Florida Panther, Red Wolf, Indigo Snake—can Alabama bring them back?

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According to the latest USDA figures, feral hogs in Alabama cause an estimated $50 million in damage to our state’s crops, livestock, native wildlife and cultural and historic resources.

The problem is not going away. In 1982, wild hogs had taken up residence in about a third of Alabama’s counties. By 2020, they were found in all 67 counties.

How can we address this growing problem? 

One possible answer is bringing back apex predators, animals at the top of the food chain such as the Florida panther and red wolf.

Unfortunately, those two charismatic creatures have not been seen in Alabama for decades.

In our first and second stories about animals that no longer live in Alabama, we featured ravens and elk.

For our third and final installment, we take a look at three apex predators that once lived here in Alabama — the Florida panther, red wolf and indigo snake and ask the question: Can we bring them back?

How did we lose so many of Alabama’s predators?

Where did all of Alabama’s big predators go? While a tiny population survives on the coast of North Carolina, the last red wolf was identified in Alabama as far back as 1917. Florida panthers, also known as cougars and mountain lions, used to roam the entire Southeast. The last official confirmation of the Florida panther in Alabama was in the 1940s when one was shot in St. Clair County.

Alabama’s last remaining native wild cat is the bobcat, the animal most commonly mistaken for a panther. Despite common sightings of the reclusive bobcat, it is not unusual to hear an experienced hunter describe seeing the much larger cougar on their expeditions. These are likely western cougars that have escaped captivity.

Similar to ravens, the red wolf and Florida panther were extirpated from Alabama primarily because of hunting and habitat loss.

According to a 2017 story written by nature writer Mark Bailey in Alabama Wildlife Federation Magazine, we nearly lost the Florida panther and white-tailed deer simultaneously in the early to mid-1900s because we disrupted their predator-prey relationship by over-harvesting them.

An excerpt from the article:

“For millennia, panther and white-tailed deer populations engaged in a predator-prey relationship that mutually ensured their stability and health. We came close to losing them both, but starting in the early to mid-twentieth century, efforts of ADCNR and private conservation organizations, including AWF, eventually brought the deer back to high numbers statewide. 

But without a natural predator, some deer populations exist today in unhealthy abundance, often to the detriment of delicate natural communities and palatable plants such as turk’s-cap lilies and trilliums.”  ~ Alabama Wildlife Magazine, Summer 2017

Why panthers + wolves matter in Alabama

Why should we care about bringing back seemingly dangerous predators like panthers and wolves?

Ben Prater, the Southeast Director at Defenders of Wildlife, told us restoring apex predators would help repair local ecosystems and allow for more normal food web dynamics.

“Red wolves help to support ground nesting birds, because they feed on nest predators. Panthers and wolves both can take out wild pigs, nutria and other nuisance non-native species which can also benefit crops and forests. They really get our ecosystems back to better function and form.”

Ben Prater, Southeast Director, Defenders of Wildlife

Can red wolves and Florida panthers be reintroduced in Alabama?

Today, despite heroic efforts, the Red Wolves and Florida Panthers are barely holding on. 

In 2023, thanks to the Southern Environmental Law Center, Defenders of Wildlife, the Red Wolf Coalition and others, a settlement was forged with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service that will hopefully save the red wolf from extinction.

The agreement ensures the wildlife agency will recommit to the conservation and recovery of the world’s only wild red wolf population in Eastern North Carolina, which had dropped to as low as seven known wild red wolves a couple of years ago. 

Can Alabama help the red wolf? In 2019, the Center for Biological Diversity released the results of a study identifying the Talladega National Forest as a possible re-introduction site, even though the current number of wolves in the wild is so low it is not an option.

R. Scot Duncan, author of Southern Wonder: Alabama’s Surprising Biodiversity added:

“Black bears have reintroduced themselves to the Talladega Mountains. If bears can thrive there, then red wolves and panthers could too. 

In fact, a hunter shot a Florida panther near LaGrange, GA in 2008 when he thought it was an escaped animal. This was a proof of concept that Florida panthers can migrate into Alabama and beyond on their own, if we reconnect natural areas in our landscape.” 

Survival chances for the Florida panther are improving, especially when you consider that in the 1970s there were only 20-30 left in the wild. Currently those numbers have increased to over 200 in its last remaining stronghold within the Everglades National Park and Big Cypress National Preserve.

Is the Florida panther an option for re-introduction in Alabama? Not at the present time.

“There’s no Florida panther store where we could go pick them up. There’s no repository where we could retrieve them and stock them here. They’re simply not a stable population to draw them from.”

Marianne Gauldin, Conservation Outreach Coordinator, Alabama Wildlife and Freshwater Fisheries Division

One apex predator Alabama is bringing back—the indigo snake

The State of Alabama has been working on the recovery of one prominent apex predator, the non-venomous Eastern indigo snake. 

It was last seen in the wild 70 years ago. But, for the past 15 years, the Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources has released 284 snakes, including 40 this year in the Conecuh National Forest in South Alabama. There is evidence the snake is breeding, which is a hopeful sign.

The longest native serpent in the U.S., the Eastern indigo snake preys on small mammals and other snakes, including cottonmouths and copperheads. Their historic range includes southwestern South Carolina, southern Georgia, almost all of Florida, south Alabama and a small section of Mississippi.

The disappearance of the Eastern indigo snake in Alabama occurred at the same time fire-dependent longleaf forests nearly vanished from the state’s landscape in the 1940s-50s due to massive logging.

What’s next in Alabama

What is the key to bringing back animals long gone from our state’s landscape?

The Nature Conservancy in Alabama summed it up best in their recently released list ‘Goals for Alabama’s Lands’ calling on the state to protect and connect ecologically significant lands to safeguard habitat, wildlife corridors and biodiversity.

“These stories identify the challenges that we have with economic growth across our state over landscapes that were once all connected. 

The key to restoring these species and healthy ecosystems that they rely on is reconnecting the landscapes across Alabama that are important for wildlife to be able to move, whether you’re talking about ravens, elk or the long lost panther. 

Each of those species has to have the connected landscapes that once existed across Alabama.” 

Mitch Reid, Director, The Nature Conservancy in Alabama

What do you think about bringing back ravens, elk, red wolves, Florida panthers and Eastern indigo snakes to Alabama? Let us know by tagging The Bama Buzz on Instagram, X, Facebook + LinkedIn.

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