Panthers One, Drilling Zero!

Our beloved  Florida Panther
Picture credit: John White

What day is it?
It is once again finally,  feel good Sunday.
Thank God!
In a recent vote that looked sure to go the other way, Exploratory Gas drilling was rejected by the Big Cypress Swamp Advisory Committee.
It is still unfathomable to me, that the recommendation for this disastrous idea came from the Florida EPA.
What are they thinking in Tallahassee?
The risks here for extinction, for the single most beleaguered mammal in the entire country, the Florida Panther, are now as high as they have ever been.
Why on Earth would they have ever offered this up to be considered in this area to begin with?
They are certainly more than aware of the fact, that this is the Ancestral Habitat for the Florida Panther and that if there is an OOPS, it could spell the end of our  ” State Animal. ”
Any mistakes, any spills, any accidents of any kind, will likely finish off this beautiful animal, who once freely roamed this entire state and is now holding on, in merely a fraction of the space that it needs to exist, by the barest of threads.
Right now, Florida’s Panthers are dying or being killed, as fast as they can reproduce, their gene pool is now so reduced, that cats from Texas were brought in a few years ago, to avoid the similar catastrophe that is happening with the also likely standing on the brink of extinction, African Cheetah.
The Panther’s ranges have been cut, reduced, or just out right stolen, by various State or Government groups, for a myriad of other uses, none of which are not now, nor ever will be, more important than the lives of this critically endangered animal.
If you have the time, please read some of the signs in the picture at the bottom of the reference story.
These words, these thoughts, represent the feelings of the completely ignored and overruled in this state, who just don’t happen to have a permanent place on the floor in Tallahassee, or any well paid Lobbyists to do their talking and walking.
They are doing it the only way that they can, the hard way, with their voices and hopefully with their votes in the next election.
We need to put people in office in Florida, who care more about our priceless living things,  than campaign donations, or money in the bank.
So, thank God, on this beautiful Easter Sunday, the score is: Panthers One, Drilling Zero!

Places to learn more:
This Sierra Club website is about to become, by the looks of it so far,  a new favorite.
Sierra Club Florida News
Big Cypress Swamp Advisory Committee Votes to Deny Oil Drilling
DEP Advisory Committee Says No to Oil Drilling in Big Cypress Swamp