A female panther and her two kittens were released back into the wild in Collier County, Florida, on Tuesday, April 10, after the mother was nursed back to health after being hit by a car.
The mother suffered a broken leg in the accident in December and needed surgery. The panther had given birth three kittens – one female and two males – the previous June, and biologists set up cameras to locate them after the accident. They found and captured the two male kittens, but they were not able to locate the female kitten. The mother and two kittens were reunited in March after the mother’s leg had healed enough.
The same mother panther was rescued in 2013 after she was hit by a car, and she gave birth to three litters of kittens in the time between the two accidents.
It’s the first time the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission has rescued, rehabilitated and released a family of panthers. Credit: Carlton Ward Jr. in partnership with FWC via Storyful
