Photo by carltonward / A male Florida panther wades along a flooded trail in South Florida's Fakahatchee Strand within Florida Panther National Wildlife Refuge. I sought this photo to illustrate the remote, watery wilderness that gave the Florida panther its last refuge in the eastern United States. A subspecies of the puma, the Florida panther is the last large cat living in east of the Mississippi River. Hunted and pushed out of the rest of its historic range, the breeding population of the panther (where females are present) became isolated to the southern tip of Florida. These swamps have been the foundation for the panther's early recovery. Panthers are now back from the brink of extinction—from as few as 20 in the 1970s, up to nearly 200 today—but need to reach more than 600 to be considered recovered. That means panthers will require access to three times as much territory throughout Florida, and eventually other southeastern states. The panther's best hope for continued recover...