A rare animal was found dead in an unexpected location on a Florida highway outside the endangered species’ normal habitat.

A male Florida panther, estimated to be 2 to 3 years old, was killed by a vehicle July 1 on Interstate 75 in Wesley Chapel, according to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.

It’s the first documented death of the Florida panther in Pasco County since record-keeping began in 2014, according to the Panther Pulse database.

Pasco County isn’t on the wildlife commission’s map of known occurrences of the species, as most Florida panthers live in the southwestern part of the state, south of Lake Okeechobee.

But a spokesperson for the wildlife commission told McClatchy News on Tuesday it’s not uncommon for some panthers to venture outside their usual range.

“Male panthers are known to disperse over long distances and have been documented throughout central and northeast Florida,” the spokesperson said.

Records show panthers occasionally have been recorded venturing north. In 2022, one was killed by a vehicle in Hillsborough County, and another by a vehicle in Polk County, east of Tampa. Both were males under the age of 3.

“One male ventured into western Georgia where he was shot and killed in 2008,” biologists said.

Hemmed in by urban development, panthers end up crossing roads that overlay their habitat, leading to an increase in vehicle strikes in the past two decades, McClatchy News reported.

Young males trying to establish their territory also tend to cross roads more frequently. Panthers under the age of 3 make up about 70% of all road strike deaths, according to the wildlife commission.

Part of the reason for an increase in panther deaths from vehicles is that the panther population itself began increasing after 1995, when the introduction of pumas from Texas helped inbreeding issues and restored the small and sick population, the wildlife commission said.

“As panther numbers increased over time, the number of panther roadkills has also been on the rise,” wildlife biologists said.

The young panther’s death in Pasco County marks the species’ 10th fatality this year, seven of which have been confirmed as males.