Nov 04, 2013 03:03 PM EST By Staff Reporter, UniversityHerald Reporter

A rising number of Panthers have been killed by vehicles in Florida over the last few years, including 13 through this November, the North Carolina news website WRAL.com reported.

Where roadside cleanup crews see death, wildlife experts see a silver lining.

Consider that only a few dozen panthers even existed in southern Florida during the mid-1990s, according to WRAL. The number of cats getting hit by cars is now roughly half the number that was previously alive means the population is growing, according to Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission panther biologist Darrell Land. Even just a decade ago, only a few cats died on the road, according to Land.

Lands said his organization uses vehicle deaths as one way to track the panther population, though he would prefer less violent logic.

"We know that the number of road kills per year tracks pretty well with our (educated guess) of the panther population over the years," Land told the News-Press. "It's not the preferred method, but it's accurate."

Seventeen panthers were killed by a car in 2012 - the most panther-vehicles deaths on record . Sixteen total have died this year, 13 of which have been via a car crash. If the numbers hold, another two or three panthers are projected to die on the road.

The current panther population in southern Florida is estimated to be around 160. The first documented death by vehicle occurred in 1972 near Moore Haven, according to WRAL.

Florida panthers are most often seen in southwest Florida though some have been spotted as far north as Georgia, according to WRAL. To learn more about the Florida panther and its habitat, Floridapanthernet.org.

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