Big Cats in America

                                                      CC: Seven Natural Wonders

Once upon a time, Mountain Lions, Jaguars, Florida Panthers, and countless other species of smaller predatory cats roamed free all over America. Today their populations are a small percentage of what they used to be. Their populations are fragmented, and they have less space to roam than ever before.

Mountain Lions once roamed from coast to coast, today they are broken up throughout Western United States, and are constantly facing more and more threats to their survival. There are only 100-120 Florida Panthers left in the wild, all of which live in a small area of south Florida. This means they have a very small space to roam, which makes it harder to hunt, and also because interactions between adult cats can be fatal, it is going to be hard for the population to grow. Also since they all live in the same area, they are very vulnerable to disease which could wipe out the rest of the population. Lastly, Jaguars were hunted to the end in the United States, but through migration from Mexico, we have seen trail cameras capture pictures of Jaguars in the Southwest. There is currently only one Jaguar that is known to be living in the United States, he has been living in the Santa Rita Mountains, less than 30 miles from Tucson. 

While it is sad to think about how many big cats once roamed free in this country, and what we did to them, it is great news that we still have habitat that suits them. If we act quickly, and designate more land towards the recovery of our big cats, we could once again have a stable population of several species of big cats. Imagine if we had Jaguars roaming the American Southwest, Cougars from coast to coast, and the Florida Panther having more space to roam than the remote Florida Swamps, giving them time to stabilize their population. Also if we were able to return these animals to their natural distribution it would help to stabilize ecosystems all across the country, because more and more ecosystems are dying because of the loss of big predators. Big cats provide food for other species of animal, while keeping prey species moving so they can't overgraze a certain area allowing the plant life to grow.

All across the United States there is habitat that is suitable for many big predators, and the only thing stopping them from being restored to their natural habitat is humans. It is either about the money, or some other short term gain, because in the end it just hurts us all. Human beings need to have more respect for wild creatures, they are perfectly suited for the extreme challenges they face daily, while humans have changed everything to suit us. People are the enemy when it comes to environmental conservation, and until we finally move as a culture to put others before ourselves, we are doomed. These are perfect creatures, and they deserve our respect, and need our help. Spread the word for the conservation of your big predators before there are none left.