IMMOKALEE — Officials say a Florida panther has been found dead from an apparent vehicle strike in southwest Florida.
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission reports that the 4-year-old female cat's body was found Tuesday on a rural road east of Immokalee in Collier County. The remains will be taken to a Gainesville facility for a necropsy.
A total of eight Florida panthers have been found dead in 2017, with six road fatalities.
Florida panthers once roamed the entire Southeastern U.S., but only about 230 remain in the wild.