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TAMPA – The ZooTampa at Lowry Park family is grieving the loss of one of its most iconic residents. Lucy, a Florida panther who served as a vital ambassador for her endangered species for nearly two decades, has passed away following a battle with cancer.<\/p>\n
Zoo officials shared an emotional video tribute that highlighted the “immeasurable impact” she had on conservation efforts and the millions of guests who visited her over the years.<\/p>\n
“We knew that when this moment came, we would be at a loss for words,” the Zoo shared in a social media post. “Lucy, you were so loved and will be missed.”<\/p>\n
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The backstory:<\/p>\n
In 2007, she was found as a tiny kitten in a den, suffering from severe head trauma after being unexpectedly left by her mother.<\/p>\n
Lucy was brought to ZooTampa\u2019s veterinary hospital, where she received around-the-clock care. The injuries she suffered didn’t allow her to be released back into the wild.<\/p>\n
READ: Pinellas Park teen helps deliver newborn daughter at home<\/a><\/p>\n Over the years, Lucy became a global symbol for Florida wildlife. Her likeness has been featured in high-profile locations, including:<\/p>\n A U.S. postage stampDigital displays on the Empire State Building <\/p>\n What they’re saying:<\/p>\n “Lucy has been able to educate the public by providing them with the rare opportunity to watch a Florida panther grow up before their very own eyes,” said Ashley Todd, a member of the hospital team who helped care for Lucy since her arrival.<\/p>\n Despire Lucy’s cancer diagnosis several years ago, her caretakers say she continued thriving with guests until her recent health decline.<\/p>\n Big picture view:<\/p>\n The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) says that the Florida Panther is still one of the most endangered mammals.<\/p>\n The Source: Information for this story was provided by ZooTampa and the FWC.<\/p>\n Tampa<\/a>Pets and Animals<\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"article TAMPA – The ZooTampa at Lowry Park family is grieving the loss of one of its most…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":157230,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[47,28,30,29,629,115,8713,135,628],"class_list":{"0":"post-157229","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-florida","8":"tag-fl","9":"tag-florida","10":"tag-florida-headlines","11":"tag-florida-news","12":"tag-hillsborough","13":"tag-news","14":"tag-pets-animals","15":"tag-tampa","16":"tag-us"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/157229","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=157229"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/157229\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/157230"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=157229"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=157229"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=157229"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/vlcsnap-2026-02-16-10h15m56s055.jpg\")
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