{"id":16797,"date":"2023-10-19T20:25:00","date_gmt":"2023-10-20T00:25:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wfsu.org\/local-routes\/?p=16797"},"modified":"2023-11-02T17:20:42","modified_gmt":"2023-11-02T21:20:42","slug":"meet-buddha-a-florida-panther-at-the-tallahassee-museum","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wfsu.org\/local-routes\/2023-10-19\/meet-buddha-a-florida-panther-at-the-tallahassee-museum\/","title":{"rendered":"Meet Buddha, a Florida panther at the Tallahassee Museum"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<iframe width=\"560\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/TlRFqTa7Tfw?si=hpy_udq2QxgfHy0L\" title=\"YouTube video player\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n\n\n\n<p>At 8:30 in the morning, I walk into the Tallahassee Museum, humidity clinging to my t-shirt, the thermostat already rising. A half-hour before the museum opens, I gather with my team from WFSU, Suzie Buzzo, an animal curator at the museum, and Chris Bruton, Lead Keeper, to watch them ready the Florida panthers for the day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Walking past industrial refrigerators filled with food in what Suzie referred to as \u201cthe kitchen\u201d we come face-to-face with Buddha, a Florida panther, dozing in the corner of his nighttime quarters\u2013a simple chain-link enclosure with a raised platform. As we walk up to his cage, Buddha becomes excited, pacing the concrete enclosure, stimulated by Suzie\u2019s voice. As his oversized paws pad the ground, a deep purr emanates from his chest. Suzie scratches the back of his head.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThey\u2019re the largest wild cats to purr,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><a href=\"https:\/\/blog.wfsu.org\/blog-coastal-health\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/IMG_9518-small.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/blog.wfsu.org\/blog-coastal-health\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/IMG_9518-small-1024x683.jpg\" alt=\"Buddha, the Tallahassee Museum's resident Florida panther.\" class=\"wp-image-21242\"\/><\/a><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Buddha, the Tallahassee Museum\u2019s resident Florida panther. Photo by Lydell Rawls.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Meeting Buddha, The Tallahassee Museum\u2019s resident panther<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Buddha is a 12-year-old 120-pound male Florida Panther, one of the largest and most charismatic animals at the Tallahassee Museum. Like most of the animals at the museum, he\u2019s incapable of living in the wild. As a kitten, before arriving at the museum, he fractured his humerus, later receiving an injection of stem cells to heal the injury. Now, as part of his morning routine, Buddha gets laser therapy treatment via a wand that emits a low-level light to provide some relief to his inflammation, arthritis, and swelling. As Suzie and Chris wave the laser across Buddha\u2019s thick fur, he lays on his raised platform, purring loudly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>After Buddha\u2019s therapy, which lasts only a few minutes, I follow Suzie as she walks Buddha\u2019s larger, daytime enclosure. A large live oak casts shade over the enclosure; resurrection fern that has turned brown in response to the recent dry spell traces its spindly limbs. Dried leaves crinkle beneath our feet as we walk.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-buttons is-content-justification-center is-layout-flex wp-container-1 wp-block-buttons-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-button td_btn_large\"><a class=\"wp-block-button__link has-vivid-green-cyan-background-color has-background wp-element-button\" href=\"https:\/\/blog.wfsu.org\/blog-coastal-health\/2023\/08\/meet-buddha-a-florida-panther-at-the-tallahassee-museum\/\">Click here to read Rob&#8217;s full blog post on the WFSU Ecology Blog.<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>At 8:30 in the morning, I walk into the Tallahassee Museum, humidity clinging to my t-shirt, the thermostat already rising. A half-hour before the museum opens, I gather with my team from WFSU, Suzie Buzzo, an animal curator at the museum, and Chris Bruton, Lead Keeper, to watch them ready the Florida panthers for the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":42,"featured_media":16798,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","footnotes":"","wds_primary_category":136},"categories":[1522,136],"tags":[52],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Meet Buddha, a Florida panther at the Tallahassee Museum - WFSU Local Routes<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/wfsu.org\/local-routes\/2023-10-19\/meet-buddha-a-florida-panther-at-the-tallahassee-museum\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Meet Buddha, a Florida panther at the Tallahassee Museum - WFSU Local Routes\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"At 8:30 in the morning, I walk into the Tallahassee Museum, humidity clinging to my t-shirt, the thermostat already rising. 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