A pair of Florida panther kittens, sisters born just a few months ago, were found dead a few hundred feet apart Sunday morning on a busy street surrounded by Naples subdivisions, according to a Monday night announcement from state wildlife officials.
Biologists are attributing both deaths to vehicle strikes, bringing the statewide panther death total this year to 12. Cars, and the roads humans use to drive them through panther habitat, are the leading cause of death to the endangered species.
That holds true this year: All but one of the verified 2025 panther deaths have been caused by car collisions, according to state data.
Dave Onorato, lead panther biologist for the state, said a driver called around 1:45 a.m. Sunday to report they had hit a kitten. It’s likely that the littermates had recently left their dens for the first time a few weeks ago and were traveling with their mother when they were hit, he said.
“Eastern Naples is a growing town and there’s more people and roads and traffic. All it takes is one car,” Onorato said. “If you’ve got to cross the road, there’s an inherent risk involved with that.”
The kittens — known to scientists as UCFP489 and UCFP490, or the 489th and 490th uncollared Florida panthers that the state has handled since 1981 — were found on Davis Boulevard in Collier County.
489 was found on the eastbound lanes just over 200 yards southwest of the entrance to Naples Heritage Golf & Country Club, a development that spreads across 550 acres of land.
Her sister, 490, was found on the westbound lanes about 90 yards southwest of the entrance to Madison Park, a neighborhood with nearly 350 single-family homes and about 100 carriage homes, according to the community’s website.
The 3½-month-old kittens were killed a few miles northwest of Picayune Strand State Forest, according to the locations provided by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.
Conservation groups said the deaths underscore the urgent need to increase wildlife crossings and connect habitats across a panther range that’s facing intense pressure from human development. Experts estimate there are between 120 and 230 adult panthers in the Florida wild.
Florida environmental advocacy groups were quick Monday night to renew the call for more crossings by bustling roadways to allow the cats to roam without the threat of traffic.
“It breaks my heart to learn that Florida has lost two more panthers, female kittens who should’ve been allowed to survive, have kittens of their own and expand our sole, struggling population,” said Jason Totoiu, an attorney for the Center for Biological Diversity, in an emailed statement.
In early March, the state’s wildlife research arm announced a separate group of three kittens had been recently born and found in the Okaloacoochee Slough Wildlife Management Area about 30 miles east of Fort Myers.
Only about 32% of panther kittens make it to 1 year old, experts estimate. An example of the challenge of survival: The mother of this year’s new kittens gave birth to a previous litter in 2024 that were likely eaten by a black bear, according to the Florida wildlife agency.
Over the past three decades, state panther experts have studied more than 500 kittens, learning crucial information about their litters, where they make dens and more.
On July 1, a male panther, estimated to be no older than 3, was killed by a vehicle on Interstate 75 in Wesley Chapel, according to the state.
It’s the first known death of a panther in Pasco County since records began in 2014, according to the state’s Panther Pulse database.
Lawmakers across the political aisle have, in recent years, thrown unified support behind bolstering a corridor across the state for wildlife to roam unimpeded by humans.
In 2021, the Legislature unanimously approved the Florida Wildlife Corridor Act, offering $400 million to continue connecting a quilt of conservation lands across the state. The Florida Wildlife Corridor Foundation estimates that nearly 400,000 acres of land have been conserved since the act passed.
Still, advocacy groups say the frequent panther deaths are just one reminder that more needs to be done, quicker, to ensure conservation goals keep pace with a rapidly developing state.
The state’s environmental agency, which is tasked with acquiring new conservation lands, has in recent months been mired by controversy, including the now-scuttled plan to develop state parks with golf courses and a string of secret land swaps to trade away protected land.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ administration is also facing a federal lawsuit over a hastily built detention center dubbed “Alligator Alcatraz” within the Big Cypress National Preserve, a habitat where endangered panthers have been documented for years.
“These wildlife deaths can be reduced if state lawmakers invest in wildlife crossings that give panthers a better chance at survival,” Totoiu wrote in his statement. “I hope the kittens’ tragic deaths are a wake-up call to finally act.”
Florida’s wildlife agency asks that anyone who spots a sick, injured or dead panther to report it to the FWC Wildlife Alert Hotline at 888-404-FWCC (3922).
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