{"id":203979,"date":"2026-03-24T14:41:16","date_gmt":"2026-03-24T14:41:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/203979\/"},"modified":"2026-03-24T14:41:16","modified_gmt":"2026-03-24T14:41:16","slug":"congress-pressed-to-fund-wildlife-crossings-as-florida-panther-deaths-rise","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/203979\/","title":{"rendered":"Congress pressed to fund wildlife crossings as Florida panther deaths rise"},"content":{"rendered":"

By\u00a0Trimmel Gomes<\/a>, Florida News Connection<\/p>\n

Vehicle collisions kill endangered Florida panthers<\/a> and other forms of wildlife and cost the nation billions annually.<\/p>\n

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission reported four panther deaths<\/a> on state roads so far this year. Last year, 18 panthers died \u2013 all but one by vehicle. A federal wildlife crossings pilot program<\/a>, set to expire in September, has already funded a project along U.S. 27 in Highlands County<\/a>, a known hot spot where panthers and black bears are often hit.<\/p>\n

\"AnAn endangered Florida panther uses a bridge designed for wildlife crossings. (USFWS, public domain)<\/p>\n

Sarah Gledhill, president and CEO of the Florida Wildlife Federation, said after two years of effort and an initial rejection in the competitive application process, the funding came through.<\/p>\n

\u201cFDOT reapplied for that funding,\u201d Gledhill explained. \u201cWe supported it, along with a number of other state agencies and conservation organizations. And the state got the money, and they received $6.1 million for a new wildlife crossing.\u201d<\/p>\n

What is known as the Venus crossing<\/a> will connect roughly 90,000 acres of conservation land. The national pilot program was created in 2021 with $350 million and will expire this fall unless Congress acts. <\/p>\n

Supporters have said it saves lives of people and animals and reduces costly collisions. Critics question the federal spending and whether states should shoulder more responsibility.<\/p>\n

Mike Leahy, senior director of wildlife, hunting and fishing policy for the National Wildlife Federation, said wildlife vehicle collisions are a major problem nationwide, costing more than $8 billion a year and causing about 26,000 injuries and hundreds of human deaths each year.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe wildlife crossings program makes sure that money is available to reduce wildlife-vehicle collisions in these areas, save human lives, save wildlife lives and also help wildlife move, around the state and around the country.\u201d<\/p>\n

Leahy noted without reauthorization, many projects will be delayed or never completed. Both the House<\/a> and Senate<\/a> versions of the reauthorization bill await action in congressional committees.<\/p>\n

Banner photo: A Florida panther at Florida Panther National Wildlife Refuge (George Gentry\/U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons).<\/p>\n

Sign up for The Invading Sea newsletter by visiting here<\/a>. To support The Invading Sea, click here<\/a> to make a donation. If you are interested in submitting an opinion piece to The Invading Sea, email Editor Nathan Crabbe<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By\u00a0Trimmel Gomes, Florida News Connection Vehicle collisions kill endangered Florida panthers and other forms of wildlife and cost…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":203980,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[3890,28,15748,30,29,31592,7087,93781,93782,93783,93784],"class_list":["post-203979","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-florida","tag-federal-funding","tag-florida","tag-florida-fish-and-wildlife-conservation-commission","tag-florida-headlines","tag-florida-news","tag-florida-panther","tag-highlands-county","tag-panther-deaths","tag-u-s-congress","tag-vehicle-collisions","tag-venus-crossing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/203979","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=203979"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/203979\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/203980"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=203979"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=203979"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=203979"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}