Cat Tale
The Wild, Weird Battle to Save the Florida Panther
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- £12.99
Publisher Description
A Garden & Gun Best Book of 2020
“Witty and passionate.” —Lauren Groff
“Craig Pittman has a remarkable talent for telling stories set in the Sunshine State that never fail to fascinate and entertain.”—Gilbert King
“The definitive book on one of America’s least understood apex predators. The story of how Florida’s panthers were saved from extinction is one that both deserves and needs to be told.” —Dane Huckelbridge
The captivating tale of the Florida panther, its survival and rescue from extinction
With novelistic detail and an eye for the absurd, Craig Pittman recounts the extraordinary story of the people who brought the panther back from the brink of extinction, the ones who nearly pushed the species over the edge, and the cats that were caught in the middle. This being Florida, there's more than a little weirdness, too.
An engrossing narrative of wry humor, sharp writing and exhaustive reportage, Cat Tale shows what it takes to bring one species back and what unexpected costs such a decision brings.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Asking how Florida panthers "manage to persist when the other big cats" of North America have seen their numbers sharply decline, journalist Pittman (Oh, Florida!) examines in his insightful volume how this population initially declined, and then came back. Having written about Florida panthers for the Tampa Bay Times for more than two decades, Pittman introduces some of the figures pivotal to saving them. These include West Texas native Roy McBride, an expert wildlife tracker once employed by ranchers to hunt large predators, who shifted focus mid-career to become a conservation advocate instead. Pittman skillfully captures small details suggesting character, such as how McBride's "battered white Stetson" complements his "strong Western twang." While celebrating conservation advocates, Pittman criticizes how real-estate developers eliminated acres of Florida wilderness, sometime without trying to "get permits before they started... because the fines they incurred cost them less than delaying," destroying habitats where panthers used to roam freely. With clarity, insight, and heartfelt concern, Pittman effectively sheds light on conservation efforts in Florida for its official state animal.
