CROW kicks off speaker series next week

The popular speaker series at the Clinic for the Rehabilitation of Wildlife will kick off next week with a packed schedule through April.
CROW Hospital Director Dr. Heather Barron said the idea behind the series is allowing people to have a better appreciation for wildlife through education.
“To me it all comes back to the One Health concept,” she said. “People need to understand why wildlife is important to them even if they are not the bunny hugger type. They need to see why wildlife health is a really important part of living in a healthy eco system – your food supply, your children’s and your pet’s health are directly related to wildlife health.”
The 2017 CROW Speaker Series is held promptly at 4:15 p.m. in the Visitor Education Center. It is $10 for adults; $5 for 13 to 17-year-olds and free for children under 13. To register, contact CROW Education Coordinator Rachel Rainbolt at (239) 472-3644, extension 228, or email rrainbolt@crowclinic.org.
This year’s lineup includes:
n “Living with Burrowing Owls” Tuesday, Jan. 10, with Cape Coral Friends of Wildlife volunteer Beverly Saltonstall
n “Wildlife on the Great Calusa Blueway” Monday, Jan. 16, with Great Calusa Blueway Coordinator Mike Hammond
n “Story of Ospreys” Tuesday, Jan. 24, with International Osprey Foundation Volunteer Claudia Burns
n “Edible and Medicinal Plants” Monday, Jan. 30, with CREW Land and Water Trust Environmental Education Specialist Jessi Drumond
n “Secret Life of Sand Dollars” Tuesday, Feb. 7, with Sanibel Sea School Co-Founder Dr. Bruce Neill and Sanibel Sea School Marine Science Educator Johnny Rader
n “Amphibians and Reptiles of Sanibel and Captiva Islands: A Natural History” Monday, Feb. 13, with Sanibel Captiva Conservation Foundation Director of Habitat Management and Herpetologist Chris Lechowicz
n “Changing Face of Nature” Tuesday, Feb. 21, with author Charles Sobczak
n “Story of Ospreys” Tuesday, Feb. 28, with Burns
n “Amazing Manatee” Tuesday, March 7, with Lee County Parks and Recreation Manatee Park Programmer Nancy Kilmartin;
n “Introduction to Wildlife Photography” Monday, March 13, with Koreshan State Park volunteer Pam Jones-Morton;
n “Soaring into the Future of Conservation Medicine” Monday, March 20, with Barron;
n “Story of Ospreys” Tuesday, March 28, with Burns
n “The Feather Wars” Monday, April 3, with Southwest Florida Museum of History Research Historian Jim Powers
n “Story of Ospreys” Tuesday, April 11, with Burns
n “Snakes of Sanibel and Captiva” Monday, April 17, with Lechowicz.
Hammond, who will provide the second speech of the series, said the Great Calusa Blueway includes 190 miles of meandering trails from the Collier County line to Charlotte County. He said there are markers through the bays, backwaters and mangrove tunnels for paddlers using the Blueway.
“It gives people a sense of security and keeps them away from motor boat traffic as well,” Hammond said.
Due to the expansive Blueway, maps are available at calusablueway.com, and at such places as Tarpon Bay Explorers and McCarthy’s Marina, as well as the smartphone app, Great Calusa Blueway.
“The maps have all the launches and points of interest,” he said, adding that the map helps individuals plan the couple of miles they wish to travel at a time.
Some of the points of interest include where facilities are located, as well as outfitters who rent kayaks and paddleboards.
Although Hammond has not personally paddled the entire 190 miles, he has tried to hit every section of the Blueway. He said he also has a lot of dedicated paddlers who check the markers on the Blueway and report back to him.
“It’s why I live here,” Hammond said of the Great Calusa Blueway. “It’s getting off the beaten path and getting out in nature. It’s part of why Florida is so special.”
Before becoming the coordinator for the Great Calusa Blueway, he was a ranger for all of the Lee County parks, which included the Fort Myers Beach fishing pier. He said in addition to educating the public and enforcing rules, he did a lot of rescues, which resulted in a relationship with the CROW staff.
“I really appreciate what CROW does. To be able to bring wildlife into CROW is fantastic. I have a connection with CROW. Anytime I can help them I do,” Hammond said.
In March, Barron will speak about conservation medicine.
“The scientists that predicted Zika and Ebola were going to be the two next big outbreaks, have also predicted another 13 diseases that are kind of on the horizon to be the next big outbreak type scenario. All of them are zoonotic diseases, which mean they go from animals to people. Now more than ever it is important to educate people about wildlife and why it is actually a good thing to have them in the environment and have them be healthy,” she said.
Barron said there are definitely more diseases surfacing because organisms mutate and evolve.
“I think global warming is definitely contributing to the mergence of a number of pathogens that were never a concern before, or unknown before,” she said.
An example is the white nose disease of bats. Barron said, although it’s not a big deal in Florida because it’s a cold weather disease, it is devastating the bat population. The population is important globally because of the inspect control they provide.
“A single bat can eat about 10,000 mosquitos a night. You can imagine all of the mosquitos are being consumed by bats across the United States and all of the diseases that are carried by mosquitos like Zika and West Nile Virus. If bats are not around to control the mosquitos it is bad for people,” she said.
Barron said during the speaker series, she usually discusses a case the hospital may be seeing to illustrate how it works into the One Health concept. She also educates the public on how to live more peacefully with their wildlife neighbors.
Some of those messages include being careful with trash, and a hook and line while fishing.
“We try to really prevent some of the problems we see and educate people if they see an animal,” Barron said. “Ronavirus has been a big viral outbreak in box turtles here in our area. It’s probably happening all over Florida, but nobody recognized it until we recognized it. We have really been having citizens look out for box turtles that don’t look healthy because we really need to know that because that is one of those emerging pathogens.”
To view the series, visit www.crowclinic.org.