As busyas Santa’selvesToday will be the busiestday of the year for theUSPS. Page 3A

Published since 1884Copyright 2016

Live Doppler radarand weather updatesat news-press.com

$1.50 Retail

MONDAY, DECEMBER 19, 2016 | SERVING CAPE CORAL, FORT MYERS, LEHIGH, ESTERO AND BONITA | NEWS-PRESS.COM

Business » 13AFrom the north » 2A

Causes » 1D

Lottery » 4ANation » 1B

Obituaries » 10A

Views » 15ASports » 1C

Weather » 8C

HIGH 88LOW 68

MONDAY, DECEMBER 19, 2016 | SERVING CAPE CORAL, FORT MYERS, LEHIGH, ESTERO AND BONITA | NEWS-PRESS.COM

Mark Cunningham thought it was a good idea to turn off the JimmyBuffett music.

There was so much else going on in the examination room: sharpmedical instruments, two other veterinarians, a newspaper reporter,a photographer and one of the most endangered mammals on theplanet. And Cunningham needed to focus.

The Florida panther carcass lay motionless, but its mere presenceput the team’s careful choreography in motion.

They ran a tape measure around its neck, extended the claws to reveal frayed tips andused the scientific version of an apple corer to extract a blood-stained tooth.

“We’re trying to get as much data from every panther we get,” said Cunningham, whopredicts he’s performed between 250 and 300 necropsies since 1993.

Protecting Florida’s wildlife Part two of a two-part series

ANDREW WEST / THE NEWS-PRESS

Mark Cunningham, a wildlife veterinarian for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, prepares to perform a necropsyin Gainesville on a male panther killed by a motor vehicle in Golden Gate.

A closer lookNecropsy gives scientists hands-on view of rare mammal

BEN BRASCH SPECIAL TO THE NEWS-PRESS

See Necropsy, Page 6A

Counting bears is important, but never easy. Page 8A

Petition drives are in full swing. Law-suits have been filed. Members of Con-gress have pleaded. Voters have emailedelectors.

All asking the same thing: Either de-lay the vote or vote for someone otherthan Donald Trump.

Despite the efforts of those still pro-testing the outcome of the Nov. 8 presi-dential election, and despite concernsabout the possibility that Russia hackedthe election, it looks as if the 538 electorsin the Electoral College will vote today asscheduled.

Except for a few renegades, electorsin each state will most likely performtheir sworn duty and vote for the candi-date who got the most votes in their re-spective states.

You won’t find any faithless electorsin Florida when the group of 29 descendson the capital city. In the third-largeststate in the nation, it’s illegal to vote for acandidate other than the one pledged, orto not vote at all.

Florida’s electors are scheduled tovote at 2 p.m. today in the newly remod-eled Senate Chambers in the FloridaCapitol. Secretary of State Ken Detznerwill preside over the vote. The event isnot open to the public. Only those whohave been granted credentials — guestsof the electors and members of themedia — can attend.

While electors cast their ballots forTrump and Vice President-elect MikePence, protesters will be outside theCapitol expressing their outrage, em-boldened by the fact that Hillary Clinton

Election 2016

Electors readyto cast votesin TallahasseeJEFFREY SCHWEERSUSA TODAY NETWORK - FLORIDA

See Electors, Page 5A

Find videos, photos and more online at news-press.com» Video: Watch a panther, a bear, a bobcat and a turkey family take selfies as they are photographed with a camera trap.» Full Culligan City of Palms basketball tournament coverage, including live results.» Plus, find live weather conditions, photo galleries, interactives, reader polls and more.

Appliances &Electronics

est. 1954 Build Your OwnPackage Deal!Purchase or more kitchenappliances and get contractor

discounts!

1.8 cu.ft. 1,000wover-range microwave

36” 25 cu.ft.Side by SideRefrigerator

RS25J500DSR

ME18H704SFS

NE59J7630SS

Convection

DW80J3020US

US 41 FORT MYERS5216 S. Cleveland Ave.

239.275.5555

BONITA SPRINGS3251 Woods Edge Pkwy.

239.495.1970

NAPLES NEAPOLITAN782 Neapolitan Way

239.261.8158

PORT CHARLOTTE1700 Tamiami Trail

941.624.5555

MARCO ISLAND816 Bald Eagle Dr.

239.394.1983

CAPE CORAL2134 Del Prado Blvd.

239.458.8550

RIVER DISTRICT FT. MYERS1651 Fowler St.

239.334.11217 SWFL Showrooms

REBATESALE

$2,023AFTER $200

MAIL-IN REBATEMSRP: $3,599

Voted Best Place to Buy!

123 First PlaceReader’s Choice Awards

WeServiceWhatWe Sell!Outstanding Customer

Service!

Professional Set up& Installation!

Low Price Guarantee!

billsmith.com

CALL US FOR A FREE SHOP AT HOME.

Any Order Over $1,000

$100 OFF

Not Valid on Previous Orders or Other Offers.

Expires 1/31/2017

Happy

Holidays

FROM OUR

FAMILY

TO YOURS!

239.939.538810996 Metro Parkway, Fort Myers

www.MetroBlindsFL.com

Culligan City ofPalms Classicrolls into day 3Slam dunks and morefrom the court. Sports

6A » MONDAY, DECEMBER 19, 2016 » THE NEWS-PRESS E1

That’s about twice the number ofpanthers alive today, according tosome estimates.

Countless hours of science and mil-lions of taxpayer dollars have beenspent rehabilitating and growing thepanther population.

And still before Cunningham laythe lifeless, uncollared Florida pan-ther No. 272, a 99.2-pound male be-tween 14 and 16 months old, on a cold,metal table.

“He was obviously hit by a car,”Cunningham said.

A furless patch on the top of its headhelps tell the tale, and multiple skulland jaw fractures confirm, but wherethe animal was found is the best cluebiologists have to determine whatkilled the cat.

The panther’s warm, limp body wasfound along Golden Gate BoulevardWest in front of a $242,000 home 1,500feet away from Collier Boulevard onMarch 25.

By May, two other panthers hadbeen found dead on Golden Gate Bou-levard.

Those three cats are a part of thelarger story: Florida has had two con-secutive record years for pantherdeaths.

Thirty of the 41 dead panthers in2015 were killed on Florida’s roads. Atotal of 42 deaths have been document-ed in 2016 by the Florida Fish and Wild-life Conservation Commissionthrough Thursday, with 34 of thosedeaths being road kills.

The bloody-gloved Cunninghamsaid some panthers die hurling them-selves into the side of a vehicle.

“A lot of times they’re boundingacross the road full speed. Usuallycoming up to the road they sense thatit’s dangerous and they pick the wrongtime to just bolt across,” he said.“Probably more experienced pantherswould pick and choose when to crosswhen there’s less traffic.”

He pointed out the frayed tips ofthat cat’s claws, thick as Jolly Ranch-ers.

“It happens probably upon impactwith the vehicle on pavement,” he said.

Aside from roads, another issuefacing panthers is feline leukemia,Cunningham said. The potentially le-thal virus behind the disease comesfrom domestic cats and can spreadthrough the panther population whenthe males bloody each other in fights.

In the panther’s stomach, Cunning-ham found fur and small bones indica-tive of what could be a house cat,which he said is common in panthersfound near residential areas like in ru-ral Collier County.

“That’s where we see it most often,Golden Gate Estates,” he said.

The veins on his arms popped as hesawed through the ribs to reveal theanimal’s gut. The metallic bouquet offresh, currant-colored blood filled theroom.

“It’s pretty stressful becausethere’s a lot riding on what we do,” hesaid before taking a breath and thumb-ing through the animal’s intestines.“But it’s rewarding.”

Cunningham remembers writing areport in fifth grade about the Floridapanther. He became a full-time pan-ther veterinarian about a decade and

half later in 2001.“I wish I could do it more. I’ve got

three toddlers, so I can’t get out in thefield like I used to,” the gray-hairedscientist said. In his career, he esti-mates he’s been on 100 to 150 live catcaptures.

Cunningham was based in Naples,the heart of panther population, andknew the bloodlines of some panthers.That’s harder to do with five or six orseven times the population.

“Back when there was 30 panthers,they captured virtually every one ofthem, so a larger proportion of the pop-ulation was handled back then, andthat makes a pedigree family treemuch easier to do,” he said.

A larger population, he said, comeswith an unfortunate positive indicatorof recovery — more dead panthers.

“We think, for the most part, that’sreflecting a growing panther popula-tion,” he said.

From the necropsy, scientists sendsamples across the world to others in-

terested in looking at the few Floridapanthers.

Texas A&M University gets a partof the panther’s tongue to help its re-search into parasites in endangeredanimals.

“There’s other researchers that col-laborate with us for different studiesthat they’re doing whether it’s the ecol-ogy of some parasite in the wild, andwe’ll collect samples from panthers,”Cunningham said. “So we try to get asmuch information, samples and dataas we can from each panther that wehandle this way.”

As someone who has dedicated dec-ades to this animal, Cunningham stillhas trouble describing what they needto survive.

“We need to improve the quality ofhabitat on some of our public lands,provide incentives for landowners tomaintain habitat for panthers, havingunderpasses to prevent highway mor-tality and corridors between availablehabitat is important,” he said.

It’s a thrill for scientists to accessan endangered animal.

“It’s a flagship species. It does at-tract attention. We enjoy what we’redoing. It’s not the attention we’re look-ing for; we just enjoy working for thisspecies,” Cunningham said. “The thingthat I really like about the panther isthat it’s our poster species for thethreats to wildlife: It’s an endangeredspecies, it’s affected by environmentalcontaminants, there’s inbreeding,there’s infectious diseases beingtransmitted from domestic animals,so there’s a lot of factors that come to-gether to threaten this species, so it’srewarding to work on these problemsand hopefully solve some of them andhelp with their recovery.”

PHOTOS BY ANDREW WEST / THE NEWS-PRES

“We’re trying to get as much data from every panther we get,” said wildlife veterinarian Mark Cunningham, who predicts he’s performed between 250 and 300 necropsies since 1993.

NecropsyContinued from Page 1A

Biological material is taken from a deadmale panther during a necropsy inGainesville.

Protecting Florida’s wildlife