1 00:00:02,752 --> 00:00:06,798 (crickets chirping throughout) 2 00:00:16,391 --> 00:00:19,894 - (owls hooting) - (various wildlife calls throughout) 3 00:00:40,707 --> 00:00:42,000 (dramatic shutter) 4 00:00:43,084 --> 00:00:47,589 - (traffic noises) - (chatter over walkie talkie) 5 00:00:49,049 --> 00:00:51,926 (indicator clicking) 6 00:00:52,260 --> 00:00:55,889 (dramatic music throughout) 7 00:01:15,825 --> 00:01:17,744 OFFICER: The panther was alive after contact, 8 00:01:17,744 --> 00:01:19,079 then it came over here and collapsed. 9 00:01:19,079 --> 00:01:20,038 LARA: Okay. 10 00:01:20,038 --> 00:01:22,373 So, let's have a look at it, see what's going on. 11 00:01:24,709 --> 00:01:28,797 He's dead. This cat's just been hit because he's not in rigor yet. 12 00:01:28,797 --> 00:01:31,716 He's still soft. Some wounds on the feet. 13 00:01:36,262 --> 00:01:39,182 I think he must have gotten hit here on this side of the body. 14 00:01:39,349 --> 00:01:42,685 Probably his internal injury that actually is what killed him. 15 00:01:44,729 --> 00:01:45,939 You can see his teeth, Carlton. 16 00:01:46,106 --> 00:01:48,316 These guys, when they're older, right, you get a ridge here. 17 00:01:48,441 --> 00:01:50,610 - And so his teeth look beautiful, right? - CARLTON: Perfect. 18 00:01:50,777 --> 00:01:53,238 LARA: Perfect, pearly white, so I would say he's a young cat. 19 00:01:53,404 --> 00:01:55,573 I mean, just by size, he's probably got to be a year old, 20 00:01:55,698 --> 00:01:58,868 but based on his teeth, I wouldn't say he's much older than that at all. 21 00:02:00,620 --> 00:02:03,123 CARLTON: This is the number one cause of death, right? 22 00:02:03,289 --> 00:02:07,544 LARA: Vehicle collision is number one. But in the last two weeks we have three. 23 00:02:08,378 --> 00:02:11,589 Any time you're losing this number of animals from a population this small, 24 00:02:11,798 --> 00:02:14,217 obviously, it's a huge dent, for sure. 25 00:02:19,013 --> 00:02:21,015 We're gonna reach a threshold, or maybe we're already there, 26 00:02:21,015 --> 00:02:24,144 for this little bit of piece of land that's left for them. 27 00:02:24,352 --> 00:02:28,523 CARLTON: And just a few years ago, this spot right here would have been woods. 28 00:02:28,523 --> 00:02:29,691 LARA: Sure. 29 00:02:36,114 --> 00:02:39,033 REPORTER: The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission says 30 00:02:39,200 --> 00:02:43,163 another endangered panther died because of a vehicle collision. 31 00:02:43,329 --> 00:02:46,040 It brings the total, now, to 18 this year. 32 00:02:46,249 --> 00:02:48,918 Florida panthers once roamed the entire southeast, 33 00:02:49,085 --> 00:02:50,712 but are now mostly confined 34 00:02:50,879 --> 00:02:54,674 to just a small region of Florida along the Gulf of Mexico. 35 00:03:05,977 --> 00:03:07,520 These animals are like ghosts. 36 00:03:11,774 --> 00:03:13,651 REPORTER: This is the Florida Everglades, 37 00:03:13,818 --> 00:03:16,029 and a massive effort is underway to recover 38 00:03:16,029 --> 00:03:20,742 one of the most endangered animals on Earth, the Florida Panther. 39 00:03:21,117 --> 00:03:24,120 It's absolute stealth. It's quiet. 40 00:03:25,330 --> 00:03:26,456 It's lethal. 41 00:03:31,628 --> 00:03:33,630 REPORTER: As Florida was settled, the Panther, 42 00:03:33,630 --> 00:03:36,007 a kind of cougar or mountain lion, 43 00:03:36,007 --> 00:03:38,801 was considered a threat to people and cattle. 44 00:03:44,432 --> 00:03:48,895 CARLTON: It's a pioneer that can travel hundreds of miles. 45 00:03:48,895 --> 00:03:50,939 REPORTER: At present, there are so few panthers 46 00:03:50,939 --> 00:03:53,441 that extinction could be just around the corner. 47 00:03:53,608 --> 00:03:57,570 MALE REPORTER: We're destroying so many of the natural habitats in the world 48 00:03:57,695 --> 00:04:00,031 that the species extinction rate 49 00:04:00,031 --> 00:04:05,828 is now estimated to have increased to as much as one thousand times 50 00:04:05,995 --> 00:04:10,124 over what it occurred before humankind came along. 51 00:04:25,723 --> 00:04:29,936 CARLTON: There could be a panther sitting beneath this palm, 52 00:04:30,103 --> 00:04:34,107 staring at us right now, and we would have no idea that it's there. 53 00:04:43,449 --> 00:04:45,451 MELODY: There's considerable danger and concern 54 00:04:45,451 --> 00:04:48,579 any time you capture and manipulate a wild animal. 55 00:04:48,705 --> 00:04:51,291 If we can cause one litter of kittens to survive, 56 00:04:51,457 --> 00:04:54,168 we've increased the population by 10 percent. 57 00:04:54,294 --> 00:04:55,586 MAN: Got it? - MELODY: Yeah, go. 58 00:04:57,171 --> 00:05:01,884 The last survivors live deep in the swamp in areas for which man had little use. 59 00:05:07,307 --> 00:05:12,186 CARLTON: And it's an emblem of a wildness. It has survived over millennia. 60 00:05:14,314 --> 00:05:19,027 These truly wild spaces that we need to help save ourselves. 61 00:05:38,629 --> 00:05:40,381 - CARLTON: Morning, Betty. - BETTY: Morning. 62 00:05:40,381 --> 00:05:42,091 CARLTON: Did you manage to keep the feet dry? 63 00:05:42,216 --> 00:05:44,218 BETTY: Yup. For now. 64 00:05:45,928 --> 00:05:51,351 We call this area "Kahayatle", which is shimmering waters. 65 00:05:51,351 --> 00:05:53,394 The sun shining on the water, 66 00:05:53,561 --> 00:05:57,023 and with this wind blowing, the water rippling, 67 00:05:57,190 --> 00:06:02,070 and the water just shimmering and sparkling like little diamonds. 68 00:06:02,236 --> 00:06:04,614 (engine rumbling) 69 00:06:11,037 --> 00:06:14,207 You know, I'm in an airboat, but what if I was in a dugout canoe, 70 00:06:14,332 --> 00:06:18,211 and this is what I saw for miles and miles and miles. 71 00:06:21,172 --> 00:06:26,928 Because maybe, eventually, it could return to what my ancestors saw. 72 00:06:28,805 --> 00:06:34,018 On a lot of these tree islands, we put our ancestors to rest. 73 00:06:34,185 --> 00:06:37,647 So our ancestors' DNA is in that tree. 74 00:06:37,814 --> 00:06:41,567 That's what we mean, we're a part of the land. 75 00:06:41,776 --> 00:06:44,445 It flows in your blood veins. 76 00:06:44,570 --> 00:06:47,365 It's crazy to think that there was a panther right here. 77 00:06:47,365 --> 00:06:52,036 It is. There's not really any land in there. 78 00:06:52,036 --> 00:06:52,954 CARLTON: Wow. 79 00:06:52,954 --> 00:06:57,458 BETTY: You could tell that's supposed to be high ground because of that tree. 80 00:06:57,917 --> 00:07:02,839 This is the video from this exact spot. 81 00:07:08,052 --> 00:07:10,721 BETTY: You could see here, the dry ground in here, 82 00:07:10,721 --> 00:07:13,766 so the water was much lower than it is now. 83 00:07:13,933 --> 00:07:15,935 So he wouldn't have any problems 84 00:07:16,144 --> 00:07:19,564 going from island to island and making his way here. 85 00:07:20,314 --> 00:07:22,608 CARLTON: If I could find just a little piece of dry land, 86 00:07:22,608 --> 00:07:24,068 I'd wanna put a camera trap there. 87 00:07:24,193 --> 00:07:27,029 BETTY: Just ease your way in, 'cause you don't know what's down there. 88 00:07:27,196 --> 00:07:28,281 You can't see. 89 00:07:29,240 --> 00:07:34,078 If a big python gets me, will you come rescue me? 90 00:07:34,245 --> 00:07:35,538 I'll film it. 91 00:07:45,339 --> 00:07:48,426 CARLTON: In 2016, there was a video of a Florida panther, 92 00:07:48,593 --> 00:07:50,386 and I've got the GPS coordinates. 93 00:07:50,595 --> 00:07:53,723 I'm going to try to find my way to that exact point 94 00:07:53,890 --> 00:07:58,102 to see if there's any dry land left here. 95 00:08:01,314 --> 00:08:02,607 Did you find it? 96 00:08:05,193 --> 00:08:08,529 I know this is supposed to be a tree island, but... 97 00:08:08,696 --> 00:08:11,073 I didn't really find any dry land. 98 00:08:11,073 --> 00:08:16,662 It shows you how hard it would be to be a deer or a panther 99 00:08:16,829 --> 00:08:19,207 trying to live in conditions like this. 100 00:08:20,583 --> 00:08:23,002 This whole island is under three feet of water. 101 00:08:23,169 --> 00:08:27,673 - BETTY: So basically impossible. - CARLTON: Yeah. Yep. 102 00:08:27,798 --> 00:08:30,051 - Have to keep looking North. - BETTY: Right. 103 00:08:32,678 --> 00:08:36,307 (serene music throughout) 104 00:08:39,018 --> 00:08:40,436 BETTY: This is our home. 105 00:08:40,645 --> 00:08:44,607 Just like it's the home to the panther, the deer, the frogs. 106 00:08:44,815 --> 00:08:46,609 This is our home. 107 00:08:49,278 --> 00:08:53,783 And on a spiritual level, this is like our church. 108 00:08:56,702 --> 00:08:59,121 - And now it's underwater. - Yes. 109 00:09:01,958 --> 00:09:03,125 CARLTON: This is the Everglades. 110 00:09:03,125 --> 00:09:07,630 This is one of the most widely known natural treasures in the world. 111 00:09:07,797 --> 00:09:09,715 But we're letting it die. 112 00:09:11,092 --> 00:09:14,345 Our coastlines are pushing in, the seas are coming up, 113 00:09:14,512 --> 00:09:20,893 it's ditched and diked, and actually dammed by roads that cut across it. 114 00:09:21,978 --> 00:09:26,649 These green patches, which would normally be stepping stones of dry land. 115 00:09:26,816 --> 00:09:29,151 They're now all underwater. 116 00:09:29,277 --> 00:09:33,281 And it's just a matter of time before they're gone altogether. 117 00:09:35,449 --> 00:09:38,703 I really started caring a lot about the panther 118 00:09:38,911 --> 00:09:41,747 once I started caring a lot about wildlife corridors. 119 00:09:42,790 --> 00:09:47,128 If we look back, the panther was across the entire continent, 120 00:09:47,336 --> 00:09:52,091 and over time, as we've fragmented and broken up that land, 121 00:09:52,216 --> 00:09:56,470 the only remnant left in the entire eastern United States 122 00:09:56,470 --> 00:10:00,558 has been this relatively small piece of the Everglades, 123 00:10:00,766 --> 00:10:03,686 and not even that island of habitat is safe. 124 00:10:05,688 --> 00:10:09,525 So without saving a wildlife corridor, 125 00:10:09,692 --> 00:10:13,446 there is no hope for revival for the Florida panther. 126 00:10:23,706 --> 00:10:29,253 (birds cawwing) 127 00:10:29,629 --> 00:10:33,758 (cows mooing) 128 00:10:34,884 --> 00:10:37,011 CARLTON: All right, come on back. 129 00:10:38,721 --> 00:10:40,765 All right. Come on. 130 00:10:45,770 --> 00:10:46,812 It will be all right. 131 00:10:46,979 --> 00:10:48,731 It's been a full circle journey 132 00:10:48,898 --> 00:10:51,359 because I started my photography career in Africa, 133 00:10:52,109 --> 00:10:57,239 but every time I came home to Florida, the landscape was visibly changing. 134 00:10:59,408 --> 00:11:03,913 It took leaving for a few months and coming home to see how fast, 135 00:11:04,080 --> 00:11:06,415 and it was a real wake-up call for me. 136 00:11:06,582 --> 00:11:08,918 One, two, three and up. 137 00:11:10,002 --> 00:11:11,379 Wonderful. 138 00:11:12,088 --> 00:11:13,839 CARLTON: That's what he was going for... 139 00:11:14,006 --> 00:11:18,302 My ancestors moved to Florida in the early to mid-1800's. 140 00:11:19,845 --> 00:11:24,308 My great, great, great-grandfather homesteaded in this county, 141 00:11:24,475 --> 00:11:27,353 in Hardee County, in the 1850's. 142 00:11:28,354 --> 00:11:31,482 And here we go. Here we go. 143 00:11:31,607 --> 00:11:32,817 (reels flickering) 144 00:11:32,942 --> 00:11:37,113 As a kid, I came here thinking about our ranch. 145 00:11:39,156 --> 00:11:42,243 As an adult, I come here thinking about all ranches. 146 00:11:44,245 --> 00:11:49,083 In these places is the hope for saving wildlife corridors, 147 00:11:49,792 --> 00:11:53,504 that can help the panthers find their new territory. 148 00:11:55,381 --> 00:11:58,467 Here, we're in a strand of oak forest. 149 00:11:59,176 --> 00:12:02,638 Deep, dark green, pocket of woods. 150 00:12:03,305 --> 00:12:07,977 It's the type of place where, if bears and panthers ever come back, 151 00:12:08,144 --> 00:12:10,104 where they might make a den. 152 00:12:11,939 --> 00:12:14,900 It was on a cattle ranch, in 1973, 153 00:12:15,025 --> 00:12:19,447 when the last female panther was seen north of the Caloosahatchee River. 154 00:12:20,448 --> 00:12:24,326 Since then, they've vanished from this landscape. 155 00:12:28,497 --> 00:12:30,541 But the ranches are still there. 156 00:12:30,666 --> 00:12:34,253 And there's hope that someday a female panther will return. 157 00:12:41,385 --> 00:12:45,389 (thunder and rain) 158 00:13:03,991 --> 00:13:06,410 This is where the panther project began for me. 159 00:13:06,577 --> 00:13:09,830 Where my path into trying to tell the panther story, 160 00:13:09,997 --> 00:13:12,082 and I wanted to find the wildest, 161 00:13:12,249 --> 00:13:15,211 most representative Florida panther habitat. 162 00:13:16,420 --> 00:13:20,841 You drop down out of the pine flatwoods, into this cypress forest, 163 00:13:20,841 --> 00:13:25,137 it's like a sense of quiet and wildness overcomes the place. 164 00:13:25,971 --> 00:13:28,974 (bird trills) 165 00:13:29,683 --> 00:13:31,310 It's like nowhere else I've been, 166 00:13:31,310 --> 00:13:34,980 and it's the heart of this south Florida wilderness. 167 00:13:38,734 --> 00:13:40,152 You know that somewhere 168 00:13:40,319 --> 00:13:43,489 a Florida panther is stalking through that forest. 169 00:13:45,533 --> 00:13:49,537 (thunder) 170 00:13:53,958 --> 00:13:58,587 Moment of truth is whether the camera fires here, when we try to cross. 171 00:14:01,841 --> 00:14:03,801 Nothing. 172 00:14:13,227 --> 00:14:14,270 Always something. 173 00:14:15,229 --> 00:14:19,233 So something's going on with this deal. 174 00:14:20,401 --> 00:14:24,071 Trigger's dead. Battery 42 percent. 175 00:14:24,947 --> 00:14:27,283 One thousand, nine hundred and fourteen shots. 176 00:14:31,453 --> 00:14:36,667 Got more than a thousand pictures compressed in two days. 177 00:14:36,792 --> 00:14:38,168 Damn. 178 00:14:38,836 --> 00:14:41,672 Got the legs of a panther flying through. 179 00:14:41,797 --> 00:14:44,508 He's like just a pair of feet right here. 180 00:14:50,264 --> 00:14:54,226 This trigger may have picked him up, but by the time the camera fired, 181 00:14:55,311 --> 00:14:56,729 he was already down here. 182 00:14:56,729 --> 00:14:59,231 Where's the first shot? There's nothing. 183 00:15:00,691 --> 00:15:03,027 Makes no sense to me at all. 184 00:15:03,027 --> 00:15:08,073 I could try for two more years, and I might not ever replicate that capture. 185 00:15:10,117 --> 00:15:13,287 The chance of me seeing a Florida panther in the daylight 186 00:15:13,495 --> 00:15:16,874 with a camera in my hands is next to nothing. 187 00:15:20,419 --> 00:15:22,004 But the camera trap, 188 00:15:22,004 --> 00:15:26,717 it's a way to actually have the panther take its own picture. 189 00:15:28,052 --> 00:15:32,056 Your camera is one or two feet away from a panther. 190 00:15:32,181 --> 00:15:34,892 And so it's giving us access to this world. 191 00:15:35,059 --> 00:15:38,020 That's something we've never had a chance to even see before. 192 00:15:38,270 --> 00:15:42,274 (dramatic music throughout) 193 00:15:45,986 --> 00:15:49,949 This project has been the hardest thing I've ever attempted. 194 00:15:54,995 --> 00:16:01,877 It takes a tremendous amount of time, energy, and luck to get these images. 195 00:16:05,422 --> 00:16:08,509 And it's so far from certain that we're actually going to succeed. 196 00:16:14,014 --> 00:16:18,060 As much time as I spend obsessively trying to photograph panthers, 197 00:16:18,060 --> 00:16:20,354 I think about the land 198 00:16:21,063 --> 00:16:27,444 because this panther is an emblem of this land that is very much endangered. 199 00:16:29,571 --> 00:16:32,241 (camera shuttering) 200 00:16:36,996 --> 00:16:39,581 It's so hard to show the story. 201 00:16:39,581 --> 00:16:41,667 - Lights? - CAMERAMAN: Yep. 202 00:16:41,667 --> 00:16:44,753 CARLTON: And you have to show people the animal 203 00:16:44,920 --> 00:16:49,299 in order to create that connection, that love, that appreciation. 204 00:16:53,095 --> 00:16:57,599 It's all about setting the stage. And waiting. 205 00:17:04,523 --> 00:17:07,276 DAVE: We're going to go out and try to locate 206 00:17:07,276 --> 00:17:11,739 ten to 12 radio-collared Florida panthers. 207 00:17:12,406 --> 00:17:16,201 If all goes well, we'll come back in one piece. (chuckle) 208 00:17:18,120 --> 00:17:20,831 Naples 4-4-1-0-0, Papa Mike. 209 00:17:20,831 --> 00:17:24,376 Right there, with Oscar, wait for taxi. 210 00:17:24,376 --> 00:17:29,840 CONTROLLER: 1-0-0 Papa Mike, roger, runway 1-4 taxi via bravo. 211 00:17:30,007 --> 00:17:34,636 Number 2-4 tango whiskey, contact Fort Meyers departure. Good day. 212 00:17:36,472 --> 00:17:39,516 I'm glad I took my Dramamine this morning. 213 00:17:41,060 --> 00:17:42,936 Wow, you really do some turns. 214 00:17:42,936 --> 00:17:45,397 - DAVE: Yeah, sorry. - CARLTON: No, it's all good. 215 00:17:46,273 --> 00:17:51,820 DAVE: Yeah, so we're on the western edge of the Everglades, Big Cypress ecosystem. 216 00:17:51,820 --> 00:17:57,367 Why was the last puma, east of the Mississippi, surviving here? 217 00:17:57,367 --> 00:18:00,662 CARLTON: It is the last breeding population 218 00:18:00,662 --> 00:18:03,624 of pumas east of the Mississippi River, 219 00:18:03,624 --> 00:18:09,588 and yeah, you just kind of get a feel for how impenetrable some of the areas 220 00:18:09,588 --> 00:18:16,345 as you head farther east of Naples, would be, especially a hundred years ago. 221 00:18:16,720 --> 00:18:19,765 DAVE: I can imagine this is probably the last frontier 222 00:18:19,765 --> 00:18:23,310 where settlers and people wanted to go. 223 00:18:24,144 --> 00:18:25,187 CARLTON: Exactly. 224 00:18:27,606 --> 00:18:28,732 DAVE: There he is! 225 00:18:30,192 --> 00:18:33,112 - I see him on the trail over there. - CARLTON: Oh, my gosh. 226 00:18:33,112 --> 00:18:35,155 DAVE: He's heading south on that trail. 227 00:18:36,240 --> 00:18:39,451 - CARLTON: Okay. - Should be coming right over him, I think. 228 00:18:40,536 --> 00:18:41,995 There he is. There he is. 229 00:18:41,995 --> 00:18:44,123 - You see him? - CARLTON: I do. 230 00:18:44,331 --> 00:18:51,088 We just saw a wild Florida Panther. Absolutely amazing, rare sight to see. 231 00:18:54,341 --> 00:18:58,554 (dramatic music throughout) 232 00:19:06,895 --> 00:19:09,022 CARLTON: If you're a female panther, 233 00:19:09,189 --> 00:19:13,360 and you strike out on your own to try to find your own territory, 234 00:19:17,239 --> 00:19:20,868 You would only find a narrow ribbon of forested land, 235 00:19:21,034 --> 00:19:24,121 that's getting chipped away at year by year. 236 00:19:24,371 --> 00:19:27,374 (machines rumbling) 237 00:19:30,752 --> 00:19:32,379 This is a turning point. 238 00:19:32,546 --> 00:19:35,591 You can see green turning to concrete, 239 00:19:35,757 --> 00:19:38,844 and land is disappearing before your eyes. 240 00:19:42,931 --> 00:19:46,727 As we've developed this state, as we've developed this country, 241 00:19:46,894 --> 00:19:50,772 these wild places have been cut into smaller and smaller pieces. 242 00:19:54,526 --> 00:19:58,864 These islands, for a wide ranging animal, are a one way path to extinction. 243 00:20:04,703 --> 00:20:08,498 The panther needs that lifeline to the north, it needs the northern Everglades, 244 00:20:08,665 --> 00:20:11,043 it needs the pine forests of the Florida panhandle, 245 00:20:11,210 --> 00:20:15,297 it needs the southern Appalachians and all the way beyond. 246 00:20:18,425 --> 00:20:21,220 The wildlife corridor is a way 247 00:20:21,386 --> 00:20:27,935 that we can save a path for the panther, or it's going to be lost. 248 00:20:39,947 --> 00:20:41,240 REPORTER: All new at 4:30. 249 00:20:41,240 --> 00:20:44,076 Florida panthers are dying at record-breaking rates. 250 00:20:44,243 --> 00:20:48,580 Nearly a dozen hit by cars on Lee County roads, three in just the last week. 251 00:21:01,260 --> 00:21:06,765 - (machine beeping) - (quiet chatter throughout) 252 00:21:13,438 --> 00:21:15,941 LARA: It was obvious that this guy had multiple broken legs, 253 00:21:15,941 --> 00:21:17,818 but it wasn't until we got him to the vet clinic 254 00:21:17,818 --> 00:21:20,570 that we really knew the full extent of his injuries. 255 00:21:27,869 --> 00:21:29,579 We think he actually was hit twice. 256 00:21:29,579 --> 00:21:32,332 So once we got the X-rays, and we could look at those injuries 257 00:21:32,499 --> 00:21:35,502 and actually palpate and feel the area where it was fractured, 258 00:21:35,669 --> 00:21:38,463 the back legs I think were broken in one time, 259 00:21:38,630 --> 00:21:42,426 but probably, the front leg was hit even a day or two before. 260 00:21:42,426 --> 00:21:45,304 My options are fix the animal and hope that that stretch 261 00:21:45,304 --> 00:21:48,181 from surgical repair, and rehab goes well, 262 00:21:48,181 --> 00:21:50,809 with all the things that could go wrong, or euthanasia. 263 00:21:50,809 --> 00:21:54,354 There's not a whole lot of in-betweens for wild animals. 264 00:21:55,897 --> 00:21:57,399 And I'm not sure even, 265 00:21:57,566 --> 00:21:59,943 in terms of large carnivore rehab that anybody has done, 266 00:22:01,361 --> 00:22:03,905 three long-bone fracture repair on a large carnivore 267 00:22:03,905 --> 00:22:06,241 and then had successful rehab and release. 268 00:22:06,241 --> 00:22:08,702 I'm not even sure that anybody has done two long-bone fractures. 269 00:22:08,869 --> 00:22:11,997 I think a lot of vets and a lot of people would look at me, individually, 270 00:22:11,997 --> 00:22:14,041 as making the decision, and maybe collectively us as a group, 271 00:22:14,041 --> 00:22:15,334 like we're crazy. 272 00:22:17,919 --> 00:22:22,424 Five cc's b-vits. - Okay. 273 00:22:23,759 --> 00:22:26,428 LARA: The panther team was originally formed 274 00:22:26,428 --> 00:22:29,056 when the population was down to 20 to 30 animals 275 00:22:29,056 --> 00:22:31,266 to try to bring these animals back. 276 00:22:31,391 --> 00:22:34,561 MELODY: This particular kitten is the very first Florida Panther kitten 277 00:22:34,561 --> 00:22:37,647 we've ever had the opportunity to capture and put a collar on. 278 00:22:37,814 --> 00:22:41,693 We know that we have a problem with survival of young kittens. 279 00:22:41,818 --> 00:22:44,780 And the factors that appear to be important 280 00:22:44,905 --> 00:22:47,074 and may all be tangled together related to this, 281 00:22:47,074 --> 00:22:49,868 are diseases and parasites, possibly nutrition. 282 00:22:50,035 --> 00:22:54,623 And a real clincher, one thing we're very concerned about, is the genetics. 283 00:22:56,541 --> 00:22:59,878 LARA: If you look back in the history of the panther project, 284 00:23:00,045 --> 00:23:01,963 we learn collectively as a group, 285 00:23:02,130 --> 00:23:06,051 with this tiny little population of an endangered sub-species, 286 00:23:06,176 --> 00:23:11,473 the info we get from this cat, to me is critically valuable for this population. 287 00:23:11,598 --> 00:23:14,643 Really close to the joint, but obviously, they didn't hit it, which is great. 288 00:23:14,643 --> 00:23:17,938 WOMAN: Yeah, I know, the joint spaces look pretty nice there. 289 00:23:19,398 --> 00:23:21,191 LARA: As you can see, he's got the double-plate 290 00:23:21,191 --> 00:23:24,653 to counter those mechanical forces of being a panther 291 00:23:24,820 --> 00:23:28,865 and all the things he needs to do is just to really reinforce those bones. 292 00:23:33,703 --> 00:23:35,205 He's gone through surgery. 293 00:23:35,372 --> 00:23:39,042 The surgery's gone amazing, and somewhere along the way, he gets coined "Tres" 294 00:23:39,167 --> 00:23:41,086 for his three broken legs. 295 00:23:41,795 --> 00:23:44,881 There is a spirit to it, right? This animal truly wanted to survive. 296 00:23:45,048 --> 00:23:47,217 I think we see that in animals the same we do in people 297 00:23:47,384 --> 00:23:49,261 is that there is a fighter spirit. 298 00:23:59,604 --> 00:24:03,608 (wildlife calls throughout) 299 00:24:41,521 --> 00:24:42,731 (phone chime) 300 00:24:42,898 --> 00:24:46,401 - CARLTON: Hey, Brian. - BRIAN: Look, we might have one. 301 00:24:46,568 --> 00:24:48,778 It's small enough to be a female. 302 00:24:48,904 --> 00:24:52,824 A total of three tracks found. One was a nice complete track. 303 00:24:53,033 --> 00:24:54,743 The other two were partial tracks. 304 00:24:54,743 --> 00:24:58,497 And she'd walked there within the last two days. 305 00:24:58,622 --> 00:25:02,000 Okay. Thanks. We'll scramble and see you there. 306 00:25:02,667 --> 00:25:04,044 - BRIAN: Okay. - All right. Bye. 307 00:25:05,670 --> 00:25:09,090 (dramatic music throughout) 308 00:25:12,969 --> 00:25:15,347 BRIAN: For years, we thought it's only a matter of time 309 00:25:15,347 --> 00:25:17,390 before a female crosses the river. 310 00:25:26,691 --> 00:25:30,111 The photo's only two days old. Small enough to be a female. 311 00:25:30,278 --> 00:25:34,407 It builds the excitement, but it's not enough to say for certain. 312 00:25:41,540 --> 00:25:43,625 CARLTON: It's been before my lifetime 313 00:25:43,625 --> 00:25:46,211 since the last female panther was documented 314 00:25:46,336 --> 00:25:48,296 north of the Caloosahatchee River. 315 00:25:50,966 --> 00:25:53,718 You can think of the Caloosahatchee River as the dividing line 316 00:25:53,885 --> 00:25:57,180 between the northern Everglades and the southern Everglades. 317 00:25:57,305 --> 00:25:59,182 And it looks like a line across a map 318 00:25:59,349 --> 00:26:02,060 because it's been dredged into a straight canal. 319 00:26:04,604 --> 00:26:08,108 And that river has been the northern limit 320 00:26:08,233 --> 00:26:10,944 to the breeding population of female panthers 321 00:26:11,152 --> 00:26:13,154 for the past 50 years. 322 00:26:15,073 --> 00:26:19,744 It's a formidable barrier across that landscape, 323 00:26:19,911 --> 00:26:22,414 but you could imagine standing on the edge of that 324 00:26:22,622 --> 00:26:25,208 and deciding to put your foot in and take that swim. 325 00:26:27,085 --> 00:26:29,588 If we can capture the right image, 326 00:26:29,754 --> 00:26:32,841 we can show the world who that panther is. 327 00:26:33,049 --> 00:26:34,718 That's going to be the spark 328 00:26:34,718 --> 00:26:38,680 that lights a much bigger fire to save this whole corridor. 329 00:26:47,355 --> 00:26:51,818 BRIAN: The tracks never lie. 'Cause tracks that small, for a panther, 330 00:26:51,943 --> 00:26:54,237 it's either gonna be a female or a kitten, 331 00:26:54,404 --> 00:27:00,285 and either way, it's evidence of potential breeding behavior north of the river. 332 00:27:02,370 --> 00:27:04,289 Maybe we can pick up some tracks somewhere. 333 00:27:04,289 --> 00:27:06,791 See where they might be cutting across. 334 00:27:06,958 --> 00:27:10,587 BRIAN: Florida panther is the most difficult cat I've ever tracked. 335 00:27:11,296 --> 00:27:15,008 Because of the terrain, also because of the huge home ranges that panthers use. 336 00:27:15,175 --> 00:27:19,137 You need a lot of luck, or you need to be able to follow a trail for a long time. 337 00:27:22,807 --> 00:27:27,937 (serene music throughout) 338 00:27:35,278 --> 00:27:39,324 - CARLTON: I think this could be the spot. - BRIAN: It's a shortcut. 339 00:27:39,449 --> 00:27:42,577 It's shady, so if they're walking during the day, they're gonna like the shade. 340 00:27:42,702 --> 00:27:46,122 If I only had one camera to put anywhere in Babcock, this would be it. 341 00:27:53,713 --> 00:27:56,424 CARLTON: To be able to pick a spot in the woods 342 00:27:56,424 --> 00:27:59,803 to have a chance of even seeing a panther, 343 00:28:01,304 --> 00:28:03,056 the odds are tough. 344 00:28:03,223 --> 00:28:05,642 You come north of the Caloosahatchee River, 345 00:28:05,850 --> 00:28:11,189 where there might be fewer than a dozen panthers in total existence, 346 00:28:11,356 --> 00:28:16,319 across the mid-section of the state, and maybe one female. 347 00:28:17,904 --> 00:28:20,907 Then the odds are going up almost exponentially. 348 00:28:36,297 --> 00:28:39,300 I have a lot of anticipation of this particular shot, 349 00:28:39,426 --> 00:28:41,469 it's the most important of my efforts 350 00:28:41,469 --> 00:28:43,346 'cause it will place a panther in a landscape 351 00:28:43,346 --> 00:28:47,726 that could be nowhere else in the country other than south Florida. 352 00:28:48,643 --> 00:28:51,771 I'm getting kind of anxious to see what's on here now. 353 00:28:51,896 --> 00:28:53,273 Like, the anticipation. 354 00:28:54,983 --> 00:28:57,277 This camera's been bumped. 355 00:28:57,444 --> 00:29:01,030 More than I just did. Okay, let's see what we have here. 356 00:29:04,617 --> 00:29:09,706 Oh, yeah, there's a bear. Bear cub. Kickass backlight. 357 00:29:10,498 --> 00:29:12,751 Come on, cub, stick your nose up. 358 00:29:17,464 --> 00:29:19,007 Dammit. 359 00:29:19,591 --> 00:29:26,431 (bear pawing and scratching at camera throughout) 360 00:29:30,977 --> 00:29:32,979 The camera's pointed straight at the ground. 361 00:29:39,319 --> 00:29:41,738 This is gonna be under water any month now, 362 00:29:41,738 --> 00:29:45,116 so my chance to get this shot could be over for another year. 363 00:29:46,659 --> 00:29:50,914 To put out a camera and to wait a full month to go back to check the pictures 364 00:29:50,914 --> 00:29:53,291 to realize that bears came and wrecked the camera 365 00:29:53,416 --> 00:29:56,294 the day after you changed the battery 29 days ago. 366 00:29:56,920 --> 00:29:59,589 It's the type of thing that makes you want to just throw in the towel. 367 00:30:03,927 --> 00:30:06,429 Nothing. Nothing. 368 00:30:13,144 --> 00:30:14,979 Getting emotional. 369 00:30:15,563 --> 00:30:18,066 (sighing) 370 00:30:26,324 --> 00:30:32,956 Sorry. It's been a long couple years. A long few months. Um... 371 00:30:34,916 --> 00:30:41,214 (clears throat) Thinking about all the time... 372 00:30:45,927 --> 00:30:48,680 Left flash not firing. 373 00:30:49,973 --> 00:30:54,394 Rebuild lens hood for next visit. Pray for panther. 374 00:31:00,525 --> 00:31:04,404 (quiet bird caws) 375 00:31:17,292 --> 00:31:20,920 - JEN: There's a few along here. - CARLTON: Tracks? 376 00:31:22,297 --> 00:31:27,260 - JEN: Here's one. Some nice tracks. - CARLTON: That's awesome. 377 00:31:30,221 --> 00:31:33,308 JEN: I don't know what it is, but I'm just fascinated by them. 378 00:31:33,474 --> 00:31:36,144 I knew when I was a little kid that I wanted to work with cats. 379 00:31:36,269 --> 00:31:39,856 I mean, it was just something that draws me to them. 380 00:31:39,981 --> 00:31:44,277 It sounds odd, but like I do feel like I have this connection. 381 00:31:44,444 --> 00:31:45,987 CARLTON: I think this road looks good. 382 00:31:46,112 --> 00:31:49,324 It's a lot of wet area still on either side, 383 00:31:49,324 --> 00:31:55,413 so it's really the best way to travel east and west through this side of the swamp. 384 00:31:56,748 --> 00:32:00,001 Which one did you want to check first? We got how many here? Four? 385 00:32:00,209 --> 00:32:02,545 - Let's check the video camera. - Okay. 386 00:32:07,383 --> 00:32:09,761 There we are. 387 00:32:09,761 --> 00:32:13,514 So we've had nothing break the beam since last Friday. 388 00:32:16,225 --> 00:32:20,146 - Oh, my gosh. - JEN: Look at that. Oh, my gosh. 389 00:32:26,486 --> 00:32:30,615 - She's amazing. - She's a pioneer. 390 00:32:30,782 --> 00:32:35,495 - She swam the river. - Yup. The hope. 391 00:32:38,957 --> 00:32:43,044 She has this graceful elegance to her. 392 00:32:43,211 --> 00:32:45,672 This female who had the tenacity 393 00:32:45,838 --> 00:32:50,802 to cross that barrier and set up a territory in this new place. 394 00:32:51,928 --> 00:32:56,724 All of a sudden, it's happening in real time, the stakes could not be higher. 395 00:32:57,433 --> 00:33:01,729 JEN: Since this female's on Babcock Ranch, we've been referring to her as Babs. 396 00:33:06,025 --> 00:33:08,277 Eleven in the morning. 2:00 a.m. 397 00:33:10,154 --> 00:33:11,906 - Panther! - JEN: Yes. 398 00:33:17,161 --> 00:33:21,457 CARLTON: The male up here at Babcock Ranch has this big, blocky head. 399 00:33:22,667 --> 00:33:26,421 He's impressive. And you just see the rippling of the muscles. 400 00:33:27,338 --> 00:33:30,758 An unimaginable strength in that animal. 401 00:33:37,015 --> 00:33:38,224 JEN: They know how to sense each other, 402 00:33:38,224 --> 00:33:40,685 and they know how to smell the marks that they leave. 403 00:33:40,685 --> 00:33:43,146 So she knew there was at least one male here. 404 00:33:43,354 --> 00:33:45,231 So, she's got potential mates. 405 00:33:46,024 --> 00:33:51,696 CARLTON: To have a breeding female and new generations of panthers being born here, 406 00:33:52,405 --> 00:33:55,616 would bring this whole system back into balance. 407 00:33:56,117 --> 00:33:59,245 (hopeful music throughout) 408 00:34:24,979 --> 00:34:31,778 BETTY: As Miccosukee, we are taught to care 409 00:34:33,654 --> 00:34:36,157 for all wildlife. 410 00:34:36,949 --> 00:34:42,413 When the land was new, 411 00:34:43,664 --> 00:34:48,836 the panther's role was to nurture and protect all things. 412 00:34:50,338 --> 00:34:56,761 This is what 413 00:34:57,053 --> 00:35:02,391 the Elders told us. 414 00:35:02,391 --> 00:35:06,062 When the panther exists, 415 00:35:06,062 --> 00:35:09,565 it takes care of the land 416 00:35:09,565 --> 00:35:13,903 and watches over other wildlife. 417 00:35:15,571 --> 00:35:18,699 Myself, I am of the Panther Clan. 418 00:35:18,699 --> 00:35:23,579 I was taught by my Elders 419 00:35:23,579 --> 00:35:28,126 that you are supposed to be 420 00:35:29,544 --> 00:35:31,504 like the panther. 421 00:35:32,672 --> 00:35:35,258 When we were younger, 422 00:35:36,926 --> 00:35:41,806 we were taught 423 00:35:42,306 --> 00:35:45,977 to be still. 424 00:35:46,644 --> 00:35:51,649 When a panther was going to pass through, 425 00:35:53,609 --> 00:35:58,823 we were not to harass it or make it afraid, 426 00:35:59,782 --> 00:36:04,996 You would not be afraid of it. 427 00:36:05,872 --> 00:36:12,170 And it would not be afraid of you. 428 00:36:12,795 --> 00:36:16,507 (serene music throughout) 429 00:36:20,261 --> 00:36:22,805 Just as we have room to exist, 430 00:36:22,805 --> 00:36:28,686 Creator also gave the panther room to exist. 431 00:36:30,396 --> 00:36:34,358 If they no longer exist, 432 00:36:34,567 --> 00:36:37,069 the other animals will also suffer. 433 00:36:40,656 --> 00:36:44,660 (serene music throughout) 434 00:37:06,515 --> 00:37:10,311 (pigs snorting throughout) 435 00:38:20,506 --> 00:38:23,884 BETTY: As a kid you think, they don't know what they're talking about, 436 00:38:23,884 --> 00:38:25,845 these are just stories, made up. 437 00:38:25,845 --> 00:38:27,888 But now, as a grandmother, 438 00:38:30,433 --> 00:38:33,436 you know, I see that they weren't just stories made up. 439 00:38:33,436 --> 00:38:37,273 It's a wonderment of the panther itself. Somehow, it's still here. 440 00:38:37,440 --> 00:38:42,695 It's still surviving and hanging on. And reclaiming that homeland. 441 00:38:45,031 --> 00:38:51,454 Because it's like a seed waiting to be replanted, 442 00:38:51,620 --> 00:38:54,790 so it can grow and branch out. 443 00:39:11,098 --> 00:39:16,437 This is wild citrus, and I don't know if it goes back to an early homestead here 444 00:39:16,437 --> 00:39:21,484 or whether some animals brought the seeds in a long time ago. 445 00:39:31,160 --> 00:39:33,371 When my grandad would peel these, 446 00:39:34,580 --> 00:39:37,249 the whole skin would come off in one perfect piece. 447 00:39:39,627 --> 00:39:41,462 I'm not quite so good. 448 00:39:43,881 --> 00:39:45,758 It brings back memories. 449 00:39:52,973 --> 00:39:55,976 (reels clicking) 450 00:39:59,355 --> 00:40:01,399 CARLTON: We'd go stand up on the back of the horse. 451 00:40:01,565 --> 00:40:03,442 or stand up on the back of the jeep 452 00:40:03,609 --> 00:40:06,862 and reach all the wild oranges and the wild citrus. 453 00:40:07,405 --> 00:40:09,323 And he had his favorite spots. 454 00:40:09,740 --> 00:40:12,618 It stands too far. 455 00:40:18,666 --> 00:40:22,837 This section of oak hammock and swamp is definitely one of my favorite places 456 00:40:22,837 --> 00:40:26,841 on our ranch, it's because it's one of the wildest. 457 00:40:30,511 --> 00:40:33,889 I think it's really easy to walk into a place like this 458 00:40:34,098 --> 00:40:36,767 and feel like it's going to be here forever. 459 00:40:36,934 --> 00:40:42,356 But in Florida, this place could be wiped clean just like that. 460 00:40:42,523 --> 00:40:46,610 I mean, I admit, my whole life I've taken for granted that this ranch 461 00:40:46,777 --> 00:40:50,948 would always be here. But all that changed this week. 462 00:40:53,409 --> 00:40:55,202 This is so hard to believe. 463 00:40:57,413 --> 00:40:59,248 Three new toll roads 464 00:40:59,415 --> 00:41:02,751 and one that's proposed to come right through here. 465 00:41:05,796 --> 00:41:09,467 We have the first Florida panther documented in the northern Everglades 466 00:41:09,467 --> 00:41:13,095 in my lifetime, and here comes a proposal for three new toll roads. 467 00:41:13,220 --> 00:41:17,141 One of them would cut right into the heart of her territory. 468 00:41:18,642 --> 00:41:21,353 What this road would do is basically destroy the heart of Florida. 469 00:41:21,520 --> 00:41:23,481 REPORTER: This morning, we're learning about a new bill 470 00:41:23,481 --> 00:41:25,483 that would add three major toll highways in our state. 471 00:41:25,649 --> 00:41:28,402 REPORTER 2: There's a proposal for more toll roads all around the state. 472 00:41:28,569 --> 00:41:30,654 REPORTER 3: It's not just them that are going to be paying the price. 473 00:41:30,654 --> 00:41:34,325 REPORTER 4: The Governor signed one of Florida's largest road projects 474 00:41:34,325 --> 00:41:36,660 in decades, a new toll road. 475 00:41:36,660 --> 00:41:38,621 REPORTER 5: We're talking about three separate toll roads, 476 00:41:38,787 --> 00:41:42,666 running through some of our most rural and undeveloped areas in Florida. 477 00:41:44,502 --> 00:41:47,296 GIRL: Look at... Warm and toasty. 478 00:41:48,047 --> 00:41:52,426 Mama, look at all the animals. Look how high up it goes. 479 00:41:53,552 --> 00:41:55,137 Time to go to sleep! 480 00:41:59,808 --> 00:42:00,976 CARLTON: This is it. 481 00:42:02,520 --> 00:42:04,939 This is really nature's last stand. 482 00:42:07,399 --> 00:42:09,485 And it's going to happen in our lifetimes. 483 00:42:09,777 --> 00:42:15,824 (embers crackling) 484 00:42:45,688 --> 00:42:48,190 ELTON: Down here, we do things a little slower. 485 00:42:48,357 --> 00:42:51,193 And my granddaddy had a famous saying that, 486 00:42:51,318 --> 00:42:53,362 "Don't ever get in too big a hurry 487 00:42:53,529 --> 00:42:56,407 because you'll always run past more than you'll ever catch up with." 488 00:43:02,204 --> 00:43:04,415 - CARLTON: Is that Kuta? - ELTON: That's you, buddy. 489 00:43:04,582 --> 00:43:06,500 Might wanna just double-check your cinch. 490 00:43:06,500 --> 00:43:08,919 You should be tight, but just double-check it. 491 00:43:10,170 --> 00:43:13,007 - Everybody good? - CARLTON: Yes, sir. 492 00:43:19,513 --> 00:43:21,724 Thanks for letting me ride along with you guys this morning. 493 00:43:21,724 --> 00:43:27,146 ELTON: Yeah, man. My pleasure. I just needed some free help. (chuckling) 494 00:43:28,105 --> 00:43:30,816 CARLTON: Hopefully, it won't turn into free entertainment. 495 00:43:34,361 --> 00:43:36,572 ELTON: Have you actually got the female yet? 496 00:43:36,739 --> 00:43:38,616 With her cubs yet? Have you got any of her yet? 497 00:43:38,616 --> 00:43:42,578 CARLTON: I haven't gotten the cubs, so their survivorship is 498 00:43:42,786 --> 00:43:44,747 - one in three on average. - Really? 499 00:43:44,913 --> 00:43:48,250 CARLTON: And a first time mother might be lower, so... 500 00:43:49,585 --> 00:43:50,794 So what's the plan here? 501 00:43:50,919 --> 00:43:54,757 ELTON: We'll throw them back there out on that grass patch right there behind them. 502 00:43:55,633 --> 00:43:59,845 (cows mooing throughout) 503 00:44:29,708 --> 00:44:31,669 The first female panther 504 00:44:31,835 --> 00:44:37,132 in more than 40 years is right here on Babcock Ranch. 505 00:44:37,132 --> 00:44:41,303 You take a piece of land this size, that panther's got a lot of roaming to do, 506 00:44:41,470 --> 00:44:44,640 and you stop worrying about it getting hit by a Cadillac or a Buick 507 00:44:44,807 --> 00:44:48,060 trying to cross the road to try and find something to eat, so... 508 00:44:48,227 --> 00:44:51,105 You look around at all the big ranches that was here 509 00:44:51,230 --> 00:44:55,401 back in the 60s and 70s and 80s, and even some of them into the 90s, 510 00:44:55,609 --> 00:44:58,362 you know, these places are starting to disappear. 511 00:44:58,362 --> 00:45:01,824 It is a dying breed, and I've been hearing that all my life, 512 00:45:01,990 --> 00:45:05,119 and I always thought it was baloney, but now that I'm the age that I'm at, 513 00:45:05,285 --> 00:45:08,580 and I see the things that are happening now, it is dying out. 514 00:45:15,713 --> 00:45:20,134 CARLTON: The Florida cowboy is an endangered species as well. 515 00:45:20,134 --> 00:45:22,928 Yeah, kind of like the panther, yup. 516 00:45:23,137 --> 00:45:25,597 (dramatic music throughout) 517 00:45:44,867 --> 00:45:49,496 LARA: You expect to have complications. You expect something to go wrong. 518 00:45:49,621 --> 00:45:52,249 Or you're at least ready for it, especially with something like this, 519 00:45:52,249 --> 00:45:55,210 where you have three broken legs, three surgeries, 520 00:45:55,377 --> 00:45:59,590 and you're waiting for that next step, when we give them the clear. 521 00:45:59,757 --> 00:46:03,218 Alright, let me go load that real quick into the car, so that's ready to go. 522 00:46:03,427 --> 00:46:06,096 Then I will drop our drugs, and we'll get ready to dart. 523 00:46:06,221 --> 00:46:08,640 - I'll go run and make sure I've got drugs. - Okay. Perfect. 524 00:46:08,640 --> 00:46:12,478 This cat is an amazing patient and healing really well. 525 00:46:12,603 --> 00:46:15,522 Now, we're going to introduce him into a bigger enclosure 526 00:46:15,647 --> 00:46:19,610 and we're gonna give him a place to exercise and see if he can do that. 527 00:46:24,698 --> 00:46:26,700 Yeah, I think he's fine. Alright. 528 00:46:26,867 --> 00:46:30,245 LARA: What you're trying to do at any time is make sure that you don't give them 529 00:46:30,454 --> 00:46:33,373 too much in terms of a hurdle where basically, they reinjure themselves. 530 00:46:33,373 --> 00:46:35,042 WOMAN: We just can't close the door yet. 531 00:46:41,173 --> 00:46:45,594 (peaceful music throughout) 532 00:47:00,901 --> 00:47:03,487 One, two, three, out. 533 00:47:05,239 --> 00:47:06,740 Okay, in. 534 00:47:06,740 --> 00:47:07,658 - Yup. - Yup. 535 00:47:07,658 --> 00:47:10,702 Now, you got to lift her from the metal bar. 536 00:47:14,498 --> 00:47:18,377 They've let us set up a couple of remote cameras and our blinds. 537 00:47:18,544 --> 00:47:23,173 So there's going to be a moment here where this cat 538 00:47:24,132 --> 00:47:26,844 steps on dirt for the first time in a couple of months. 539 00:47:32,057 --> 00:47:37,062 They're just now releasing this panther 540 00:47:37,271 --> 00:47:39,606 into this larger enclosure. 541 00:47:52,202 --> 00:47:53,996 Here he comes. 542 00:48:13,515 --> 00:48:18,103 His surgeries and rehailitation look pretty successful. 543 00:48:20,689 --> 00:48:25,277 This panther is now one step closer to going back to the wild. 544 00:48:33,368 --> 00:48:36,538 (thunder throughout) 545 00:48:45,756 --> 00:48:49,551 (peaceful music throughout) 546 00:49:39,476 --> 00:49:43,146 CARLTON: So much of these lands are underwater most of the year. 547 00:49:50,028 --> 00:49:52,406 And the water is what defines this place, 548 00:49:52,406 --> 00:49:55,450 and it's what brings the vitality and the life. 549 00:49:58,078 --> 00:50:02,290 In fact, water has been a reality for the survival of the Florida panther. 550 00:50:02,457 --> 00:50:04,584 And these swamps deep in the Everglades, 551 00:50:04,751 --> 00:50:09,548 where cats have been for thousands of years, have been the last refuge. 552 00:50:16,054 --> 00:50:20,058 One panther's come through. Whoa, that's a big alligator. 553 00:50:20,058 --> 00:50:21,393 Check that thing out. 554 00:50:22,978 --> 00:50:25,105 That's a big alligator. 555 00:50:26,773 --> 00:50:33,321 Got one panther walking away. One bear walking toward the camera. 556 00:50:33,488 --> 00:50:36,116 And then two or three alligators before the waters came up 557 00:50:36,283 --> 00:50:38,493 and drowned out my entire camera system. 558 00:50:57,387 --> 00:51:01,600 So we have one more test. There's a still photo system here. 559 00:51:01,767 --> 00:51:04,519 And there we go. We got flashes. 560 00:51:05,854 --> 00:51:07,647 It's exciting. 561 00:51:14,029 --> 00:51:17,783 Oh, yeah, here comes a bear straight at the camera. 562 00:51:20,077 --> 00:51:23,747 Long walk into the water. 563 00:51:27,584 --> 00:51:29,878 Up to his elbows. 564 00:51:31,546 --> 00:51:33,840 Getting a little deeper. 565 00:51:35,258 --> 00:51:39,554 Oh, gosh. He stops for a second. He's sitting down, in the water. 566 00:51:49,940 --> 00:51:54,111 I bet that feels good when you're 300 pounds and covered in fur. 567 00:52:00,033 --> 00:52:03,703 He's chilling in the water. Wow. 568 00:52:06,039 --> 00:52:08,041 Florida still has this wild heart. 569 00:52:08,166 --> 00:52:11,169 And there's this sense of exploration and discovery 570 00:52:11,169 --> 00:52:13,296 happening right here, right now. 571 00:52:14,464 --> 00:52:18,135 (peaceful music throughout) 572 00:52:21,888 --> 00:52:26,726 Oh, here's a panther, walking straight towards me. 573 00:52:57,549 --> 00:52:58,592 Oh, my gosh. 574 00:53:00,802 --> 00:53:04,222 Cautious maybe because who knows what's in that water? 575 00:53:05,640 --> 00:53:07,058 Maybe that panther's thinking about alligators, 576 00:53:07,058 --> 00:53:09,060 maybe that panther's hungry for alligators, 577 00:53:09,060 --> 00:53:12,981 maybe that panther's scared of alligators? Who knows? It's all a mystery out here. 578 00:53:15,358 --> 00:53:18,320 Here he is again. Whoa! 579 00:53:21,531 --> 00:53:25,577 (serene music throughout) 580 00:53:35,879 --> 00:53:37,088 (shutter click) 581 00:53:39,633 --> 00:53:43,553 A male Florida panther in mid-air. 582 00:53:43,720 --> 00:53:47,849 Raindrops are bouncing off the surface of the dark water. 583 00:53:52,145 --> 00:53:55,565 In this project there is so much disappointment, 584 00:53:56,149 --> 00:53:57,943 there's this image of hope. 585 00:54:00,195 --> 00:54:03,198 It gives me the energy to go on. 586 00:54:04,282 --> 00:54:07,953 And I also see that this animal 587 00:54:09,037 --> 00:54:13,166 can persevere in this harshest of environments. 588 00:54:14,334 --> 00:54:16,044 I have a glimmer of hope. 589 00:54:27,681 --> 00:54:30,016 (phone ringing) 590 00:54:30,892 --> 00:54:36,439 Morning, Joe. Okay. Ten-four. You got all that done last night? 591 00:54:36,606 --> 00:54:39,484 Down there? Okay. Good deal. Good deal. 592 00:54:40,694 --> 00:54:44,364 All right. Well, good, then that'll make everybody happy. 593 00:54:44,531 --> 00:54:46,324 Yeah, for a day or two anyway. 594 00:54:46,533 --> 00:54:51,746 All right, buddy. Okay. Yes, sir. See ya tomorrow. All right, bye. 595 00:54:54,291 --> 00:54:56,751 I guess we're going to be fact-finding and... 596 00:54:58,795 --> 00:55:01,172 kind of making recommendations back to the Governor 597 00:55:01,172 --> 00:55:06,928 on a proposed toll road running north through the state. 598 00:55:08,388 --> 00:55:10,724 Yeah, I'm not sure exactly where the road's going to go, 599 00:55:10,890 --> 00:55:15,812 but if it goes through the center of the state, it's definitely going to open up 600 00:55:16,688 --> 00:55:20,775 a part of this state that's still pretty much untouched. 601 00:55:20,775 --> 00:55:25,613 That's one of my fears that it will open up that opportunity. 602 00:55:25,780 --> 00:55:30,827 Investors and their wheels get to spinning and turning, and here you go. 603 00:55:34,956 --> 00:55:39,002 GPS: In two miles, take exit seven towards downtown west. 604 00:55:42,922 --> 00:55:46,801 PROTESTER: Y'all know which state in the US has the most toll roads? 605 00:55:47,010 --> 00:55:50,305 It is not California, it is not Texas, it is Florida. 606 00:55:50,472 --> 00:55:55,352 We have 734 miles of toll roads. We don't need more, and we don't want more. 607 00:55:55,477 --> 00:55:59,397 WOMAN: Toll road to nowhere! Toll road to nowhere! 608 00:55:59,522 --> 00:56:01,191 Toll road to nowhere! 609 00:56:01,358 --> 00:56:04,069 PRESENTER: Florida is a vibrant state that continues to grow 610 00:56:04,235 --> 00:56:07,280 and requires the development of an adequate infrastructure network. 611 00:56:07,447 --> 00:56:10,742 These infrastructure improvements will be built with great sensitivity 612 00:56:10,742 --> 00:56:12,827 towards the protection of the environment. 613 00:56:13,078 --> 00:56:16,539 (applause) 614 00:56:18,458 --> 00:56:20,585 CARLTON: Here's the other picture. 615 00:56:21,836 --> 00:56:24,547 That's what we're contending with. 616 00:56:24,672 --> 00:56:27,842 - That was one of your traps you set up? - Yeah. 617 00:56:27,842 --> 00:56:31,471 CARLTON: Here's my favorite one that no one's seen until yesterday. 618 00:56:31,971 --> 00:56:34,933 - That's neat. - I'll send you this. 619 00:56:37,310 --> 00:56:40,897 ANNOUNCER: Commissioner Mike Thompson, DeSoto County. 620 00:56:40,897 --> 00:56:43,358 - Commissioner Elton Langford. - Here. 621 00:56:43,483 --> 00:56:46,528 ANNOUNCER: Highlands County, Commissioner Ron Hamblin. 622 00:56:46,528 --> 00:56:49,531 MAN: One thing I know, I researched the website you guys have, 623 00:56:49,656 --> 00:56:53,326 read some of the documentation. It said, "to revitalize rural communities" 624 00:56:53,493 --> 00:56:57,080 was one of the goals of this project. And that kind of stuck out to me. 625 00:56:57,247 --> 00:57:00,542 The word revitalize, that's a pretty strong word, and when I hear that word, 626 00:57:00,708 --> 00:57:03,128 I think that means there's something wrong with it. 627 00:57:03,336 --> 00:57:04,754 It needs to be fixed. 628 00:57:04,921 --> 00:57:07,507 That being a rural community is inherently bad, maybe, 629 00:57:07,507 --> 00:57:11,052 is kind of what I'm thinking when I hear "revitalize," I think development. 630 00:57:11,052 --> 00:57:14,347 I think rural communities have a place in our state. 631 00:57:14,556 --> 00:57:15,974 Thank y'all for your time, today. 632 00:57:16,141 --> 00:57:18,435 And then there's this big dark area 633 00:57:18,601 --> 00:57:23,773 in the heart of Florida where people can see the stars at night. 634 00:57:23,982 --> 00:57:29,654 That is exactly where the highway's supposed to go. 635 00:57:29,821 --> 00:57:31,281 CARLTON: We're at a really pivotal time. 636 00:57:31,406 --> 00:57:34,576 The first breeding panthers in nearly 50 years 637 00:57:34,742 --> 00:57:38,538 are showing up north of the Caloosahatchee River. 638 00:57:38,663 --> 00:57:41,541 What people from this group are ultimately doing is 639 00:57:41,541 --> 00:57:44,252 deciding the future of wild Florida. 640 00:57:45,295 --> 00:57:47,297 ELTON: On the road again. 641 00:57:50,175 --> 00:57:52,635 The good Lord set it up to work a certain way 642 00:57:52,802 --> 00:57:56,347 and we come in and try to change all that and it... 643 00:57:56,473 --> 00:58:02,437 It don't work. You know, it causes more problems, and um... 644 00:58:04,647 --> 00:58:07,192 I don't know. It's just a... 645 00:58:10,153 --> 00:58:15,909 seems like the more we mess with stuff the worse we make it sometimes. 646 00:58:38,097 --> 00:58:41,142 CARLTON: Damn. It's talking about Irma right now. 647 00:58:41,267 --> 00:58:43,811 REPORTER: On the Safir-Simpson hurricane wind scale. 648 00:58:43,978 --> 00:58:48,066 Fluctuations in intensity are likely to continue in the next day or two. 649 00:58:48,233 --> 00:58:51,152 Irma is expected to remain a powerful Category Four Hurricane 650 00:58:51,152 --> 00:58:52,779 as it approaches Florida. 651 00:58:52,946 --> 00:58:55,698 - It's getting close. - Central pressure is... 652 00:58:55,823 --> 00:58:59,327 CARLTON: Good thing is that my family is safe, in the Florida panhandle. 653 00:58:59,494 --> 00:59:00,912 Far ahead of this storm. 654 00:59:00,912 --> 00:59:06,084 I've got about 12 to 18 hours to decide if I'll evacuate. 655 00:59:06,209 --> 00:59:10,797 And in about 24 hours this entire place could be underwater. 656 00:59:14,050 --> 00:59:17,971 I feel like this powerful context that this hurricane creates 657 00:59:18,137 --> 00:59:21,933 adds a whole another layer to the wildness of the panther story. 658 00:59:22,725 --> 00:59:26,020 Maybe we'll capture an image that brings all that together. 659 00:59:33,403 --> 00:59:36,447 JEN: I really worry about the female panther out here. 660 00:59:36,573 --> 00:59:39,659 I've been moving cameras around hoping to get a glimpse 661 00:59:39,659 --> 00:59:43,037 and to figure out if she's still here, and we don't know. 662 00:59:43,037 --> 00:59:45,665 We just don't have the information. 663 00:59:47,667 --> 00:59:50,295 Now we've got a hurricane, a Category Five, 664 00:59:50,461 --> 00:59:53,006 Irma, heading straight towards us, 665 00:59:53,131 --> 00:59:55,800 looking like she's going to come right up the peninsula. 666 00:59:56,551 --> 00:59:59,762 Basically, the only population of Florida panthers occurs right 667 00:59:59,929 --> 01:00:03,016 where this hurricane looks like it's gonna come through. 668 01:00:03,016 --> 01:00:07,687 I just wonder if they have any feeling of this kind of thing coming. 669 01:00:08,646 --> 01:00:12,567 (rolling thunder throughout) 670 01:00:19,907 --> 01:00:23,369 CARLTON: The trail is totally washed out. 671 01:00:25,121 --> 01:00:29,083 I'm doing my best to make sure my equipment is secure 672 01:00:29,250 --> 01:00:31,294 and safely above the water. 673 01:00:32,128 --> 01:00:36,341 We haven't seen Babs in more than two months 674 01:00:36,507 --> 01:00:39,260 and there's a chance we won't see her again. 675 01:00:39,427 --> 01:00:42,847 Maybe she survives the storm. Maybe she moves on. 676 01:00:51,230 --> 01:00:58,071 I think the cameras and flashes are safely above the high-water mark, 677 01:00:59,489 --> 01:01:01,157 but it's still uncertain. 678 01:01:03,451 --> 01:01:08,039 Nature's incredibly resilient. But there are limits. 679 01:01:08,206 --> 01:01:12,835 We can't expect increasingly smaller and smaller patches of nature 680 01:01:12,835 --> 01:01:15,380 to function and to survive. 681 01:01:16,464 --> 01:01:18,633 REPORTER: Those hurricane force winds now stretch 682 01:01:18,758 --> 01:01:22,929 across the whole state of Florida from Sarasota over to the Space Coast. 683 01:01:23,096 --> 01:01:24,847 REPORTER 2: It was a harrowing day here. 684 01:01:24,972 --> 01:01:28,017 And it was devastating from the moment it hit. 685 01:02:04,387 --> 01:02:08,641 It was crazy coming in here. Power poles snapped over, 686 01:02:08,766 --> 01:02:11,519 pine trees cracked like matchsticks. 687 01:02:27,118 --> 01:02:31,164 JEN: The last photo we got of Babs was the beginning of July 688 01:02:31,372 --> 01:02:35,042 and it looked like she was alone. You know we say all the time, 689 01:02:35,209 --> 01:02:38,546 "They're super resilient and they're adapted to hurricanes." 690 01:02:38,755 --> 01:02:40,923 And it's true. But like still. 691 01:02:42,341 --> 01:02:45,386 When we get to where the camera is, we're on the edge of Telegraph. 692 01:02:45,553 --> 01:02:47,972 So that's why I fear about his camera. 693 01:02:48,181 --> 01:02:52,518 If Telegraph spilled its boundaries, it's just going to be coming off. 694 01:02:52,977 --> 01:02:56,606 (dramatic music throughout) 695 01:02:59,901 --> 01:03:02,195 This looks like the end of the trail for the truck. 696 01:03:10,453 --> 01:03:13,539 This is the highest driest habitat on this ranch 697 01:03:13,706 --> 01:03:17,752 and we're still covered to our ankles in water. 698 01:03:20,129 --> 01:03:21,964 JEN: It's a lot of water. 699 01:03:22,131 --> 01:03:26,469 I hadn't seen water go off into that side portion yet. 700 01:03:26,469 --> 01:03:29,138 CARLTON: Oh, gosh. Okay. So there's my... 701 01:03:31,015 --> 01:03:34,936 There's my trigger system submerged. There's my flashes. 702 01:03:39,023 --> 01:03:41,526 This is not what you want to see. That's my camera. 703 01:03:56,874 --> 01:04:03,214 This camera has seen its last picture. That hurts. 704 01:04:08,135 --> 01:04:10,638 How many of these are going to make it? How many of my cameras? 705 01:04:10,638 --> 01:04:12,932 I could be totally wiped out. 706 01:04:17,311 --> 01:04:20,439 This was the last high dry spot 707 01:04:20,606 --> 01:04:24,527 that was in good habitat on this side of the swamp. 708 01:04:24,527 --> 01:04:28,531 So there's nowhere to hide. There's no one bit left untouched. 709 01:04:28,531 --> 01:04:32,326 The female she's in an area that's still relatively new. 710 01:04:32,326 --> 01:04:34,579 Now you throw a hurricane in the mix. 711 01:04:35,580 --> 01:04:41,168 This female will be not just the first north of the river in 43 years, 712 01:04:41,335 --> 01:04:44,463 she'll be the first to survive a hurricane north of the river. 713 01:04:45,673 --> 01:04:49,385 I don't want to interrupt you but there are fish around your leg. 714 01:04:49,552 --> 01:04:50,845 Oh, my gosh. 715 01:05:01,480 --> 01:05:03,858 I'm driving down the road at-- holy crap. 716 01:05:03,858 --> 01:05:05,401 It's waking towards me. 717 01:05:05,401 --> 01:05:08,988 There's a Florida panther walking right towards me. 718 01:05:08,988 --> 01:05:12,241 Holy crap here it comes. Here it comes. 719 01:05:12,241 --> 01:05:15,328 I'll flip the video around and then I'll get my real camera. 720 01:05:21,250 --> 01:05:22,543 Holy crap. 721 01:05:24,045 --> 01:05:26,088 I can hardly believe this. 722 01:05:27,214 --> 01:05:29,008 I'm staring at a Florida panther 723 01:05:29,175 --> 01:05:33,930 that's right out in the middle of the road right here. 724 01:05:34,096 --> 01:05:36,474 Oh, ... . He's walking toward me again. 725 01:05:36,641 --> 01:05:40,561 Why's he do it every time I make a video? Put this camera down. 726 01:05:44,774 --> 01:05:48,444 I can't freaking believe it. I cannot freaking believe it. 727 01:05:48,444 --> 01:05:50,488 Freaking crazy. 728 01:05:51,822 --> 01:05:55,201 There's a Florida panther right under those trees. 729 01:06:10,883 --> 01:06:14,261 (dramatic music throuhgout) 730 01:06:17,431 --> 01:06:18,724 Right. 731 01:06:40,830 --> 01:06:47,044 Wow. It's crazy because I haven't looked at these all in sequence like this. 732 01:06:47,169 --> 01:06:53,175 And so one frame is the best panther portrait I've ever taken. 733 01:06:54,260 --> 01:06:59,098 The next frame, the panther turns its head off to the side. 734 01:06:59,390 --> 01:07:02,351 The next frame is a kitten struggling out of the woods. 735 01:07:02,351 --> 01:07:08,149 And then I heard a ruffling coming from these palms over in this area. 736 01:07:08,315 --> 01:07:15,114 And sure enough the kitten came hobbling out of the palms into plain view here. 737 01:07:17,199 --> 01:07:22,329 I went from like intimidated. Excited. 738 01:07:24,749 --> 01:07:27,501 To like a feeling of pure exhilaration staring 739 01:07:27,668 --> 01:07:31,630 into the wild eyes of this panther staring back at me and then 740 01:07:31,797 --> 01:07:37,136 just seconds later, like heartbreak that this kitten is struggling across. 741 01:07:37,261 --> 01:07:39,346 Across the sand. 742 01:07:40,306 --> 01:07:44,060 It's a pretty swift transition from... 743 01:07:44,226 --> 01:07:47,229 this gift of a panther staring right at me 744 01:07:49,648 --> 01:07:53,778 to this heartbreak of seeing this little fella just 745 01:07:54,695 --> 01:07:57,615 barely walk across this clearing. 746 01:08:00,201 --> 01:08:04,288 This picture right here... kills me. 747 01:08:06,874 --> 01:08:12,296 His mother's within reach and you can see him connecting to her and... 748 01:08:13,631 --> 01:08:19,053 pulling himself closer. Getting back up and struggling on. 749 01:08:28,312 --> 01:08:32,775 And then it all made sense. This is why that mother panther 750 01:08:33,901 --> 01:08:37,947 walked down that road so slowly for 30 minutes 751 01:08:38,114 --> 01:08:41,992 because she was waiting for her injured kitten to keep up. 752 01:08:42,868 --> 01:08:46,622 Biologists have announced that this has happened and been observed 753 01:08:46,789 --> 01:08:49,875 in eight different cases around southwest Florida. 754 01:08:50,042 --> 01:08:52,461 It's probably caused by us. 755 01:08:52,461 --> 01:08:56,048 Something that we've put out into nature. 756 01:08:57,967 --> 01:09:01,011 REPORTER: We're following up on a story we first brought you yesterday 757 01:09:01,011 --> 01:09:06,225 about new video showing a mysterious health problem affecting Florida panthers. 758 01:09:06,433 --> 01:09:09,895 The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission 759 01:09:09,895 --> 01:09:13,315 recently released the footage from trail cameras 760 01:09:13,482 --> 01:09:15,860 that show the endangered cats stumbling 761 01:09:15,860 --> 01:09:18,821 and now investigators are working to figure out just why. 762 01:09:21,991 --> 01:09:25,369 NURSE: So, Lara, I'm going to go grab the vaccines, if you're good. 763 01:09:25,536 --> 01:09:27,037 I think we're good. 764 01:09:29,373 --> 01:09:35,004 My thought process is they likely were exposed to a milder exposure or dose 765 01:09:35,004 --> 01:09:38,382 of whatever is causing this, which we still don't know. 766 01:09:38,549 --> 01:09:42,219 and hopefully, they'll remain static and there'll be no progression. 767 01:09:42,344 --> 01:09:45,890 So that bit of sign that we see is hopefully all we'll see in these guys. 768 01:09:46,515 --> 01:09:49,226 - This one are all right? - Yeah. 769 01:09:49,226 --> 01:09:52,855 CARLTON: I'm so glad that they are not so badly affected. 770 01:09:52,855 --> 01:09:56,025 LARA: That kitten that you got photos of was the most severely affected. 771 01:09:56,609 --> 01:10:00,696 Well, maybe these guys are going to give you some answers. 772 01:10:00,696 --> 01:10:04,742 When you have an animal isolated, one big storm, 773 01:10:04,909 --> 01:10:09,330 one new disease can bring this cat back to brink of extinction. 774 01:10:09,455 --> 01:10:13,250 This is why Babs is so important to the future of her species. 775 01:10:13,792 --> 01:10:18,214 What the panthers need, and the whole ecosystem needs the lifeline to the North. 776 01:10:29,266 --> 01:10:31,727 LARA: We are probably seven months of rehab now. 777 01:10:31,936 --> 01:10:35,272 I think he was June of last year so we're just about seven months. 778 01:10:35,689 --> 01:10:37,733 And today we're releasing him. 779 01:10:42,029 --> 01:10:46,617 We moved him from the small enclosure to a larger one which is about 11 acres 780 01:10:46,784 --> 01:10:51,705 and after transition of a few small items like armadillo-sized animals, 781 01:10:51,872 --> 01:10:56,126 raccoons he could catch, he was offered live deer in that enclosure. 782 01:10:56,293 --> 01:11:00,506 And it wasn't until he kind of "went missing" off of camera 783 01:11:00,506 --> 01:11:03,217 for a few days, the introduction of the deer 784 01:11:03,384 --> 01:11:06,303 that we knew he was doing what he needed to do. 785 01:11:06,470 --> 01:11:09,223 He had hunted the deer, killed it, and was feeding on it. 786 01:11:09,431 --> 01:11:12,893 It really was sort of the end point for us realizing that he was ready to go. 787 01:11:21,986 --> 01:11:23,654 All right. Showtime. 788 01:11:33,122 --> 01:11:36,292 When we're looking at decisions in terms of where we release Tres, 789 01:11:36,292 --> 01:11:39,837 You're looking at a map, saying my options are not what they should be. 790 01:11:40,004 --> 01:11:45,342 Where do I enough green space that's truly wild to put a wild animal back into it? 791 01:11:45,759 --> 01:11:49,555 (serene music throughout) 792 01:11:55,936 --> 01:11:59,523 (dramatic music throughout) 793 01:12:09,700 --> 01:12:14,330 High five on that one. Good job. 794 01:12:14,330 --> 01:12:16,623 - Walking... - Well done. 795 01:12:16,790 --> 01:12:18,751 That was awesome. 796 01:12:18,917 --> 01:12:20,669 - Great, right? - Yeah. 797 01:12:20,669 --> 01:12:25,007 - That's awesome. Right over the top. - He is fast. 798 01:12:55,371 --> 01:12:59,666 LARA: Everything is so completely interconnected. 799 01:12:59,875 --> 01:13:03,212 We've got to be aware of it or those lands won't be there. 800 01:13:03,379 --> 01:13:06,465 You can't have wildlife if they have nowhere to live. 801 01:13:19,478 --> 01:13:22,106 ELTON: Got a lot of game here already. 802 01:13:22,272 --> 01:13:27,027 Telling me they're mad at me because they tore my little feeder up 803 01:13:27,194 --> 01:13:29,530 and got all the corn out of it. 804 01:13:31,323 --> 01:13:36,120 Set our feeder up just to find out what's coming in, what's going on, 805 01:13:36,328 --> 01:13:38,831 and we got a few old hogs sneaking in here 806 01:13:38,956 --> 01:13:43,669 but mostly just deer and cranes. And whooping cranes love corn. 807 01:13:45,212 --> 01:13:48,006 Just an old muddy camera. 808 01:13:48,173 --> 01:13:52,469 I'm seeing if I've got any panthers or bears on it so I can show Carlton 809 01:13:53,220 --> 01:13:56,432 how to take a real picture without having to spend all that money. 810 01:13:58,058 --> 01:14:02,896 And I've even got some high-tech stuff that I found. 811 01:14:03,021 --> 01:14:05,399 I don't know if you can see my stick. 812 01:14:05,607 --> 01:14:10,195 That's a stick there to keep it leveled up because the tree leans a little bit. 813 01:14:14,366 --> 01:14:18,454 There's only so many pieces of unspoiled paradise left, you know. 814 01:14:19,496 --> 01:14:22,541 You know they get you squeezed down to a certain spot, 815 01:14:22,708 --> 01:14:25,919 it really ain't worth your time and effort to farm. 816 01:14:36,221 --> 01:14:40,267 (dramatic music throughout) 817 01:14:53,614 --> 01:14:57,201 CARLTON: It's hard to believe this pasture is going to be covered in rooftops. 818 01:15:09,046 --> 01:15:10,797 What's our plan today? 819 01:15:10,964 --> 01:15:13,842 ELTON: We slip out here around these heifers and move them, 820 01:15:13,842 --> 01:15:16,094 put 'em in a new field. We're going to rotate them, 821 01:15:16,678 --> 01:15:18,597 and move them over to another pasture. 822 01:15:27,022 --> 01:15:30,526 Always got me when I see development going on I look, and I say, 823 01:15:30,651 --> 01:15:35,531 "That will never be productive for agriculture again." 824 01:15:37,783 --> 01:15:40,577 But you've got to leave places for people to farm. 825 01:15:40,744 --> 01:15:43,288 You've got to leave areas for these wildlife. 826 01:15:47,834 --> 01:15:50,420 If you was to put a big road through the middle, 827 01:15:50,587 --> 01:15:52,798 it may entice folks to say, 828 01:15:52,965 --> 01:15:56,635 "Look at all this land, here, they're doing nothing with 829 01:15:56,802 --> 01:15:59,179 but have a few cows or they're farming. 830 01:15:59,179 --> 01:16:02,224 You know we can pick that up fairly cheap." 831 01:16:04,309 --> 01:16:07,062 Land went from $2500 an acre 832 01:16:07,062 --> 01:16:10,065 to $20,000 an acre within six to eight months. 833 01:16:10,190 --> 01:16:14,778 We had people coming here buying big tracts of land. 20,000 bucks an acre. 834 01:16:15,904 --> 01:16:19,241 There's no way I can put enough cows on it, farm crops, 835 01:16:19,408 --> 01:16:23,495 and even plant some marijuana on the edges and pay for this thing. 836 01:16:23,495 --> 01:16:26,415 But yet these people are coming here and spending all that money. 837 01:16:27,708 --> 01:16:29,209 I talked to them guys I said, 838 01:16:29,209 --> 01:16:34,631 "Man, how in the world do you recoup your money back." 839 01:16:34,798 --> 01:16:38,010 And the guy told me, "Well, you're looking at it wrong. 840 01:16:38,176 --> 01:16:40,804 You're looking at what the land can produce. 841 01:16:40,971 --> 01:16:45,017 I'm looking at how many houses can I put on that acre?" 842 01:16:49,813 --> 01:16:52,816 I don't know the answer to it to be honest with you. 843 01:16:52,816 --> 01:16:57,487 I know that they're not spending a million dollars to buy a piece of land to preserve 844 01:16:57,654 --> 01:17:00,032 a farmer what he does for a living 845 01:17:00,032 --> 01:17:02,284 but they'll spend that money on that cat. 846 01:17:02,993 --> 01:17:06,496 But if me and that cat can get along, we all benefit from that. 847 01:17:06,663 --> 01:17:12,377 Yo, man. Come here, buddy. What are you doing? 848 01:17:13,170 --> 01:17:15,505 We need to protect them as much as we can 849 01:17:15,672 --> 01:17:20,469 because if we've got habitat for them that leaves habitat for us. 850 01:17:31,188 --> 01:17:35,817 JEN: So I had actually gotten to be kind of numb almost. 851 01:17:36,026 --> 01:17:39,112 It had been so many months of not getting anything 852 01:17:39,279 --> 01:17:41,281 and I see an alert pop up on my phone. 853 01:17:41,448 --> 01:17:44,034 Here's another empty photo, or a pig, or something. 854 01:17:44,201 --> 01:17:48,163 And I open it up and it's this lo-res picture that looks like her. 855 01:17:50,082 --> 01:17:54,252 Okay, we're going to walk in this trail to where my camera is. 856 01:17:56,088 --> 01:18:00,175 She was just here like two hours ago. 857 01:18:10,686 --> 01:18:15,190 Just trying to see if there's tracks. There's a lot of vegetation on the ground. 858 01:18:23,657 --> 01:18:26,493 CARLTON: So I got your text at like 6:15 this morning. 859 01:18:26,660 --> 01:18:30,664 Sorry. I got a little excited. He came through on the tenth. 860 01:18:30,831 --> 01:18:33,709 So the male was here just a couple days before. 861 01:18:33,875 --> 01:18:39,214 - Yup. See. - Getting close. 862 01:18:40,841 --> 01:18:43,719 JEN: Oh, yeah, I figured we'd find one of these. 863 01:18:43,719 --> 01:18:47,347 - If she came across this scrape. - She'd probably come by and sniff it. 864 01:18:47,514 --> 01:18:49,516 She'd check it out. That's exciting. 865 01:18:49,683 --> 01:18:52,686 - It's like 20 feet from the camera so. - Yeah. 866 01:18:52,811 --> 01:18:54,896 - That's a good spot they chose. - Yup. 867 01:18:57,065 --> 01:19:00,193 CARLTON: Cameras going. That's a good thing. 868 01:19:00,193 --> 01:19:03,405 JEN: The question is which direction was the camera facing? 869 01:19:03,613 --> 01:19:07,033 Yeah. System is go. 870 01:19:07,200 --> 01:19:09,828 Five hundred and sixty-one beam breaks. 871 01:19:09,995 --> 01:19:11,204 This thing has been knocked 872 01:19:11,371 --> 01:19:14,750 but it didn't break the alignment enough to where it stopped working. 873 01:19:14,916 --> 01:19:19,337 But here's to hoping. Yeah, this camera is... 874 01:19:20,422 --> 01:19:25,719 pretty much perfectly composed for a picture of the oak canopy above us. 875 01:19:26,553 --> 01:19:29,848 There's no chance it'd be able to get a picture of an animal 876 01:19:29,848 --> 01:19:32,434 unless it was standing above it looking down. 877 01:19:34,895 --> 01:19:37,814 The question is when did it get knocked? 878 01:19:38,690 --> 01:19:43,528 And when did the panthers come? Sky, sky, sky on the 19th. 879 01:19:43,528 --> 01:19:46,323 Wouldn't it be nice if she had walked over it? 880 01:19:46,490 --> 01:19:49,284 Would've been nice if the cows hadn't knocked this camera. 881 01:19:49,493 --> 01:19:53,580 Because that was the first time, and there's the culprit right there. 882 01:19:53,747 --> 01:19:57,042 Big old floppy ears on that Angus. 883 01:19:57,042 --> 01:19:59,586 This is where I'm starting to get pretty anxious. 884 01:19:59,795 --> 01:20:04,257 We just had about 200 pictures of cows but we're back to a level horizon. 885 01:20:06,092 --> 01:20:10,096 CARLTON: There's a panther. There's a panther at 3:30 in the morning. 886 01:20:12,224 --> 01:20:13,600 - JEN: It's her. - CARLTON: No. 887 01:20:13,767 --> 01:20:16,603 - JEN: It's a kitten it's got spots. - CARLTON: No. That's a panther kitten. 888 01:20:16,770 --> 01:20:17,896 Oh, my gosh. 889 01:20:17,896 --> 01:20:21,107 - And look, look. Look behind her. - JEN: Oh, my God. 890 01:20:21,274 --> 01:20:23,527 - CARLTON: Right there. - That's two kittens. 891 01:20:23,652 --> 01:20:26,655 - CARLTON: Oh, dude. - Look, they're sniffing the scrape. 892 01:20:27,989 --> 01:20:34,246 JEN: Look at her face. She does look like an annoyed mom. 893 01:20:34,412 --> 01:20:35,664 Oh, dude. 894 01:20:35,664 --> 01:20:40,752 If one or both of these are females, like, that's just even a bigger deal. 895 01:20:40,752 --> 01:20:43,922 - Here's to hoping these are females. - Yes. 896 01:20:48,677 --> 01:20:52,389 This right here, is showing you a picture of the first verified female 897 01:20:52,556 --> 01:20:55,642 north of the river in 43 years but now she's got two kittens behind her. 898 01:20:55,642 --> 01:20:56,685 What are they sniffing? 899 01:20:56,852 --> 01:21:00,438 They're sniffing the scrape of a male panther that's been up here for awhile. 900 01:21:00,438 --> 01:21:04,651 Yeah. So we've got a Florida panther family. 901 01:21:04,651 --> 01:21:07,696 We've got the future. This is a big deal. 902 01:21:09,948 --> 01:21:15,787 (triumphant music throughout) 903 01:22:07,756 --> 01:22:13,053 BETTY: Nature is a great teacher. And the animals, the plants, the water, 904 01:22:13,261 --> 01:22:16,473 they're part of nature's way of teaching you. 905 01:22:23,104 --> 01:22:26,232 The animals, they don't see those lines. 906 01:22:26,399 --> 01:22:30,153 Those divisions that are created. These imaginary lines. 907 01:22:30,320 --> 01:22:32,822 For them, they still see that system connected 908 01:22:33,031 --> 01:22:37,035 and they are trying to get to the areas that they knew. 909 01:22:38,036 --> 01:22:40,914 It's still there. That knowledge is there somewhere. 910 01:22:41,081 --> 01:22:45,377 It's waiting for you to bring it back forward to the present. 911 01:22:50,298 --> 01:22:55,470 There is that possibility to have those corridors throughout the United States. 912 01:23:07,315 --> 01:23:10,026 You guys ready to see my first story in National Geographic magazine? 913 01:23:10,026 --> 01:23:14,990 - GIRLS: Sure. - CARLTON: That's awesome. 914 01:23:15,782 --> 01:23:19,828 How in the world did you take that picture? 915 01:23:20,036 --> 01:23:22,163 CARLTON: That's a camera trap. 916 01:23:33,383 --> 01:23:36,928 That panther, that's a mommy panther with three kittens. 917 01:23:36,928 --> 01:23:41,725 - What's that remind you of? - Mommy and the three of us. 918 01:24:11,129 --> 01:24:15,258 ANNOUNCER: A bill to be entitled an "Act Relating to the Protection of Ecosystems." 919 01:24:15,717 --> 01:24:19,804 Thank you Mr. Speaker. This is the Florida Wildlife Corridor Act. 920 01:24:20,847 --> 01:24:23,975 Have all members voted? Have all members voted? 921 01:24:24,184 --> 01:24:26,061 The clerk will lock the machine and announce the vote. 922 01:24:26,061 --> 01:24:28,354 CLERK: One hundred and fifteen yeas and zero nays, Mr. Speaker. 923 01:24:28,354 --> 01:24:30,231 The bill passes. 924 01:24:30,607 --> 01:24:35,487 (applause and chatter) 925 01:24:39,491 --> 01:24:42,786 CARLTON: The panther is showing us that it's not too late. 926 01:24:42,952 --> 01:24:46,956 It's showing us that these remnants of nature can still be reconnected. 927 01:24:47,957 --> 01:24:50,585 And if we do that, there's no limit 928 01:24:50,752 --> 01:24:55,548 to the scale of life and balance we can bring back across this entire continent. 929 01:24:56,341 --> 01:25:01,179 To see the way this story can unify and bring people together, 930 01:25:02,222 --> 01:25:05,642 I have tremendous hope of what wildlife corridors can do 931 01:25:05,809 --> 01:25:09,229 to bring people together across the entirety of this country.