The panther's last stand: only 70 remain, and they're quickly losing their Florida habitat.

You may recognize the Florida panther as the ferocious cat flashing its teeth on pro hockey T-shirts sold in sporting goods stores, or peering from one of the Sunshine State's hottest-selling specialty license plates. Its cash-register-ringing popularity belies an irony: The Florida panther is perhaps the world's most endangered carnivore, with only about 70 surviving in the wild, including the young. Down from the days when a panther scalp brought a $5 bounty from cattlemen tired of the cats killing calves, almost everyone now wants to save the panther. But can they?

Brian Hunt, who hopes the answer is yes, pushes a camera against the plane window to film the haphazard ribbons of tire tracks left by hunters which etch portions of the Big Cypress National Preserve, about an hour west of Miami. Sometimes the tracks pass signs forbidding vehicles to pass. This is the home of the Florida panther. "Wherever you see the standing water, those are tire tracks. See how they just go around and around the cypress stands?" asks Hunt, head of the Fort Lauderdale-based Florida Biodiversity Project.

Hunt hopes his photos will help persuade the National Park Service (NPS) and state Department of Transportation to scrap plans to build three big parking lots off Interstate 75 to give hunters easier access to this wilderness. A decision could come in a few months.

Seven panthers are known to live in Big Cypress, one is a new mother, and another may be pregnant. This is a big deal: Not only are panthers threatened by what is arguably the nation's worst widespread mercury pollution, which contributed to the death of at least one panther, but the cats are having trouble mating. The testes of 90 percent of the males haven't descended into the scrotum. Two females are known to have benign vaginal tumors and haven't bred in nearly seven years, despite being around the males. Easier access "could directly affect the survival of individual Florida panthers," NPS scientists advised in a recent report.

"Panthers are believed to be sensitive to human intrusion," and their decline "has been attributed to the loss of habitat quality due to increasing hunting, off-road vehicles and other back-country use," the report said. In addition, hunting would scare off the hogs and deer that panthers eat.

Hunter Jack Moller is tired of the notion that outdoorsmen are the bad guys. The native Floridian personally has helped save a million acres from the bulldozers of developers. He worked with Everglades grand dame Marjory Stoneman Douglas in preventing a jetport eight times the size of Miami International Airport from being built in the wilds of the Everglades and Big Cypress in the 60s. "If we had not protected Big Cypress, there would not be an argument now about the panther," says Moller. "It would be extinct." The panthers live only in southwestern Florida.

And while humans may not like the tire tracks ribboning Big Cypress, "It doesn't bother the panther," Moller says. The tracks allow fresher grass to sprout, which lures deer. Panthers then eat the deer. "Is it visually aesthetic? No, not necessarily," Moller acknowledges. "But hunting was part of the purpose of Big Cypress, which became the nation's first preserve 20 years ago. Hunting access points were part of the plan from the start, and agreed to by then-Governor Bob Graham," he notes.

Hunt's crusade is the latest of dozens. Proceeds from sales of specialty license plates go toward helping the panther and the also endangered manatee. However, more than half of the $14 million raised reportedly sits in three different government bank accounts or "trusts": the Save Our State Environmental Trust; the Florida Panther Research & Management Trust; and the Florida Communities Trust, each overseen by a different state agency. A few cats in captivity are being bred with Texas cougars, a close relative, to keep the gene pool stronger. Critics call the results "Frankensteins," a sentiment summed up by a local magazine headline: "Why Save the Florida Panther? There's No Such Animal." Government scientists counter that cougars and panthers mated naturally long before the panther became isolated at the tip of Florida.

For those who want to save the panther, it's easy to get discouraged. Panther expert Ken Alvarez served on a few government committees trying to preserve the panther before throwing up his arms and writing a scathing book, Twilight of the Panther, focusing on the bureaucratic red tape and unwillingness of government to take meaningful action. Meanwhile, biologist David Maehr resigned last February as the state's leading panther biologist of eight years because he thought he could do more to help save the panther by working outside the government.

In the end, the endangered cat's fate will likely depend on the goodwill of the orange growers and ranchers in southwestern Florida. They are receiving government overtures of possible tax incentives or cash payments to continue using their lands in ways that allow the panther to exist on their property. The trouble is, of 756 square miles considered prime panther land in Florida, one-quarter has been permitted to grow oranges. And the panthers steer clear of orange groves due to the dearth of cover and food--such as hogs and deer--found there.

Distrustful ranchers fear the Florida Game & Fresh Water Fish Commission is trying to take control of their land with its voluntary measures. Some aren't interested. "The survival of a non-human could never compensate for the loss of human freedom and the degradation of humanity. I won't give up my rights," said rancher Jerry Geraci at a recent town meeting. "You take your ideas, your plans, your proposals for control over our land back where you came from and don't come back." The crowd--mainly ranchers--broke out in loud applause.

Contact: Superintendent Wally Hibbard, Big Cypress, Star Route Box 110, Ochopee, FL 33943/[phone]; Florida Biodiversity Project, 1120 NW 1st Avenue, Fort Lauderdale, FL 33311/ 305)523-9898.