Familiar Faces and a Future Worth Contemplating by Tim L. Tetzlaff,

I looked up. My heart dropped. On the video screen was a face I’d loved and sobbed over —a tiger I hadn’t seen alive in a decade. My shock came from seeing this beloved tiger named Centaine completely out of context at Busch Gardens. It took a moment to connect the dots between the national TV special I had been in twenty years earlier and the B-roll of Centaine at their tiger habitat, but the emotional reminder of loss remained. I had no idea then I was to have a similar experience years later while updating panthercrossing.org. I ran across an image on the internet of a Florida panther facing the road. But when I took a closer look, I knew that face. So do many others. It was Uno, a panther that had been blinded by a shotgun blast and lived.

Tim L. Tetzlaff, Director of Conservation, Naples Zoo at Caribbean Gardens

Prior to this, the first known images of Uno were of an emaciated cat with a collapsed eye and another clouded blue. But here he stood with his wounds barely visible and weeks before he would be found starving. It’s been over a year and I’m still processing my reaction to seeing him in that intervening time. Uno’s full story remains a mystery. Only the person who pulled the trigger knows if it was self-defense or not. Without that encounter, Uno’s days could have been lived out in anonymity walking through public and private lands instead of in protective care at Naples Zoo.

But this image and Uno’s story encapsulates a confluence of issues. Human-wildlife conflict and social tolerance affect many predators, but like most endangered species, habitat loss represents a core concern. In 100 years, our population grew from 2 billion to 8 billion, swallowing wilderness in the process. Florida’s growth is even more dramatic—surging from under 1 million to over 23 million today. Imagine this: in 1924, you and every Floridian puts their family of four in the Model T and drives single file down from the state line across the Everglades and back up north. There’s about 6 feet between you and the car in front of you. Do the same in 2025 in a Honda Accord and you’re less than six inches apart but you need an eighty-eight-lane wide road.

With so many of us, vehicular collisions with wildlife are inevitable—unless you plan for them. In the 1980s, the two-lane road I grew up knowing as “Alligator Alley” was slated for four lanes. The Florida Department of Transportation planned 36 wildlife underpasses and modified bridges along with fencing in collaboration with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC), US Fish & Wildlife Service, and the National Park Service. Much like how “Alligator Alley” originated as a derogatory term by those who opposed the road, the underpasses were a source of controversy. But these measures have since proven to be profoundly successful and FDOT now has 60 wildlife crossings with more planned. While it was disheartening to see 29 panthers struck by vehicles in 2024, one can imagine how many more would be gone were it not for FDOT’s safety
measures protecting panthers and people.

Indeed, that panthers survive at all is the result of cooperative planning. In 1992, a population viability analysis indicated panthers might be extinct by 2016. Because of the genetic rescue conducted by FWC in 1995, we now have ten times more cats than we did then. Much work remains to help those bearing the burdens of a growing panther population. New pilot programs now reimburse ranchers for calves lost to panthers and compensate landowners for providing critical ecosystem services. With careful implementation and public support, these programs can become permanent. And we’ve seen this kind of success before. At the same time we were warned about panthers, scientists sounded the alarm that tigers would not survive the 20th century at the current rate of loss. It worked. While panthers and tigers are still endangered, they are not extinct.

As I reflect on the faces of Centaine and Uno, I feel loss. Nothing takes that away. Yet, I’m also hopeful that we listened and continue to advance efforts that prevent the extinction of their species. As overwhelming as it is to lose an individual, so can be the joy of acting to ensure their kind will continue to walk the pinelands and jungles for generations to come.

February 20: CONSERVATION LECTURE SERIES https://www.napleszoo.org/speakers

Join us to learn more with USFWS Florida Panther Coordinator, David Shindle including how Naples Zoo collaborates with state and federal partners and other charitable organizations on behalf of Florida’s panthers. To learn more or support these efforts, visit NaplesZoo.org/conserve Together, we can create a brighter, more resilient future for people and wildlife.

Naples Zoo at Caribbean Gardens is a private 501(c)(3) nonprofit entrusted with educating families and caring for rare species in a century old historic garden. Since 2014, Naples Zoo has invested over $3.5 million saving plants and animals in the wild and fully funds the annual salary of 27 field staff in 7 countries including three wildlife veterinarians.

To learn more about how you can invest in a better future for people and wildlife, email tim@napleszoo.org.

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