through a bounty program, which exploded the elk population, resulting in the collapse of the trees and ecosystem.
“Reintroducing wolves, the whole shapes of the rivers had changed,” Horn said. “It’s one of those things I have always wondered. What would the Florida ecosystem be like if we had a healthy panther population?”
The last time Florida saw a healthy population was in the late 1800s, early 1900s.
“You could legally shoot a Florida panther up to 1957. They have been listed as endangered since 1967. The Endangered Species Act was created in 1973,” Horn said.
In addition to federal regulations, the Florida panther is also protected through wildlife corridors, such as Big Cypress National Park and Florida Panther Wildlife Refuge. Horn said when linking already protected areas it allows for safe movement for panthers, as well as other species. Wildlife crossings under roads has also been beneficial in protecting the Florida panther.
“It has been a huge success. They put seven underpasses on I-75 on Alligator Alley with fencing. Since then, where there is fences and underpasses, not a single panther has died,” she said. “The big problem is putting them in cost a lot of money.”
The second program, Conservation Photography: Ethics in Paradise will kick off at 1 p.m. Jan. 26, at the SCCF Nature Center. It will be offered once a month throughout season.
The program will talk about the ethics of photographing wildlife and landscape.
Horn, who does photography on the side, and for SCCF, began taking photographs in high school. She mainly takes pictures for conservation campaigns, as well as taking pictures of nature and landscape. She has had photographs published in the Australian Geographic for a research project.
“Probably in the last 10 years a whole branch of photography has developed into using it for conservation and education. Showing the world places that people cannot get to,” Horn said. “It’s a new medium for conservation that I think has limitless possibilities.”
She said SCCF has a brochure for friendly photography, which is very important when photographing such shorebirds as snowy plovers. It’s important, Horn said not to interfere with what they are doing naturally like scaring the snowy plover off its egg.
“It’s about being respectful and knowing the environment and species well enough, so you know when to leave,” Horn said. “That’s one of the big things with conservation photography. If you want to go out and shoot bald eagles, you need to study their behavior and biology, so you know when you should leave and when it’s okay to stay. It’s just knowing that species behavior. You want to make sure you can go back and take more photos and leaving it for other people as well.”
One of her favorite places to go to take photographs is behind the SCCF Nature Center, which she visits every day.
“I always bring my camera, whether it’s my phone camera, or my big camera. It’s fun to see the seasons change with the water levels out behind the Nature Center. There were 13 roseate spoonbills out there one day and two days later all the water was gone,” Horn said. “There was a completely different scene to it. It’s constantly changing.”
To view Horn’s photography, visit www.alexishorn.com.