October 27, 2000
Timothy John Mallow

State of Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission Special Purpose Permit #WX97335
United States Fish and Wildlife Service Special Use Permit #90443, St. Johns National Wildlife Refuge
GFC Nuisance Wildlife Trapping License #5088

Necropsy Participants:
Timothy John Mallow (Principal Investigator)
Kathy R. Murray (Observer/Witness)

It has long been accepted that a wide-ranging forest species such as the Florida bobcat (Lynx rufus floridanus) would never be found in the present day on the barrier islands of east central Florida between Port Canaveral Inlet and Melbourne Beach (Mallow 1998). The reason is that these areas are highly developed with little natural land cover of appreciable size that could support the habitat and prey needs of even a single bobcat. An individual bobcat typically requires sufficient forest cover (forested or shrubby cover, wet or dry) on the order of 3000 to 5000 acres in size in order to meet its life history needs (Mallow and Klinkowski 2000, Mallow 2000, Mallow 1998, Griffith and Fendley 1986). Port Canaveral, as well as the communities of Cape Canaveral and Cocoa Beach have undergone robust, aggressive, and progressive development trends since the Apollo days. That is to say, most natural terrestrial habitats and associated species have been eliminated by aggressive seaside and tourist development activities. Because of this, there does not exist any forested habitat blocks or a composite of patchy and disjunct forested habitats that even approach a fraction of the land area requirement that characterize bobcat home ranges (Mallow and Klinkowski 2000, Mallow 2000, Mallow 1998, Griffith and Fendley 1986). Thus, it is no wonder that the developed areas on the barrier islands are no longer considered as functional habitat for any species other than those of migrating birds, sea turtles, or urban types. Unlike wide-ranging carnivores, these types of species are able to make use of an urban landscape that is isolated by natural and manmade water concourses and the Atlantic Ocean.

Be that as it may, the presence of certain wildlife in the least expected places does occur from time to time. This report documents one such case. On Wednesday, October 25, 2000, the carcass of an adult female bobcat had been found in Port Canaveral on State Road 528, 0.2 mile southeast of the entrance into the Port Canaveral municipality (George J. King Blvd.). This location is south of the Port Canaveral inlet. The incident was eventually reported to Coryi Foundation, Inc. and the two-day-old carcass was located and removed on Friday, the 27^th. Necroscopic examination took place the same day.

Upon deposition into Coryi Foundation facilities, B063 was subjected to gross macroscopic examination of both her exterior body and internal organs. The teats and areolae were visually inspected for signs of recent or current kitten rearing. A longitudinal incision was made ventrally from her pelvis to her neck in order to access all of her internal organs. The reproductive tract was inspected for signs of current or historical reproductive events. The stomach was extracted and evacuated to identify the most recently consumed prey types. All other organs were visually inspected for any signs of predisposed biomedical anomalies. The upper left canine was extracted and the apical foramen inspected for closure to determine if the animal was a yearling or adult. The extent and types of injuries induced by the automobile collision were noted. GIS maps created by the St. Johns River Water Management District were used to assist in the evaluation of her presence in the landscape.

B063 sustained severe head trauma as a result of the collision with the vehicle. The skull was severely fractured and the brain extremely damaged. The mandible and maxilla were shattered. The palate and rostrum were also severely damaged. Extensive tissue damage and bleeding was present in the mouth and on the face. Bleeding was also present in the ears. The left femur was shattered and the joint at that hip dislocated. No damage to the organs within the chest or abdominal cavities existed.

Other than the injuries sustained in the collision, her overall physical appearance was nominal without any deleterious biomedical anomalies evident.

The reproductive tract exhibited no signs of current reproductive events. That is to say, no fetuses existed within the reproductive system. The ovaries, oviducts, and uterus were vacant of any signs of gestation. Due to the state of decay of the carcass, the presence of corpora lutea and placental scars could not be sufficiently confirmed, which would show that she had ever produced kittens in her life (Crowe 1975). However, the areolae of her teats did not exhibit any scarring as the result of kitten kneading during suckling. Nor were the teats distended. The contents of her stomach consisted of wild prey items such as raccoon (Procyon lotor) and various species of order Rodentia. The stomach was approximately 80 percent full.

The apical foramen of the canine was closed, indicating she was an adult and therefore, capable of reproduction.

Her weight was approximately 20 pounds.

The Port Canaveral area is largely developed. This development is contiguous with municipalities to the south, specifically the cities of Cape Canaveral and Cocoa Beach. The north side of the inlet is adjacent the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, which is largely undisturbed for a great distance to the north. It is known to possess a great number of bobcats, deer (Odocoileus virginianus), and wild hog (Sus scrofa), as well as species typically found in pine flatwoods, hardwood hammocks, and scrub habitats. However, the south side of the inlet possesses very little natural cover that is considered viable for even a single individual in family Felidae, specifically a species of genre Lynx. There remain small patches of maritime hammock and other native compositions, as well as what could be considered shrub swamp. These communities are largely disjunct and due to development trends in the area, further fragmentation will likely eliminate the remaining blocks of natural habitat. The largest block of undeveloped land on the south side of the inlet (and immediately south of the location of where the bobcat was killed) is the FLUCCS code 3200 series of shrub and brush land bounded by SR 528 to the north and the Banana river to the west. This habitat block consists of early to mid succession flora that supports relatively high densities of the kinds of prey species that bobcats most prefer – various species of rodents and ground foraging birds (Maehr and Brady 1986, Golley et al. 1965). This block is also dominated by exotic flora and exhibits a shrub swamp character as well as the drier shrub and brush. However, it is little more than 0.1 square kilometer in size. Other than the occasional shrubby vegetation that is found along side SR 528, overall cover is extremely limited. The other largest block of habitat is woodland forest to the east and courses all the way to the beach. It is little more than 0.5 square kilometers in size. There exists other smaller patches of forest in the area. However, collectively, the total area of the forested and shrub communities barely exceeds one (1) square kilometer in size – far less than typically required for a single bobcat needs (Mallow and Klinkowski 2000, Mallow 2000, Mallow 1998, Griffith and Fendley 1986).

The reader is cautioned that this report and the conclusions therein are based on a single animal. Thus, what is presented must be evaluated with that fact in mind.

Based on the findings of the necropsy, death was certainly instantaneous and the result of acute catastrophic brain damage.

With regards to reproduction, the fact that the apical foramen of the canine was closed indicates that B063 was capable of reproduction. The apical foramen is the hole that is present in the root of a canine during the first year of life. It is the canal through which the main dental nerve passes between the jaw and tooth. At one year of age in females, the nerve degenerates and the hole closes – tooth tissues literally harden over the hole. This is also the time when females henceforth become sexually mature and are able to reproduce. Thus, B063 was able to produce kittens.

However, it is unlikely that she ever produced any offspring due to the lack of physiological evidence in and on her reproductive organs. She may have been a rogue in the Port Canaveral area. Certainly, she has not produced any progeny in that area in recent times and as such, it is unlikely that any of her offspring (if in fact she ever did bear offspring in her entire life) exist in that area. Because she has likely never given birth, it is equally unlikely that an adult male exists within the Port Canaveral area in question. For if he did exist, then he would have likely easily sought her out and impregnated her, thereby producing offspring, with all the telltale physiological signs present within B063.

Thus, the implied conclusion is that the probability of other bobcats in that area is low. This notion is further supported by the fact that natural cover is far too low and sparse to support the habitat and prey needs of more than one bobcat. However, one must always consider the fact that since she occupied the landscape on the south side of the inlet, then another could possibly exist or exist in the future. But this notion is challenged by the fact that no bobcat tracks or scats had ever been previously documented in the Port Canaveral area south of the inlet, nor Cape Canaveral, in the various ecological surveys conducted over recent years (Mary Jo Barkaszi, ECOES Consulting, Inc., personal communication). I.e., it is an event of rarity.

It is an extremely remote possibility that she was the remnant of a now extinct Cape Canaveral population. However, this scenario is weakly arguable. Since the average life span of a wild bobcat is on the order of seven years, and in light of the persistence of the locale’s development over the last decade or so, it is difficult to realize that a population of any size has existed since 1980.

Another consideration that must be addressed is the possibility that her carcass was ‘planted’ into the Port Canaveral site by an indiscreet individual. However, this notion is dismissed due to the fact that fresh tracks were found in the soil substrate on the north side of SR 528, immediately along the shrubby vegetation. The tracks were ‘pure and true’. That is to say, their outline and apparent "impressionable depth to soil density ratio" were only the result of a living animal that had made the tracks of its own accord as it traveled along the easement of the highway prior to death.

What must also be dismissed is the possibility that a person that had captured her elsewhere released B063 into the area. This notion is dismissed because one merely does not go out into the countryside and easily captures such an aggressive, intelligent, and wary predator. It takes an elaborate array of capture equipment and knowledge to accomplish such a task. Very few individuals in this area possess such resources. But it is a possibility that this could occur. Conversely, she could have escaped from an owner in the area and readily made use of natural prey in her diet. However, captive animals do not always know how to hunt proficiently. Her state of physical health prior to death was satisfactory, thereby indicating she was doing well in the acquisition of prey. Thus, one must question this possibility carefully because all evidence suggests she was truly a wild animal.

It is also possible that she swam across the inlet. It is common knowledge that large carnivores have been known to traverse such waterways in the past. It is also plausible that she did in fact move south from the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station over the State Road 401 bridge. Bobcats have been documented to travel over bridges in this county (T. Mallow, Coryi Foundation data). SR 401 is lined by shrubby vegetation that could afford cover for movement until the bridge was negotiated.

It is unlikely that B063 traversed the SR 401 bridge more than once if such a crossing placed her to the south of the inlet in the first place. Female bobcats simply do not appear to have any inclination for such repetitive exposure upon an open terrace that affords little to no cover for travel (Mallow 2000, 1998). And this last point does challenge the fact that perhaps she never did come into the south of the inlet via the bridge. But assuming she did cross over on the bridge long ago, then having found an abundance of prey south of SR 528, she established that small area as her adult home range. As a gender that requires far less nutritional intake than males, and especially since she had likely never had to provide for growing fetuses or kittens, she could have established a suitable home range that would meet her daily dietary needs with the existing prey base. This is possible if that area is abundant in prey and, advantageously, if she was the sole occupant. The fact that food items that are known to be naturally-derived components of a bobcat diet (Maehr and Brady 1986) were found in her stomach and the existence of an overall satisfactory physical condition suggests that she was surviving sufficiently in the area. This notion is supported by the fact that Port Canaveral is inundated by several hundred feral cats (Sylvestris felis) (personal communication with Claire Ghunde, Central Brevard Humane Society), and that bobcats have been known to prey on feral cats (Wassmer et al. 1988). This non-natural prey base is extremely dense and would help mitigate the need for a typically large home range (Wassmer et al. 1988, Mallow 2000). Therefore, she could have easily made use of a combined and staple diet consisting of feral cats and natural prey to sustain her year round, despite the fact that feral items were not found to exist in her stomach at the time of her death.

Assuming a crossing from the north did occur, there is an implication that perhaps the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station is experiencing a shortage of available territories from time to time. This would prompt an occasional outward dispersal of individuals from the base. But it has to be realized that the inlet is a virtual barrier that is not desirable for any mammalian species to cross; though B063 may have been the exception. Again, this event is rare.

One may never have an answer to the question as to how she got into the south side of the Port Canaveral inlet or if that area was the complete extent of her territory. The only best possible scenario is that she did travel the bridge. But a crossing, whether by walking the bridge or swimming the inlet, is extremely rare and likely not highly repeatable; for the bridge crossing is extremely exposed and forest creatures such as bobcats simply do not care to spend a great deal of time in exposed situations. Likewise, a swim across a wide expanse is neither desirable.

And so, one must now consider the implications this occurrence poses for development trends, port activities, and conservation concerns in the area. It is the professional and experienced opinion of this bobcat researcher that the occurrence of bobcats in the Port Canaveral area south of the inlet is a moot point with regards to any environmental issues in that locale. The presence of a bobcat is rare on that side of the inlet and activities associated with port operations or development will not have any further bearing on crucial population level issues either on the barrier islands or mainland of Brevard County. I would also go as far to say that if a bobcat does cross to the south of the inlet, it also has the capability to travel back to the north if natural resources are not to its liking. To implement capture and relocation measures, if any other bobcats do exist, would be an inefficient use of conservation resources and time. These animals are resilient and quite capable of surviving and moving about the landscape to make use of resources far and wide. It is my experience and the scientific observation of other bobcat researchers that when a territorial animal is removed, another is then free to move in. Thus, capture and relocation would be ongoing and tedious. And the fact that future development in that area will likely displace all remaining natural cover, and in light of the relative lack of size of the present natural cover, the situation is all the more tenuous.

On the other hand, if that tract of 3200 series land on the south side of SR528 and along the river was not to be developed, then it could possibly be expected to experience the occupation by another bobcat in the future (as rare of an event as it is). In this case, since capture and removal is futile to keep the predators out, one might as well make it as favorable as possible for its continued use. Thus, it would be a good ecological goal to remove all exotics and restore the natural floristic composition.

But the truth is, there are other species that require more immediate attention by concerted efforts of conservationists. The species that require priority consideration are those found in the marine environment, not in the terrestrial system. The area is far too developed for restoration in the terrestrial system on any level other than local municipal beautification. However, the marine environment is a critical and immensely ecologically restorable system of paramount importance. Manatees, sea turtles, and other marine species are vulnerable to an array of threats from port activities; the sole parameter of concern being the water quality of the inlet and the continued retaining of beach head natural integrity. Such is where the greatest efforts in conservation will reap the greatest benefit.

Therefore, my recommendation is that environmental efforts focus on the marine system and that the environmental budget of the Port Commission be strongly applied as such

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