Balancing carnivore conservation and sustainable hunting of a key prey species: a case study on the Florida panther and white-tailed deer

1. Large carnivore restoration programs are often promoted as capable of providing ecosystem services. However, these programs rarely measure effects of successful restoration on other economically and ecologically important species. In South Florida, while the endangered Florida panther (Puma concolor coryi) population has increased in recent years due to conservation efforts, the population of its main prey, the white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus), has declined in some regions. The extent to which panther predation has affected deer populations has been difficult to assess because several other factors have changed during this period, including hydrology and hunting regulations.
2. We collected known-fate survival data on 241 GPS-collared adult deer (156 females and 85 males) from 2015 to 2018 in the Florida Panther National Wildlife Refuge and the Big Cypress National Preserve in Florida, USA, to assess effects of panther predation on the deer population, while also evaluating...