Baby Florida panthers relocate to Gatorland
Gatorland has two young additions: a pair of brother-sister baby Florida panthers named Yuma and Sakari.
They are five months old and currently weigh about 20 pounds apiece. Gatorland says they will weigh up to 150 pounds when fully grown.
The duo, adopted from a sanctuary in the northeast U.S., now live in the South Orange Blossom Trail attraction’s Panther Springs area.
“We got a call asking if we had room for two baby cougars, and, fortunately, we did,” Danielle Lucas, Gatorland’s director of animal care, said in a video released by the attraction. The footage shows Yuma (the male) and sister Sakari running, playing with balls, rolling in the grass and exploring the water features of their new home.
“Florida panthers are endangered, with a small population of only about 200 in our state, and that number dwindles each year due to habitat loss and car collisions,” Mark McHugh, Gatorland’s president and CEO, said in a news release.
“It is important for us to give our guests a chance to observe them up close as they would never be able to do otherwise,” he said.
“There are a lot of conservation efforts out there in hopes to increase those numbers,” Lucas said.
Florida panthers are isolated in the Everglades, Lucas said.
“You have pumas, cougars, catamounts, mountain lions — they’re all essentially the same cat,” she said. “They have different names based on the region of the U.S. they come from.”
Among Gatorland’s full-time residents are alligators, crocodiles, tortoises, snakes, birds, capybaras and bobcats.
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