Refuge’s WoW heads to next school
The J.N. “Ding” Darling National Wildlife Refuge’s Wildlife on Wheels (WoW) recently spent its final week at Lehigh Elementary. It has since moved on to Varsity Lakes Middle School in Lehigh Acres, where it will remain through Dec. 20. The team worked with sixth-graders on landforms, weathering, erosion and deposition. The students had the chance to observe a grain of sand under microscopes provided by a “Ding” Darling Wildlife Society-Friends of the Refuge donor. Recently, the team used X-rays from the Clinic for the Rehabilitation of Wildlife on Sanibel to demonstrate the dangers of discarded fishing gear and other trash. Assistant Urban Education Leader Ashley McGovern explained how plastic and other trash can become stuck in an animal’s system, break down into microplastics and potentially cause DNA mutations, cancer and other disease.