Ralph Arwood Photography
FP-159
The FWC team collared FP-159 on January 20, 2008. He was estimated to be 5-6 years old, and weighed 140 lbs. He was missing the fifth digit on his left front paw, from a traumatic injury. The missing digit made it possible to identify his tracks. At that time, FP-159 was the dominate male at Corkscrew.
Unfortunately his GPS collar only worked for three months.
On December 14, 2009 FP-159 was treed in Flint Pen Strand. The failed GPS collar he was wearing identified him. Unfortunately he was about 60 feet high in a pine tree. Capturing a large male from that height posed unnecessary risks so the FWC team decided not to capture him in that tree. After he came down on his own the dogs were put on his trail and soon re-treed him. Again, he climbed very high, making for an unsafe capture. After a third attempt met with the same results they decided to abandon the pursuit of FP-159.
Climbing tall trees seems to be something that panthers learn very quickly. FP-162, one of the Big Cypress panthers is famous for only climbing tall trees.
FP-159 remained the dominate male at Corkscrew until March of 2009 when UCFP-134 took over the territory. FWC cameras show that FP-159 moved to the area west of Corkscrew and south of the Regional Southwest Airport. He was only photographed at Corkscrew on three occasions after March 2009.
After the death of UCFP-134 in December of 2009, FP-159 re-claimed Corkscrew as his territory. His photograph on March, 10 2010 showed that he was now blind in his right eye.
For a few months FP-159 only had to contend with several dispersing male panthers passing through his territory, but in July of 2010 Lefty show up. Over the next several months FP-159 and Lefty were often photographed marking the territory.
12-06-2010
The last photographs of FP-159 at Corkscrew were on December 10, 2010. His non functioning GPS collar had fallen off sometime after December 6, 2010.
FP-159 was re-captured by the FWC team on February 1, 2012. He was found to have a fresh injury on his left front paw with most of his middle digit missing.
With a functioning collar, the FWC team could again define FP-159’s teritory.
FP-159 Lifetime home range. Courtesy Dave Onorato and FWC.
On April 27, 2015 FP-159 was found dead, floating in a canal north of Corkscrew Road. His body had been partially consumed by an alligator. The cause of death could not be determined at that time.