Millions of Americans are watching with stunned admiration as a football team not previously thought to be much of a threat to the Patriots or Seahawks advances, so far undefeated, toward the Super Bowl.  Many of us find ourselves rooting for the Carolina Panthers, with their wonderfully vibrant quarterback Cam Newton and a defensive line that would do Homeland Security proud.

Too few of us, though, stop to think about whom they represent: Panthers in North and South Carolina, who have been reduced by modern humans into ghost cats.  Our society has a dubious tendency to name developments and teams after places we have wrecked and animals we have annihilated.   We are overdue to pay back to these places and creatures that give names and identities to our shopping centers and sports teams.

The Carolina Panthers, as a team, could do our country some good by proclaiming their support for restoration of the great cat to the Carolinas and throughout wilder parts of the East, as well as protection for these apex predators where they still survive, in much of the West and in South Florida.  As fellow Americans and admirers of the beautiful landscapes of South and North Carolina, we urge Cam and his team of incredible athletes to consider the even greater athletes who inspire their play.  Please, Carolina Panthers, after each of your amazing victories, pay tribute to the wild cats you represent and urge Carolinians and other Americans to welcome them home.  (An average Panther can easily out-jump and outrun even the greatest of football players.)

Current Status of Panthers

The Panther, also known as Cougar, Puma, Mountain Lion, and various other names, is one of the greatest athletes ever to evolve.  Puma concolor, as the cat is classified by scientists, is native throughout most of temperate and tropical South, Central, and North America.  Before humans started killing off the great cats, they had the largest range of any carnivore in the Western Hemisphere.  Now, after centuries of shooting, trapping, and habitat destruction by Euro-American colonists in eastern North America, Panthers survive in breeding numbers only in South Florida, where they are protected under the Endangered Species Act.

For many years, conservationists have been urging federal and state wildlife officials to expand the recovery range for the Panther – so far, without success, partly due to misplaced fears on the part of some people, and general lack of awareness about the importance of native carnivores.  Contrary to misconceptions sometimes spread by sensationalized media accounts, welcoming Panthers back into our wild forests of the Southeast Coastal Plain, Appalachians, and Adirondacks would make our lives safer.

How Apex Predators Help

Apex predators, like Panther, Red Wolf, and Eastern Wolf, help keep prey numbers in check and keep browsers moving, so the plant eaters don’t eat away wildflowers and hardwood saplings.  Ecosystems with full suites of native predators are less likely to produce zoonotic disease outbreaks, such as of Lyme disease.  To oversimplify admittedly complex interrelations, if we had Cougars and Wolves in healthy numbers in wild parts of the East, we’d have fewer fatal collisions between motorists and deer and we’d have less Lyme disease.  (By the way, Red Wolves also need Carolinians’ and other Americans’ help.  They survive now only in small numbers in eastern North Carolina; and cynical developers there are trying to dismantle the Endangered Species recovery program for them …)

The risk to Americans of being attacked by a native carnivore is so small as to be statistically insignificant.  The risks of being killed, injured, or sickened by hitting a deer at high-speed in your car or contracting Lyme disease are quite high.  Very roughly speaking, Cougars in North America may kill two people a decade, if they are unlucky.  Wolves essentially never attack people.  Domestic dogs attack countless people and kill about twenty a year.   Vehicle/deer collisions kill about two hundred Americans a year.  Lyme disease is now sickening tens of thousands of people a year, with a small but meaningful fraction of these dying.

Welcoming home Panthers will make our forests healthier and our lives safer.  Plus, we’ll be welcoming back into the community of life some of the most beautiful and athletic creatures ever to evolve on our fair green Earth.

Go Panthers – human and wild!

Note: The content in this blog post was repurposed and a revised version is included in John Davis’s book Split Rock Wildway: Scouting the Adirondack Park’s Most Diverse Wildlife Corridor published by Essex Editions on Nov. 21, 2017. Learn more about the book and where to buy it at essexeditions.com. Watch the book trailer below. 

Related Articles 

• Missing Cats of Our Home (www.essexonlakechamplain.com)
• Cougar Watch Update from Protect the Adirondacks! (www.essexonlakechamplain.com)
• Misplaced Fear of Cougars (and Other Predators) (www.essexonlakechamplain.com)
• We Should Welcome Cougars Back (www.essexonlakechamplain.com)
• Restore the Adirondack Wolf (www.essexonlakechamplain.com)
• Will Cougars Return to the Adirondacks? (www.essexonlakechamplain.com)
• Cougar Sightings in and around Essex (www.essexonlakechamplain.com)