Panther hit, killed near Orlando

A Florida panther was hit and killed by a vehicle in the Orlando area Tuesday.

This is the 11th overall death documented this year by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, the state agency charged with protecting endangered and threatened species.

The Florida panther is endangered, and biologists say there are between 120 and 230 big cats living mostly south of Lake Okeechobee and the Caloosahatchee River.

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This panther was a 3-year-old that did not have a tracking collar and represents the eighth road kill of 2017. The other listed causes of death include intraspecific aggression (panthers killing other panthers) and unknown.

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Panthers are the official state animal and were thought to number only 25 to 30 in the 1990s, before biologists introduced several female Texas cougars to regenerate the gene pool.

Connect with this reporter: Chad Gillis on Twitter.