Short sighted and ignoring the Science that shows that Florida Cougars must be given more room to roam so as to persist into the long term future, USFW seems to be strongly swayed by joint Georgia/Florida Industry interests in denying an Experimental population of our Big Cats introduction into the Okeefenokee National Wildlife Refuge abutting the Georgia/Florida State Line(great Cougar habitat,it is).............Center for Biological Diversity is anything but a quitter and they vow to be back in Court persuing appeals and all avenues to expand "Painter" habitat in the Southeast

Petition denied to reintroduce panthers along Florida-Georgia line

The U.S. Fish and WIldlife Service has denied a petition by environmental groups to reintroduce endangered Florida panthers along the Florida-Georgia line.The petition by the Center for Biological Diversity, Cougar Rewilding Foundation, One More Generation and the Florida Panther Society asks for an "experimental population" of the wildcats in the Okeefenokee National Wildlife Refuge.
An estimated maximum population of 160 panthers is running out of room in Southwest Florida, their last holdout, and a federal plan to save the panther calls for establishing two new populations of at least 240 panthers each.
The decision, outlined in a May 18 letter, will delay the panther's recovery and put it at greater risk of extinction but "will not be the last word," the Center for Biological Diversity said in a statement Friday.