FLORIDA PANTHER NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE, Fla. - Biologist Larry Richardson waxes philosophical about the Florida panther, equating its protection to the overall need to maintain nature in one of the fastest growing states in the nation.

Among the most endangered species on the planet, the Florida panther may soon become a novelty seen only in captivity. The big cats once roamed by the thousands throughout the Southeastern U.S., but as development encroaches on their only remaining habitat in southwest Florida, extinction may be certain. It's the last of the puma population east of the Mississippi River.

"The way we're building, we're going to push the panthers out. They're going to lose. My big concern is the panther will become a zoo relic," said Richardson, of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Scientists estimate there are up to 100 panthers in Florida, up from nearly 30 two decades ago, most roaming on about 2.5 million acres in the Florida Panther National Wildlife Refuge, Big Cypress National Preserve, Everglades National Park and several surrounding state preserves. Scientists are now seeing more human-panther encounters and livestock kills as urban sprawl pushes further into their habitat.

But scientists say the population increase is misleading and long-term prospects aren't good for the panther. Richardson and others are convinced their years of work may be in vain as development eats up more of their remaining habitat.

"If we build out even half the potential of what the state says we can, forget about the panthers," he said. "And if we don't care, then eventually away goes our panthers. But this is also where our ground water recharges. This is where our clean air is made. It's not just about panthers."

As with all dilemmas that pit man against nature, there is an alternate reality, a fear that by protecting the panthers, people are put at risk.

"I personally want humans to stay on top of the food chain," said Barbara Jean Powell, of the Everglades Coordinating Council, an umbrella group of sportsmen associations that strongly supports private property rights.

Wildlife officials recently held a town hall meeting in Collier County near Naples, prime panther country and a development gold mine, to educate people about living among predators, including trimming scrub from property to remove food sources and hiding spots.

It also means being wary at dusk and dawn when the big cats typically feed even though there has never been a documented attack on a human in Florida.

"It's an assault on rural America to say, 'Don't let your kids outside at night,'" Powell said. "It's got no place being here. It's a dangerous animal."

Schoolteacher Theresa Ryan had her own personal close encounter. She had just finished mowing her boyfriend's yard in late October in rural southwest Florida, sat down at a picnic table and was removing her shoes when she heard breathing over her shoulder.

"I turned around and there was a panther 15 feet away. We were face to face," Ryan said. She flailed her arms and screamed to scare the cat as one is supposed to do when confronted by a panther.

"It just sauntered away. No hurry. It was never afraid," Ryan said. "We don't need them here. This animal does not need to be protected anymore."

For Richardson, it's folks like Powell and Ryan that make his job more difficult.

"I should have been a sociologist because the problems that we have are with people, not panthers," he mused.

By the 1950s, the panther had been hunted to near extinction. The state soon made it illegal to kill them, and the cats later became protected under the 1973 Endangered Species Act.

They remain federally protected, but their habitat is fast becoming dissected by roads and housing developments as agricultural land is sold off for huge profits. In 2004, there were just two documented panther attacks on livestock. This year, there have been six, and 10 panthers have been killed on highways by vehicles.

"It's death by a thousand cuts," said Elizabeth Fleming with Defenders of Wildlife. "The Endangered Species Act wasn't set up to stop development, but the panther has extremely large territorial requirements. If that area becomes suburbanized, it doesn't take much to see that there won't be anymore panthers."

Fleming believes the state and federal governments aren't doing enough to protect panther habitat from urban sprawl, that more land needs to be set aside and more money needs to be spent on education.

Richardson agrees but says funds just aren't available.

"We're under an administration right now that has been very lean toward the Fish and Wildlife Service," he said, adding that the agency's 2008 budget could be cut by 20 percent.

"If politics is what dictates what's right and wrong, we might as well all just go home and give up," he said with frustration.

Fleming agrees with Richardson that people, not panthers, are the problem.

"This is prime panther habitat, and so there's a panther going about its business and finds a cat or a dog or a goat and it takes the opportunity to take easy prey," she said. "I don't fault the panther for doing what a panther does. People need to be aware that they are a naturally occurring part of the landscape. We also have bears and alligators - that's all part of living here."

Darrell Land, lead panther biologist for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, is already calling the panther a "relic cat."

"We've hit the slippery slope and we're closing in on the bottom," Land said.

He noted that while a panther attack on a human is less likely than being struck lightning, it could happen. But he expressed frustration with the public's overreaction to the potential threat.

"Dressing up like a deer and playing in the woods at dark, I don't think would be a smart thing for a kid to do, but still an attack would be extremely rare," Land said.

"We're all getting frustrated with congestion and high cost of housing, but we've got to achieve a balance," he added. "We simply cannot afford to take over every square foot of Florida and put a house on it."

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