—9 REFER TO THE FOLLOWING PASSAGE.THE FLORIDA PANTHER, KNOW...

Questions 5—9 refer to the following passage.The Florida panther, known for its distinctive characteristics, including a kinked tail and cowlicks,is nearing extinction with the help of scientists and government officials. Though once abundantin Florida, by the end of the twentieth century, only approximately 30 Florida panthers remained.Efforts to preserve the panthers had focused on shielding them from human encroachment withthe hope that they could develop sustainable numbers to survive as a species. However, pressurefrom development caused officials to grow impatient and shift their strategy and goals.In 1995, new breeds of female panthers were brought to Florida from Texas to bolster thepopulation. The change has been dramatic. In 1990, 88% of the panthers in Florida had the dis-tinct kinked tail. By 2000, five years after the introduction of the Texas panthers, not a single kit-ten born to the Texas females had a kinked tail. The breed known as the Florida panther is nowon an expedited, ineluctable road to extinction—with the assistance of wildlife protection agencies.If the goal was to have any kind of panther in Florida, it has been realized. Since the intro-duction of the Texas panthers, the panther population in Florida has risen to approximately 80mixed-breed panthers. However, this “success” could portend a tragic trend in wildlife manage-ment in the United States. We cannot and should not create genetically mixed species as a meansof achieving a compromise between the needs of development and a species’ survival. This typeof species tampering is a perversion of the ideal of wildlife management and will irrevocably trans-form our national landscape.5. The primary goal of this passage is toa. demonstrate the fragility of an endangered species.b. demonstrate the importance of effective wildlife management.c. argue that mixing species to ensure a species’ survival is wrong.d. demonstrate the effectiveness of mixing species.e. limit development in areas with endangered species.6. The author supports the central idea of this passage primarily bya. contrasting the Florida panther with the Texas panther.b. showing how interbreeding has destroyed the Florida panther species.c. attacking government wildlife protection policies.d. showing how human encroachment has depleted Florida’s panther population.e. describing the history of panthers in the United States.7. It can be inferred from the passage thata. extinction is preferable to mixing species.b. wildlife protection and development are completely incompatible.c. wildlife protection agencies are in the pocket of development corporations.d. scientist and government officials are equally disappointed with the results of the experiment.e. there are alternatives to interbreeding, but they take longer.8.The author suggests that blame for the extinction of Florida panthers rests chiefly upona. government officials who bowed to pressure from developers.b. developers who encroached upon protected areas.c. scientists who suggested interbreeding as a solution.d. advocates of species preservation.e. wildlife agencies that did not act sooner to protect the panther population.9.The passage suggests that the authora. is a former member of the Wildlife Protection Agency.b. is willing to compromise if it means the survival of a species.c. is afraid that species tampering will become the norm in wildlife preservation management.d. believes the government has encouraged species tampering as a means of conducting geneticexperiments.e. believes that “sustainable numbers” statistics are not realistic and lead to the expedited extinctionof species.