The Florida Panther National Wildlife Refuge is part of the United States National Wildlife Refuge System, located in southwestern Florida, twenty miles east of Naples, in the upper segment of the Fakahatchee Strand of the Big Cypress Swamp.

[1] To protect the panther and other endangered inhabitants, general public use is only available at the southeast corner of the refuge, on designated hiking trails.

[3] The refuge is a mix of dry, upland habitat and wetlands, including pine rocklands and tropical hardwood hammocks.

[4] Among the rare flowering plants there are tropical orchids such as Cyrtopodium punctatum and Epidendrum nocturnum.

Besides the panthers, the refuge is home to Big Cypress fox squirrels, bobcats, armadillos, raccoons, black bears, coyotes, alligators, swallow-tailed kites and several wood stork rookeries.