It's been a horrible couple of months for the Florida panther in Southwest Florida.

On Wednesday the remains of a 4-year-old male Florida panther were collected on Corkscrew Road in Lee County, 430 yards east of Carter Road.

The suspected cause of death is vehicle collision.

Since May 1 that's six of the animals that have been killed for a grand total of 11 of the big cats lost in 2026. So far. And all of them are suspected of having died after being hit by a vehicle.

The site of the most recent death is just east of Verdana Village along Corkscrew Road — a relatively new development that will have a total of 2,400 homes at full build-out with the resulting extra vehicular traffic along Corkscrew Road east and west — and just west of the still under construction Kingston development that will have thousands of new homes when done.

Environmentalists, who are livid Kingston was approved, said that just means the rest of the land will be covered by homes, businesses, and roads, causing other major environmental problems. Panther habitat will disappear. More cars on more roads means more panthers will be hit and killed.

Parts of Kingston are within the Florida Wildlife Corridor, a woodsy patchwork of state parks, wildlife refuges, and working ranches from the Panhandle to the Everglades.

Local conservationists and federal agencies agree that will fragment panther habitat and sever important wildlife travel routes, which are a key reason for the corridor.

The new death comes on the heels of multiple panther mortalities. At the end of June there were two Florida panthers killed within a one-week period.

The Florida Wildlife Commission confirmed last week that a second panther death in Collier County was reported within a week. That second death was the 10th panther to be killed in the state this year.