June 6, 2023 • 14 mins
Maria chats with Nat Geo explorer and photographer Carlton Ward Jr about his breath-taking and informative book PATH OF THE PANTHER. We get a glimpse into the life of the Florida panther and what's being done to save it.
PS The interview was done before the Stanley Cup Finals; the Florida Panthers are currently IN the Stanley Cup Finals!
PS The interview was done before the Stanley Cup Finals; the Florida Panthers are currently IN the Stanley Cup Finals!
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:01):
It's Maria's MutS and Stuff. Whata great idea. On I Heart Radio.
Welcome to Maria's MutS and Stuff.With me today is author and photographer
Carlton Ward, and we're going tochat about his book Path of the Panther.
So Carlton, thank you so verymuch for chatting today and making the
(00:24):
time to talk about this beautiful book. Thank you, Marie. I'm glad
to speak to you today. You'reup in New York, I am,
but people across the country will behearing this, so yes, but I
am in New York City. Solet me ask you, when did you
fall in love with panthers? Didthis start from when you are a kid?
(00:48):
I think I really got interested inpanthers about six years ago as an
extension of my love for wildlife corridors. Okay, I've been fighting for the
protection of a connected green space throughFlorida for more than fifteen years, and
the more I learned about panthers,the more I realized that these animals are
(01:11):
the ultimate symbol, the ultimate ambassador, an actual guardian for protecting and restoring
green space throughout the state and potentiallythroughout this country. Wow, and why
is that? What? Makes themstand out compared to other animals. So
the Florida panther is a puma.It is a remnant of the Eastern cougar
(01:37):
population, and pumas are the widestranging land animal. They historically existed from
here in the Florida evergades up tothe Adirondacks and places close to you in
New York, all the way acrossto California, to the Rockies up into
(01:57):
Canada, and all the way tothe southern tip of South America. In
a single adult male panther has ahome range need of two hundred square miles.
They cover a territory four times thesize of Miami. So the only
way you're going to save d forpanthers is to save a whole fabric of
(02:20):
connected properties working together as one.To be more specific about that, like
Florida, we have amazing state parksand national parks and national wildlife refugees,
state forest but they're all often disconnectedfrom one another and the land in between.
(02:40):
That connecting green space is often acattle ranch or a citrus grove or
a timber farm, another compatible landuse that kind of holds that landscape together.
Those are the places that we're losingto development quickly. In the Florida
Wildlife Quarter project aims to create incentivesand financial opportunity for landowners to keep their
(03:00):
land undeveloped into the future. Right, and that's what the panther needs for
survival. And our panthers, Imean, are they on Are they an
endangered species? They are? Correct, yes, as a subspecies of the
puma. The Florida panther was actuallyone of the first animals on the endangered
(03:21):
species list back in nineteen seventy three. And at the time there were fewer
than twenty panthers in known existence.And that was not just twenty panthers in
Florida, that was twenty panthers eastof the Mississippi River. Wow. And
through the protections of the Endangered SpeciesAct and broader habitat conservation efforts here in
Florida land has been protected. Panthersnumbers have come up to nearly two hundred
(03:46):
today. That's a great step forward. But to be genetically viable and stable
and recover, there needs to bethree or four times as many panthers and
the only way that's going to happenis having access to more protected land and
throughout the Florida Peninsula and more oftheir historic home range throughout Florida and even
beyond into the Eastern United States.Okay, and you feel I mean,
(04:11):
it's a fact that we're on thepath to that because of your work and
your efforts in the Florida and WildlifeCorridor. Correct, we are on a
path to that thanks to many peopleworking for many decades. And I am
thankful that my storytelling with National Geographicand my team A Wild Path and the
Path of the Panther Project has playeda part in helping inspire new legislation in
(04:34):
the Florida Wildlife Corridor Act. Andlawmakers and leaders in the state of Florida
have identified with the Wildlife Corridor asa way to balance our economy and ecology,
sustain our working lands, and theyput their money into it. Right
if the legislator, if the budgetgets signed in the next couple of weeks
(04:55):
from this last legislative session, there'llbe a billion dollars for the twenty twenty
three budget allocated towards conservation aisements andland acquisition in the Florida Wildlife Corridor.
Wow, and does it seem likethat that's going to happen, like hopeful.
Besides being hopeful, you feel likelike, oh, I think it
will most likely happen, and ifso, that'll be accumulated to two billion
(05:17):
dollars of new investment in the FloridaWildife Corridor since the twenty twenty one legislation,
which by the way, passed withunanimous bipartisan support in the Florida Legislature.
Love that. I love hearing whenthings are bipartisan passing. You know,
It's like, it's remarkable how thestory of land and story of place
(05:39):
can bring people together. And Ithink it's a rare opportunity across this country.
Everybody agrees that we need to preservegreen space. And if you make
a plan and a vision like theFlorida Wildlife Corridor, it can happen for
the Appealachian Mountains, it can happenfor the Adirondacks. Envisioning a connected green
space brings all sorts to people togetherto help make it possible. Sure,
(06:01):
And is so, I mean thelack of green space? Is that what's
the biggest threat to panthers. Thebiggest threat is over development and over expansion
of roads into areas that will nolonger be able to sustain an animal like
this. We lose more than thirtyas many as thirty panthers each year to
roadkill Southwest Florida. Oh wow,it's it's a tremendous problem. So the
(06:27):
more roads in development that go in, the smaller and smaller the remaining patches
of habitat become, and the moreconflicts with roads and other challenges. Right,
right now, Florida still has millionsof acres of cattle ranches and timber
farms and orange groves, and thegoal is to keep that green belt connected
and provide a path for the panthersrecovery. Right, well, this could
(06:51):
be a stupid question. Is ourmost panthers in Florida or is the population
arge in other states too? Oris the majority in Florida? Florida has
the only panthers or the only pumasstill in the Eastern United States? Now
(07:13):
there are male There are male pumaswho occasionally show up in places like Tennessee,
potentially the Carolinas. There was onekilled on the road in Connecticut outside
New York City a few years ago. It was born in the Dakotas,
and so the panthers can make greatdistances. The male panthers who are doing
(07:33):
that because they're they're fiercely competitive.They'll defend a territory to the death.
So if you're a male panther bornin South Florida, you're going to set
out north, putting yourself at risk, crossing roads and going on the line
the edges of cities until you cantry to find your own territory. The
tragedy is there are no female panthersin non existence in the eastern United States
(07:56):
still anywhere north of Fort Myers,Florida. Oh really, that's the limiting
that's the limiting factor to their recovery. We need to have land protection and
a sense of coexistence so that wecan welcome panthers back to the historic lands
Central Florida, North Florida, Georgia, Alabama, Carolinas, Virginia. And
(08:18):
once you do that, the maleswill find those females and the animal could
come back. Sure, yeah,I mean we need the females. Nice
to know, we need the females, right, For some it's all about
the females. Any any husband orfather knows that yay curl power, you
(08:39):
know, not to make light ofit. I'm just saying, um,
wow, I mean, that's fascinating. You know your facts, It's just
so fascinating. Thank you. Yeah. And as an as a companion to
this new book, there's a brandnew film called Path of the Panther,
a future length documentary that just startedstreaming this month on Disney Plus and on
(09:01):
Hulu. You can watch it underthe National Geographic title. And as in
the book, one of the maincharacters of the story is a female Florida
panther who is the first one toswam a big river in South Florida and
set up new territory for the firsttime since nineteen seventy three. Wow.
And she is the hope, andshe's had kittens, And there have been
(09:24):
at least three or four other femalepanthers who have crossed that river in the
past five years, and they're startingto get back to that historic home land,
and they need all the help wecan give them to not just protect
land for them, but to helpremove barriers, to help them get back
into the pine woods of central Florida, into the woods and forests of northern
(09:46):
Florida, and help save this wholeland for not just panthers but all the
other wildlife that share that same space. Sure, sure, And what can
I mean someone who's listening right nowto you talk and telling them, you
know, talking about the book andall the facts. What can But they're
not in Florida or but they wantto help? What can people do to
(10:07):
be helpful or to help this cause? I believe that the story of the
Florida panther is universal. It's aboutfinding balance for wild places in any state,
in any country. So please watchthe film. Go to Path of
the Panther dot com. There aregreat calls to action their links to the
film, link to the book.Please help share the story because there's more
(10:28):
people who see this, there're morepeople who become part of the conversation about
protecting wildlife corridors. The sooner we'regoing to grow up movement across this country
to do that same thing. No, that's that's perfect. That's exactly what
we need to you know, toget it's it takes a village, as
they always say. So it's good. It's a place for people to go.
(10:50):
And you know, knowledge is power, So thank you for that website.
Um, what is and not offtopic, but what do you think
is the biggest um uh, notlegend, but misconception about panthers that somebody
might have, like that You've you'vefound over the years since you're you're like
(11:13):
an expert in panthers. So whatdo you think is like a big misconception
that people have. Well, well, it's interesting. I spent some time
at Zoos in the past few yearsphotographing the panthers that are in the collections
there, and it's amazing how manykids come up and say, Mommy,
why isn't the panther black? Interestingbecause the black panther has become such a
(11:37):
popular idea in media. Sure story, Sure the people are expecting the word
panther to be a black animal,right, whereas the panther is a tawny
brown animal that's a mountain lion ora cougar, which is named panther where
it lives here in Florida. Interesting. See, I knew you would have
(11:58):
some nugget like that. Yeah,there's all there's all sorts of fun things
like that. The other thing,it's fun. I'm not I haven't historically
been an ice hockey fan, butthe Florida Panthers are have a chance of
going to the Stanley Cup. Thisyear. So that's right. Maybe the
Florida Panthers are reviving in the wildand on the ice and on the ice.
(12:20):
Yeah, I mean, come on, they beat the Bruins. So
for those who would love hockey,I mean that was a big surprise,
so that this could all be destinyand meant to be, you know,
to help your cause with Path ofthe Panther, and if the Florida Panthers
win, see that it could allbe meant to be. Yeah, little
little glamor of hope. Yeah,the panther, Yeah, help helps rise
(12:43):
up out of the swamps of Floridaand get back into the country. Absolutely.
So I just have to tell you, you know, because I just
I received your book yesterday and aco worker came in and he wouldn't leave
my studio because he was like goingthrough your whole book and and he was
talking. He's like, oh,but look at this, but look at
this picture. Like he was justso engrossed in this book. So you
(13:05):
really, you know, I know, you know that, but you did
a phenomenal job with it. Thephotographs are just stunning, and so thank
you for doing that. Thank you. Yeah, hopefully everyone can check it
out at least watch the film andhopefully you'll see Florida with new eyes and
have some hope that we can actuallycome together from all corners of politics and
ideas to save big things together.Absolutely, no, that's perfect well,
(13:28):
Carlton Ward, thank you for yourtime, Thank you for the book Path
of the Panther dot Com for mylisteners so they can get the book,
see the film and get involved andhope to and help to save the panthers.
So I thank you for doing allthat you do, and you know,
keep fighting the good fight. Ireally appreciate talking to you and learning
(13:50):
from you, so thanks so much. Thank you, Maria, see you
later. Lorrigator
It's Maria's MutS and Stuff. Whata great idea. On I Heart Radio.
Welcome to Maria's MutS and Stuff.With me today is author and photographer
Carlton Ward, and we're going tochat about his book Path of the Panther.
So Carlton, thank you so verymuch for chatting today and making the
(00:24):
time to talk about this beautiful book. Thank you, Marie. I'm glad
to speak to you today. You'reup in New York, I am,
but people across the country will behearing this, so yes, but I
am in New York City. Solet me ask you, when did you
fall in love with panthers? Didthis start from when you are a kid?
(00:48):
I think I really got interested inpanthers about six years ago as an
extension of my love for wildlife corridors. Okay, I've been fighting for the
protection of a connected green space throughFlorida for more than fifteen years, and
the more I learned about panthers,the more I realized that these animals are
(01:11):
the ultimate symbol, the ultimate ambassador, an actual guardian for protecting and restoring
green space throughout the state and potentiallythroughout this country. Wow, and why
is that? What? Makes themstand out compared to other animals. So
the Florida panther is a puma.It is a remnant of the Eastern cougar
(01:37):
population, and pumas are the widestranging land animal. They historically existed from
here in the Florida evergades up tothe Adirondacks and places close to you in
New York, all the way acrossto California, to the Rockies up into
(01:57):
Canada, and all the way tothe southern tip of South America. In
a single adult male panther has ahome range need of two hundred square miles.
They cover a territory four times thesize of Miami. So the only
way you're going to save d forpanthers is to save a whole fabric of
(02:20):
connected properties working together as one.To be more specific about that, like
Florida, we have amazing state parksand national parks and national wildlife refugees,
state forest but they're all often disconnectedfrom one another and the land in between.
(02:40):
That connecting green space is often acattle ranch or a citrus grove or
a timber farm, another compatible landuse that kind of holds that landscape together.
Those are the places that we're losingto development quickly. In the Florida
Wildlife Quarter project aims to create incentivesand financial opportunity for landowners to keep their
(03:00):
land undeveloped into the future. Right, and that's what the panther needs for
survival. And our panthers, Imean, are they on Are they an
endangered species? They are? Correct, yes, as a subspecies of the
puma. The Florida panther was actuallyone of the first animals on the endangered
(03:21):
species list back in nineteen seventy three. And at the time there were fewer
than twenty panthers in known existence.And that was not just twenty panthers in
Florida, that was twenty panthers eastof the Mississippi River. Wow. And
through the protections of the Endangered SpeciesAct and broader habitat conservation efforts here in
Florida land has been protected. Panthersnumbers have come up to nearly two hundred
(03:46):
today. That's a great step forward. But to be genetically viable and stable
and recover, there needs to bethree or four times as many panthers and
the only way that's going to happenis having access to more protected land and
throughout the Florida Peninsula and more oftheir historic home range throughout Florida and even
beyond into the Eastern United States.Okay, and you feel I mean,
(04:11):
it's a fact that we're on thepath to that because of your work and
your efforts in the Florida and WildlifeCorridor. Correct, we are on a
path to that thanks to many peopleworking for many decades. And I am
thankful that my storytelling with National Geographicand my team A Wild Path and the
Path of the Panther Project has playeda part in helping inspire new legislation in
(04:34):
the Florida Wildlife Corridor Act. Andlawmakers and leaders in the state of Florida
have identified with the Wildlife Corridor asa way to balance our economy and ecology,
sustain our working lands, and theyput their money into it. Right
if the legislator, if the budgetgets signed in the next couple of weeks
(04:55):
from this last legislative session, there'llbe a billion dollars for the twenty twenty
three budget allocated towards conservation aisements andland acquisition in the Florida Wildlife Corridor.
Wow, and does it seem likethat that's going to happen, like hopeful.
Besides being hopeful, you feel likelike, oh, I think it
will most likely happen, and ifso, that'll be accumulated to two billion
(05:17):
dollars of new investment in the FloridaWildife Corridor since the twenty twenty one legislation,
which by the way, passed withunanimous bipartisan support in the Florida Legislature.
Love that. I love hearing whenthings are bipartisan passing. You know,
It's like, it's remarkable how thestory of land and story of place
(05:39):
can bring people together. And Ithink it's a rare opportunity across this country.
Everybody agrees that we need to preservegreen space. And if you make
a plan and a vision like theFlorida Wildlife Corridor, it can happen for
the Appealachian Mountains, it can happenfor the Adirondacks. Envisioning a connected green
space brings all sorts to people togetherto help make it possible. Sure,
(06:01):
And is so, I mean thelack of green space? Is that what's
the biggest threat to panthers. Thebiggest threat is over development and over expansion
of roads into areas that will nolonger be able to sustain an animal like
this. We lose more than thirtyas many as thirty panthers each year to
roadkill Southwest Florida. Oh wow,it's it's a tremendous problem. So the
(06:27):
more roads in development that go in, the smaller and smaller the remaining patches
of habitat become, and the moreconflicts with roads and other challenges. Right,
right now, Florida still has millionsof acres of cattle ranches and timber
farms and orange groves, and thegoal is to keep that green belt connected
and provide a path for the panthersrecovery. Right, well, this could
(06:51):
be a stupid question. Is ourmost panthers in Florida or is the population
arge in other states too? Oris the majority in Florida? Florida has
the only panthers or the only pumasstill in the Eastern United States? Now
(07:13):
there are male There are male pumaswho occasionally show up in places like Tennessee,
potentially the Carolinas. There was onekilled on the road in Connecticut outside
New York City a few years ago. It was born in the Dakotas,
and so the panthers can make greatdistances. The male panthers who are doing
(07:33):
that because they're they're fiercely competitive.They'll defend a territory to the death.
So if you're a male panther bornin South Florida, you're going to set
out north, putting yourself at risk, crossing roads and going on the line
the edges of cities until you cantry to find your own territory. The
tragedy is there are no female panthersin non existence in the eastern United States
(07:56):
still anywhere north of Fort Myers,Florida. Oh really, that's the limiting
that's the limiting factor to their recovery. We need to have land protection and
a sense of coexistence so that wecan welcome panthers back to the historic lands
Central Florida, North Florida, Georgia, Alabama, Carolinas, Virginia. And
(08:18):
once you do that, the maleswill find those females and the animal could
come back. Sure, yeah,I mean we need the females. Nice
to know, we need the females, right, For some it's all about
the females. Any any husband orfather knows that yay curl power, you
(08:39):
know, not to make light ofit. I'm just saying, um,
wow, I mean, that's fascinating. You know your facts, It's just
so fascinating. Thank you. Yeah. And as an as a companion to
this new book, there's a brandnew film called Path of the Panther,
a future length documentary that just startedstreaming this month on Disney Plus and on
(09:01):
Hulu. You can watch it underthe National Geographic title. And as in
the book, one of the maincharacters of the story is a female Florida
panther who is the first one toswam a big river in South Florida and
set up new territory for the firsttime since nineteen seventy three. Wow.
And she is the hope, andshe's had kittens, And there have been
(09:24):
at least three or four other femalepanthers who have crossed that river in the
past five years, and they're startingto get back to that historic home land,
and they need all the help wecan give them to not just protect
land for them, but to helpremove barriers, to help them get back
into the pine woods of central Florida, into the woods and forests of northern
(09:46):
Florida, and help save this wholeland for not just panthers but all the
other wildlife that share that same space. Sure, sure, And what can
I mean someone who's listening right nowto you talk and telling them, you
know, talking about the book andall the facts. What can But they're
not in Florida or but they wantto help? What can people do to
(10:07):
be helpful or to help this cause? I believe that the story of the
Florida panther is universal. It's aboutfinding balance for wild places in any state,
in any country. So please watchthe film. Go to Path of
the Panther dot com. There aregreat calls to action their links to the
film, link to the book.Please help share the story because there's more
(10:28):
people who see this, there're morepeople who become part of the conversation about
protecting wildlife corridors. The sooner we'regoing to grow up movement across this country
to do that same thing. No, that's that's perfect. That's exactly what
we need to you know, toget it's it takes a village, as
they always say. So it's good. It's a place for people to go.
(10:50):
And you know, knowledge is power, So thank you for that website.
Um, what is and not offtopic, but what do you think
is the biggest um uh, notlegend, but misconception about panthers that somebody
might have, like that You've you'vefound over the years since you're you're like
(11:13):
an expert in panthers. So whatdo you think is like a big misconception
that people have. Well, well, it's interesting. I spent some time
at Zoos in the past few yearsphotographing the panthers that are in the collections
there, and it's amazing how manykids come up and say, Mommy,
why isn't the panther black? Interestingbecause the black panther has become such a
(11:37):
popular idea in media. Sure story, Sure the people are expecting the word
panther to be a black animal,right, whereas the panther is a tawny
brown animal that's a mountain lion ora cougar, which is named panther where
it lives here in Florida. Interesting. See, I knew you would have
(11:58):
some nugget like that. Yeah,there's all there's all sorts of fun things
like that. The other thing,it's fun. I'm not I haven't historically
been an ice hockey fan, butthe Florida Panthers are have a chance of
going to the Stanley Cup. Thisyear. So that's right. Maybe the
Florida Panthers are reviving in the wildand on the ice and on the ice.
(12:20):
Yeah, I mean, come on, they beat the Bruins. So
for those who would love hockey,I mean that was a big surprise,
so that this could all be destinyand meant to be, you know,
to help your cause with Path ofthe Panther, and if the Florida Panthers
win, see that it could allbe meant to be. Yeah, little
little glamor of hope. Yeah,the panther, Yeah, help helps rise
(12:43):
up out of the swamps of Floridaand get back into the country. Absolutely.
So I just have to tell you, you know, because I just
I received your book yesterday and aco worker came in and he wouldn't leave
my studio because he was like goingthrough your whole book and and he was
talking. He's like, oh,but look at this, but look at
this picture. Like he was justso engrossed in this book. So you
(13:05):
really, you know, I know, you know that, but you did
a phenomenal job with it. Thephotographs are just stunning, and so thank
you for doing that. Thank you. Yeah, hopefully everyone can check it
out at least watch the film andhopefully you'll see Florida with new eyes and
have some hope that we can actuallycome together from all corners of politics and
ideas to save big things together.Absolutely, no, that's perfect well,
(13:28):
Carlton Ward, thank you for yourtime, Thank you for the book Path
of the Panther dot Com for mylisteners so they can get the book,
see the film and get involved andhope to and help to save the panthers.
So I thank you for doing allthat you do, and you know,
keep fighting the good fight. Ireally appreciate talking to you and learning
(13:50):
from you, so thanks so much. Thank you, Maria, see you
later. Lorrigator
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