TAMPA, Fla. — ZooTampa at Lowry Park and the fStop Foundation have reached a three-year milestone in their collaboration to protect the endangered Florida panther. The initiative uses a network of trail cameras to gather wildlife data within the Lake Wales Ridge State Forest in Polk County.
The monitoring data is used to guide the planning of new roads, buildings, and wildlife crossings. The camera deployment currently supports work on Florida’s first wildlife overpass, located over Interstate 4 near Lakeland.
Wildlife officials estimate that between 120 and 230 Florida panthers remain in the wild. In 2024, state wildlife officials documented 36 Florida panther deaths, which marked the highest annual toll for the species since 2016. Vehicle strikes have caused 11 panther deaths so far in 2025.
Based in Plantation, the fStop Foundation is a nonprofit organization focused on raising awareness of wildlife conservation in Florida. The organization supports conservation efforts by operating more than 160 cameras deployed throughout the state and the broader wildlife corridor.
Construction of the wildlife overpass over Interstate 4 near Lakeland is scheduled to open in 2027.
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