CROW has positive effect on Beach wildlife
Two doctors associated with an important element to tie tourism and environment together spoke about the benefits of their long-time organization at the Greater Fort Myers Beach Chamber of Commerce luncheon at Charley’s Boat House Grill last Thursday.
Dr. Linda Estep and Dr. Heather Barron explained the Sanibel-based Clinic for Rehabilitation of Wildlife’s role since 1968 to Chamber business members.
“For more than 45 years, CROW has been treating, rehabilitating and releasing wildlife back to their natural habitat,” said Dr. Estep. “CROW sees more than 3,000 wildlife patients per year with many of our patients coming from the Fort Myers Beach area.
“I think the beauty of our wildlife is what attracts so many of our tourists to our area every year,” added Dr. Barron.
Estep mentioned that not only do a lot of injured wildlife comes from the Beach, so do its volunteers. In fact, volunteerism is so important to the small staff of 13 employees.
“We have a very active group of Beach volunteers who work on a daily basis with CROW staff by rescuing animals,” she said. “Beach Patrol also works very closely with the staff by helping volunteers capture the injured wildlife.”
When Dr. Barron arrived at CROW in 2012 to take on the role of CROW’s hospital director, the focus of the organization’s wildlife conservation medicine shifted to encompass a “one world, one health” philosophy, according to Estep.
“That basically means that we focus on the inter-relatedness of human, wildlife and environment. We are all connected in this world, and we need to work together for the survival of all of us,” Estep said.
Barron relayed that the mission at CROW is “to advance the health, welfare and conservation of wildlife through state of art medical and surgical care, research and education.” She described the three major areas to inform the average person why CROW matters to the encompassing communities.
As far as providing care for ill and injured wildlife, Barron cited 85 percent of CROW’s caseload comes from off Sanibel Island. Since its inception, CROW has returned more than 50,000 animals back to the environment.
“I like to think we are definitely making an impact, because those animals would have suffered greatly and likely perished,” she said.
Barron explained wildlife health has a direct impact on human health and environmental conditions.
“The health of our wildlife is a really important barometer for the health of our environment and also our residents,” she said. “Conservation medicine is that inter-relationship between animal health, human health and environmental health.”
Center for Disease Control in Atlanta reports that more than 70 percent of diseases are actually born by animals
“A very important part of what it is we do at CROW is monitor for these diseases because they can affect your health, the health of your children, your pets, your food supply,” she said. “Wildlife health is our early warning signal.”
CROW has up-to-date facilities, including a digital X-Ray machine, ultrasound, chemical machine and in-house laboratory. Officials perform roughly 250 orthopedic and soft tissue surgeries alone each year. CROW’s Visitor Education Center, open Monday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., is a good spot to see the results of the hospital work and be educated on wildlife care.
Clinical research through diagnosis and treatment helps staff make improvements for conservation medicine through data. In fact, officials at the Sanibel clinic have increased their red tide poison recovery rate from 33 percent to 55 percent due to research.
The visitor center on the clinic’s 12-1/2 acre property is a great forum for wildlife education. CROW teaches other veterinarian professionals and offers continuing education meetings and online courses.
CROW is located at 3883 Sanibel Captiva Road in Sanibel, but has drop off points throughout the area. Contact the hotline at 472-3644 (press #1) if you find ill or injured wildlife.
CROW staff members will contact its volunteer emergency rescue and transport team (VERT) to help in the process of getting affected wildlife to the clinic. The full volunteer roster is called until someone is able to help in the transportation.
“We really need everybody’s help to do this,” Barron said. “We are subsistent entirely on private donations. We couldn’t do what we do without the volunteers that we take in every year.”