Protecting and studying animals living in the Florida Wildlife Corridor

HIGHLANDS COUNTY, Florida. So many valuable animals, including endangered ones, call the Florida Wildlife Corridor home.

Professionals can capture images and videos of these animals without the presence of humans, allowing researchers to study animals like bears in their natural habitat.

George Mackenzie Jr. is a photographer and camera trap specialist involved in the Path of the Panther project. ABC Action News host Lauren St. Germain and photojournalist Allison Shaw traveled with Mackenzie on the day he was about to service one of the cameras in the Florida Wildlife Corridor. He explained that knowing where to place the cameras is a real science.

“Bears constantly reuse the same place. They’ll come up—they’ll smell—definitely on all fours, and then they’ll get up and just sort of scratch and scratch and sometimes bite. If you look over here, the hair is still there,” McKenzie said. “A mother bear will teach her cubs the same routine so they learn at a young age to scratch wood and look for scents.”

Without realizing it, these animals are essentially taking their own pictures by running an infrared wire.

“This is another form of trigger that we use, an infrared beam. See, you just activated it – that little red dot. Boom, that’s it, Mackenzie said.

Wildpath camera florida wildlife corridor

VFTS

infrared stretch florida wildlife corridor

VFTS

Tori Linder also participates in Path of the Panther. The camera trap network is a field program under this project.

“The Florida panther has a truly incredible history. It is a federally endangered species. From a historic low in the 1970s, there are over 200 Panthers today. However, capturing their image is not easy,” Linder said.

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They have a network of dozens of camera trap systems throughout the Everglades ecosystem. Linder explained that it is very rare to see a panther. They are lucky to be on camera every few months.

“Over the past six years, we have seen the Florida Panther make great strides in its recovery. A female panther was found north of the Kalusahatchee River, and today we are seeing females expanding their territory northwards,” Linder said.

Linder said it’s incredible to watch this recovery happen in real time and people can take action now to help and protect other animals in the process.

“Something that Florida residents have to consider when moving into panther habitat is the number one cause of death for the Florida panther – collision with a vehicle – we lose an average of about 30 a year,” Linder said.

Solutions are in the works. ABC Action News reported on new wildlife crossings that will connect ecosystems that have been separated for 50 years. Last year, our Michael Paluska led us to a new crossing that would allow animals like panthers and bears to safely cross I-4.

Back at the Everglades Headwaters Ranch, Linder said map makers, ranchers and political leaders would work together to protect Florida.

“What inspires me so much about the efforts to protect the Florida Wildlife Corridor is that they last for decades. Each of us has a role to play in the future of the wilderness and the future of our nation,” Linder said.

Path of the Panther is a Wildpath project. Way of the Panther tells the story of the Florida panther and the land it needs to survive. The film is now in theaters, and information about the time and place of the screening can be found here.

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