Mammal

Slow Down For Key Deer on Big Pine Key

On May 12, I saw two Key deer die from vehicle impacts in a 40-minute timeframe on U.S.1 on Big Pine Key.

The first deer-hit happened in front of me in the oncoming lane. I was stopped to make a turn south. What came to mind first was to call for help. Who was I to call? I picked up my cell and dialed 911.

As I was on this call, I watched citizens stopping to assist the deer, which was dying in the median (a traumatic scene). I then watched these citizens pick the deer up after it quit moving and carry it to the side of the road. Within two minutes of the accident, the fire chief drove over the bridge with his emergency lights running.

I pulled into the parking lot where the vehicle involved had parked. The deer had run and jumped at lightening speed from the north side of U.S. 1 into the south-side lane and had jumped into the Volkswagen’s headlight. The driver, who was not speeding, assured me he was OK and stood there very shaken by the experience.

I then thought, why did those men move that deer so quickly, and should they have done that? What if it created further injury? I looked up and the fire department’s truck was leaving with the deer.

I completed my business and on my way back to Marathon, stopped at the light on Big Pine, two deer came across U.S. 1, looking both ways to ensure a safe trip across. I continued down U.S. 1 and again, on the side of the road, just at the start of the bridge by the church, there are several vehicles with emergency lights tending to another vehicle/deer accident. This is crazy, I thought. Why so many deer and two accidents in 40 minutes?

When I arrived home I went to the Internet site for the National Key Deer Refuge to see if there was information on how one is supposed to handle or not handle a Key deer after it’s been hit by a car, or if there were information on who to call in that situation. No luck.

I then called the refuge information number and inquired about the two deer that had been hit. The first had died at the scene, and the second had to be euthanized due to severe injuries. Also, their main concern is for public safety first. If the dying deer was creating a traffic hazard, by all means the deer needed to be moved.

It’s the fawning season right now for the deer, and the deer are out in full force, the deer refuge informed me.

Did you know there are between 100 and 130 vehicle hits/deer deaths per year? Be irritated all you want when it comes to slowing down on Big Pine Key. After witnessing the writhing and spasming of that deer in front of me and how shook and sad the driver was, I believe my future irritation just went out the car window.

Kim Peck

Marathon

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar toured the Florida Keys

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar toured the Florida Keys by air, boat and on foot on Saturday, focusing on the four national wildlife refuges and 30 federally endangered and threatened species managed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

The refuges are on the front line of conservation, where encroaching development, exotic species and the future challenges of sea level rise in the island ecosystem present threats to wildlife and habitats found nowhere else in the world.

“As the department responsible for managing world-class national wildlife refuges as well as the Dry Tortugas National Park in the Florida Keys, we view the conservation and restoration of the unique ecosystems and wildlife of South Florida among our highest priorities,” Salazar said. “It is important for me to see these areas personally and meet with the dedicated professionals with the Fish and Wildlife Service and National Park Service who do such an outstanding job of managing them.”

The tour was part of Salazar’s third trip to the Everglades as Interior secretary. He also spoke at the annual conference of the Everglades Coalition, the largest annual forum for Everglades’s conservation and restoration.

In his remarks, he underscored the Obama administration’s commitment to restoring the great River of Grass. In two years, for example, the administration has increased federal construction funding for Everglades Restoration by more than $660 million.

In addition, Salazar met with the Greater Everglades Partnership Initiative and announced a partner-driven effort to work with private landowners, conservation groups and federal, tribal, state and local agencies develop a new 150,000-acre national wildlife refuge and conservation area, the Everglades National Wildlife Refuge and Conservation Area.

As part of his tour, Salazar toured National Key Deer Refuge on Big Pine Key. The federally endangered Key deer, a smaller cousin of the white-tailed deer, has rebounded from a population of just 50 in 1950 to more than 500 today.

In the past two years, the refuge began integrating on-the-ground research to improve the prescribed burning program. This benefits the Key deer and other wildlife and their fire-dependent habitats, while protecting lives and properties from the threat of wildfire.

Salazar also toured the EcoDiscovery Center in Key West. The center, which promotes resource conservation and stewardship across the Keys, is sponsored and operated by NOAA’s Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary in partnership with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, National Park Service and South Florida Water Management district.

“Working with our many federal, state, local and non-profit partners, we continue to make great progress in conserving these unique island ecosystems, where the Caribbean meets North America,” he said.

To view photos from the Secretary’s trip, click here.

To read a copy of Secretary Salazar’s remarks at the Annual Everglades Coalition Conference click here.

Florida FWC’s Manatee Art Contest for State Decal

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission wants to make your manatee artwork famous. The agency is conducting its annual art contest for high school students in which the students are asked to create art that will be used on the state’s official manatee decal for the coming year.

Decals depicting manatees are available at any Florida county tax collector’s office by donating $5 or more to the Save the Manatee Trust Fund. Money from the sale of the decals supports manatee-protection efforts, such as rehabilitation, rescue, research, enforcement and public education. Vehicle owners can support manatees by including their donation when they register their vehicle or vessel.

Following are the rules:

Manatees Succumb to Climate Change

Written by PP Rega

The unusually cold weather that struck Florida in January has killed at least 5 percent of West Indies manatees this year. That amounts to 280 in all.

What is the significance of this news?

* No more Manatee-ka-bobs

* McDonald’s can no longer sell “Big Manatee with Fries and a Coke.”

* Postponement of the Key West’s annual Manatee Look-a-Like contest.

* Manatee linguini is no longer on the menu in Tampa’s Cafe Roma restaurant.

* There’ll be fewer Manatees watching America Idol.

* The Manatee Olympic Association won’t be able to send its ski team to Vancouver

* Disneyland will have to cancel its Gay Manatee Convention

* The Miami violent crime rate will decrease due to fewer coke-head Manatees

* There’ll be fewer Manatees selling Girl Scout cookies in Fort Lauderdale

* There’ll be more room in the sea for Womanatees.

Printed from: http://www.thespoof.com/news/magazine/article_5889.htm

Baby Manatee Rescued – Plantation Key

Emaciated calf found next to dead mother.

Veterinarians at the Miami Seaquarium are rehabilitating a young manatee found emaciated near his dead mother in the mangroves near Tavernier Creek on Thursday.

The 5- to 6-month old calf, named Kahiki after the Kahiki Harbor subdivision on Plantation Key where it was brought to shore, weighed just 77 pounds — nearly half the weight of a healthy calf.

“That’s near a birth weight almost,” said Seaquarium veterinarian Maya Rodriguez. “It’s because he was not getting any nutrients from the mother.”

The mother appeared to have been struck by a boat propeller and suffered extensive internal damage, according to officials with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.

Residents reportedly spotted the mother and calf more than a month ago in marinas and neighborhood canals near Tavernier Creek.

“At that time, it appeared the mother was moving and feeding OK,” FWC manatee biologist John Cassady said. “The decision was to let them go and let the calf get a little bigger so we wouldn’t put the stress of a capture on it.”

On Wednesday, Cassady responded to another sighting of the pair and said he knew the mother was near death. Cassady placed a radio transmitter on the mother’s tail to locate them on Thursday for a rescue.

Wildlife officials followed the signal to the mother’s body, which was rolled over on its back in mangrove roots with the calf still by her side.

“She had died just within a day. If we had not gotten that call [on Wednesday] and put the tag on her, we would’ve never found the calf,” Cassady said.

The calf is receiving daily antibiotic treatments and formula feeding in a heated pool at the Seaquarium, and his health has improved slightly, but he remains in critical condition, Rodriguez said.

If the calf recovers, it would likely stay at the Seaquarium for two years before it is large enough to be released into the wild, Rodriguez added.

The Miami Seaquarium is one of only three critical-care facilities for injured manatees in the state. This is the 10th manatee rescued and brought to the Seaquarium this year.

Residents who spot injured or distressed manatees and other wildlife are encouraged to call the FWC’s wildlife alert hotline at (888) 404-3922.

By DAVID BALL
dball@keysreporter.com

Boating With Wild Dolphin in Key West – Video

Amazing video of hundreds of dolphins running with our boat 30 miles offshore south of Key West, Florida,
Video from FishMonsterMedia

Biologists Free Key Largo Manatee Entangled in Fishing Line

July 31, 2009
Contact: Gabriella Ferraro, 772-215-9459

Biologists with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission’s (FWC) Fish and Wildlife Research Institute and the Dolphin Research Center rescued a female manatee today at Gilbert’s Marina in Key Largo.

Biologists captured the animal so they could remove monofilament fishing line that was embedded in the manatee’s right flipper. If left untreated, the entanglement could lead to the loss of the flipper.

A Miami Seaquarium veterinarian removed the line, treated the wound and deemed the animal healthy enough for immediate return to the wild.

Monofilament fishing line can cause serious injury or death for a variety of Florida wildlife. Florida’s Monofilament Recovery and Recycling Program is a statewide effort to educate the public about the problems caused by monofilament line left in the environment, to encourage recycling through a network of line-recycling bins and drop-off locations, and to conduct volunteer fishing line cleanup events. For more information, visit www.fishinglinerecycling.org.

To report a dead or distressed manatee, call the FWC’s Wildlife Alert hotline at 888-404-FWCC (3922).

For more information on manatee research, visit http://research.MyFWC.com/manatee.

Key Deer Fawning Season

THE LATE FAWNS ARE COMING!

With the winding down of the fawning season in July, quite often we feel that the fawns have had time to adjust to vehicles. However, the Lower Keys has on occasion experienced a crop of new fawns in August. Residents are being cautioned to watch out for new fawns during this time.

Residents living in Key deer habitat need to be aware that as a doe crosses a road, a fawn may be following and the fawn will not understand the threat that a vehicle can present and may run in front of the vehicle. These new fawns have not had time to experience vehicles and may dart across a road unexpectedly. Other hazards to deer and fawns in particular, include free-roaming dogs. Even if a dog does not catch a fleeing fawn, it may die from being chased into traffic or a canal. Residents are reminded that dogs on refuge lands must be on a leash. Residents seeing free-roaming dogs are encouraged to report them to animal control (305-743- 3779).

Key West Cutter to be Freed – Update…Released May 12

UPDATE May 12, 2009 Cutter, A young Atlantic spotted dolphin that spent nearly three months recuperating at a Florida Keys marine mammal rehabilitation center has been released off Key West. Rescuers with the Marine Mammal Conservancy released the animal Tuesday after finding a pod of dolphins for him to join. Young rescued marine mammals are not normally released, because they need their mothers to learn survival skills. But Cutter, as the dolphin was nicknamed, is believed to be just under three years old. Experts believe he probably knows enough to live in the wild and could learn additional survival skills if accepted by the pod.

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Cutter will be closely monitored for the next two days to make sure he is accepted by the pod and able to find food.An Atlantic-spotted dolphin that was rescued in February in Key West Harbor is set to be released in mid-May, marine mammal experts say. Cutter is to be moved to Key West in the next few weeks so officials at the Marine Mammal Conservancy can search for a pod of Atlantic-spotted dolphins that is believed to still be in the area. MMC President Robert Lingenfelser said once the pod is located, Cutter will immediately be transported and released. The adolescent dolphin will be fitted with a VHF tracking tag and monitored to ensure its acceptance by the pod, Lingenfelser said. Normally young rescued marine mammals are not released because they need their mothers for nutrition and behavioral conditioning. But Cutter, estimated to be between 2 and 3 years old, is at a borderline age and experts feel he probably knows enough to live in the wild, but can learn additional needed survival skills if accepted by the pod. Thus was the reason MMC, along with the National Marine Fisheries Service and a panel of other experts, agreed to a conditional release. “This has never been tried before,” Lingenfelser said. “But Cutter is very healthy and we’ll be monitoring him very closely to ensure he is OK. If he doesn’t do well, we’ll be ready to rescue him again.” Some dolphin advocates were critical of MMC for removing Cutter from the water, saying the animal wasn’t in danger and didn’t need to be rescued. Lingenfelser disagrees. “If we had not rescued him, he would have died,” said Lingenfelser. “Medical tests proved he was starving and because of that, his liver was compromised and there were other issues.” The dolphin was named Cutter by U.S. Coast Guard personnel in Key West because of the proximity of its Feb. 14 rescue next to their station. The mammal has received round-the-clock care at MMC’s Key Largo rehabilitation facility.

Pregnant Patsy the Manatee Captured in Key Largo

Biologists have learned a manatee rescued earlier in the week is pregnant.

Patsy, a 6-year-old manatee rescued just off the coast of Key Largo, was found with her front flipper severely tangled in fishing line. Biologists learned of the Patsy’s entanglement two years ago, but were not able to make a successful rescue until Wednesday. Rescuers had to make several attempts to rescue the manatee, because of worries the fishing line would cut off her circulation.

“We took off of the entanglement, about 90 percent. There still is a little bit, but hopefully, we got most it where it might fall off,” said Jodi Linvill, an animal care supervisor. “Right now, we’re just waiting to see if the swelling goes down, and how it ends up looking to determine what we do next.”

Patsy is recovering well. Biologists said they now have to decide how long to keep the manatee, and may do so until she gives birth. However, if the swelling goes down, Patsy will be released to have her baby out in the wild.