The regulated, scientific program of importation/breeding of the more numerous mountain lions with the sub-species in Florida was going on in 1993-it was not like it was yesterday or last year. It was done to save the Florida sub-species of mountain lion from extinction because incredibly stupid people had exterminated nearly all of them from the Everglades. It was also done in other states for the same reason at the same time. It wasn’t done by “leftists” just to annoy people. They are interbred with the Florida panther now to the point where they ARE part of your natural fauna, managed by your state, just like all the other native wild animals...
If you really want to get rid of an imported, ecosystem damaging animal, you should go after all the pet pythons released into the Everglades by their un-regulated, un-scientific owners over the last few decades-they have not interbred with native snakes-my cousin in Florida says they are encroaching on neighborhoods and decimating the native wildlife at an alarming rate. And I really do want a pair of python boots...
Nobody was "exterminating" them. They were protected since the early 1900s. It was a mongralized species unable to adapt past its evolutionary sell-by date. The new, bigger, meaner species is completely exotic to Florida - right down to its DNA. A product of Ivy League pinheads, anti-growth pols, and NGO greed all exploited sentimentalist cat-ladies and ignoramouses.
It's twice the size of the original. Our ecosystem gains nothing from its existence. They stay mostly on high n dry, drained farmland, not the in the glades, which was how they were sold.
It's comical that you actually think the good enviro-faries and the "state" (lol) are saving something, but, obviously, know nothing whatsoever about the lucrative management contracts, the land grabs and the constant harassment of farmers/ranchers. If I had time I'd tell you about the pay-to-play gate keeping on land deals - where these cats have never even set foot, yet huge sums are collected and passed around. Kinda like a sophisticated 3rd world check point.
The "Florida" panther was and still is a tool... like California salmon and spotted owls. I know this because I've been here through all of it. So was my late friend and FReeper (Glades Guru) Jan Jacobson, who ran the Everglades Institute. These were part of his life's work.
You should probably advocate for Texas wildlife... not Florida.