What I Did on My Winter Vacation

Whenever I manage to sneak my family and myself away from our regular life for a week during the winter, I feel I owe it to my clients, my children's teachers and myself to broaden my horizons in an educational way while soaking up some sun. I recently returned to frigid Wisconsin after visiting family near Cocoa Beach, Florida, enriched with vitamin D and the following unusual animal encounters.

We kicked off our trip by driving through the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge for a nominal park fee of $5.00. If you are a bird watcher, this is a must-do while on the Space Coast of Florida. Upon entering you receive a check list of migratory and resident birds that you might observe in the sanctuary. Although I'm no birder, I enjoyed identifying coots, pelicans, ibis, herons, egrets, osprey and grebes and simply appreciated the sheer number and beauty of scores of unidentified birds. We also drove past several Florida soft-shelled turtles, a few non-venomous water snakes and some alligators.

The most memorable alligator experience of our trip occurred on this outing when we drove past a

Dr. Kim Everson investigates a road-killed alligator

particularly large alligator lying strangely close to the highway on our way into the Refuge. When we observed the gator unmoved from this location on our exit, we paused to investigate. Having now witnessed numerous cold, sluggish alligators in Florida winter, I assure you a sleepy alligator basking in the sun and a dead road-kill alligator look remarkably similar. Neither may blink or appear to be breathing. Even blood on the roadway is no guarantee you've encountered a dead reptile rather than a recently feeding one! With an abundance of caution I approached the alligator, saddened but also relieved to find its skull had been crushed by an automobile and it was utterly dead.

Florida alligators are a huge tourist attraction in Florida inspiring both awe and fear. After being added to the Endangered Species list in the 1960s, the American alligator has been successfully restored to healthy numbers. And as fearsome as these giant "lizards" are (by the way, alligator is derived from the Spanish word for lizard "el lagarto"), it really is possible to co-exist peacefully with them. Since 1948, when records started being kept, only twenty people have been killed by alligators in Florida. What's more, alligators are being studied for clues into their remarkable capability to heal and fight off infections -- they may even help unlock a cure for AIDs.

Rhiannon shares The Dinosaur Store's gentle tegu,
a South American omnivorous lizard with Dr. Kim Everson

It was a close-up view of alligators that lured us into Cocoa Beach's The Dinosaur Store on a particularly chilly day, but what kept us there were reptiles of a different stripe and a friendly herpetologist, Rhiannon Bonine. I peppered her with questions about reptile genetics, husbandry and how to treat common ailments. Rhiannon and I chatted about the difference between albino and leucistic (aka color dilute) animals, the causes and treatment for stomatitis in snakes (sometimes these mouth infections occur after the snake is bitten by its rodent prey), and the difference in porosity between crocodiles and alligator skeletons (the small holes lighten their skeletal weight and aid their keen ability to sense swimming prey). The tail end of our energetic conversation turned to conservation issues ranging from efforts to protect endangered Florida panthers and Chinese alligators to efforts to eradicate invasive pythons and toads. The Dinosaur Store keeps a gigantic fat Bufo toad, which they've decided is female due to her remarkable girth (she looks to be about the size of a canned ham) and notable silence.

Dr. Kim Everson poses with a Bufo marinus toad, a
Florida invasive species and a poisonous pest to pets

Seeing live Bufo toads up close and personal at The Dinosaur Store and the Brevard Zoo was a real surprise and a treat. In veterinary school, our toxicology professor harped on the importance of understanding Bufo toad poisonings in pet dogs. Fortunately venomous Bufo toads are not found in Wisconsin -- our local toads just taste very yucky! The Bufo toad (Bufo marinus) is an invasive species in Florida, having been accidentally released near Miami in the 1950s after being used elsewhere to control grubs damaging sugar cane fields. Unfortunately, a Bufo toad loves to eat everything including native Floridian frogs and toads. Additionally, the milky toxin it secretes from the parotoid glands at the back of its head can kill dogs and cats that accidentally ingest the secretion!

Approaching an armadillo

Another topic in veterinary school that seems very exotic and unhelpful until you watch your son chasing it across a ditch is a leprosy-infested armadillo. Until this recent vacation, the only armadillos I'd ever seen were as are dead as raccoon on the Florida roadside. On this trip I watched my fearless eldest child stalk an armadillo, peacefully nibbling grass, near Kennedy Space Center. Besides being shocked to learn that armadillos hop like armored bunnies when slowly approached (in fact, the Aztecs called them "turtle-rabbits"), my family learned that armadillos can carry the dreaded bacteria which causes leprosy. Although now relatively rare and readily treatable, leprosy is a disease of biblical proportions that makes me loathe to get too close to a potential carrier.

At Clearwater Marine Aquarium, Dr. Kim Everson observes
physical therapy --tail  stretching exercises--performed
on Winter

One thing I've learned on my visits to Florida is that wildlife abounds, many times where you don't want it to. An entire industry exists to serve as ambassador between unwanted or injured animals and the public. For example, herpetologist Rhiannon Bonine described the work of Roaming Reptiles, an educational company which responds to emergency calls from concerned citizens with snakes in their homes that need to be carefully captured and relocated. Some of these snakes are venomous, but many are not. The beauty of such a service is that innocent but wayward reptiles are valued and preserved in the ecosystem. Another now-famous animal rescue and rehabilitation organization is Clearwater Marine Aquarium. During a 2012 visit, I was given an incredible behind-the-scenes tour of the facility that continues to rehabilitate "Winter," dolphin star of the two "Dolphin Tale" movies. While the goal of Clearwater Marine Aquarium (CMA) is to rescue stranded or injured marine animals, rehabilitate them through nutritional, medical and surgical care, and release them to their natural habitat, the CMA has on occasion taken in animals who will not survive back in the wild. Winter, the tail-less dolphin, is the most famous example, but my kids and I enjoyed meeting other permanent residents of CMA which include an otter named Cooper who was discovered in a Florida garage with partial hind limb paralysis (he can swim like nobody's business) and Harold, one of two blind sea turtles whose visual impairment is being aggressively studied for clues that may help understand vision-loss in wild turtles.

Dr. Kim Everson admires a sponge
washed up on a Clearwater beach

The last and least likely animal I learned about on my winter vacation is the sponge. Yup. Sponge. Like the sponge with which you wash your car. Sponges are multicellular invertebrate marine animals which do not have digestive, circulatory or nervous systems. Anyone who has seen a sponge will agree they consist of pores and channels through which water is channeled to exchange nutrients and waste products. As I walked along Clearwater Beach I examined a variety of washed-up sponges--finger sponge, stovepipe sponge, giant yellow sponge... Meeting one of the most primitive animals ever is pretty cool, but after visiting the Sponge Docks in Tarpon Springs, Florida, I have an even greater appreciation. The use of sponges in daily life is documented back thousands of years but the harvesting of sponges has changed very little in all that time. Earliest sponge harvesting was accomplished by wading and swimming offshore to collect specimens. As this easy-to-reach population was depleted, sponge hunters became divers, peering at the seabed through glass bottom buckets from little boats then diving great depths to collect their harvest. Hardhat diving apparatus (those alien-looking round copper helmets right out of Creature from the Black Lagoon) revolutionized sponge collection allowing sponge divers to remain on the seabed for significantly longer periods of time. SCUBA has mostly replaced other forms of diving, but once the sponge is on the boat processing remains the same as it has been for centuries! The sponge fishermen process their catch by rinsing and pressing the sponges repeatedly to remove seawater and slimy sponge goo, then they string them by type and size on long "needles" which hang all along the ship to dry. Back at the sponge docks, the sponge are sorted, trimmed and sold in batches at auction. Different species of sponge are valued for different cosmetic, household and decorative uses. Although sponge is a renewable resource, sponge fishermen must adhere to strict rules about the size of sponge that can be harvested and how to collect sponge without destroying the animal's ability to regenerate.

Vacations are how we humans regenerate, er...re-energize? And the best vacations, in my opinion, are those during which you learn something new. On my recent winter vacation I enjoyed seeing the Florida world -- sponges and snakes, alligators and armadillos, toads and tegus --  through my inner child's wondering eyes as well as my veterinarian's analytic ones.

In loving memory of my uncle Ed Hansen, who loved his farm animals, 

but also took time to travel the world with his beloved family.

A Christmas Miracle: Winter's Tale

One of the best parts about working with animals is witnessing their inspirational response to adversity. Indeed, most animals are so stoic that it can be very difficult to tell they are ailing at all. Sure, this tendency to suffer in silence may be rooted in an instinctual unwillingness to show weakness to potential predators. After all, a limping, moaning sheep is perceived as easy pickings by a hungry wolf. Nevertheless, injured or disabled animals often display remarkable endurance and adaptability which can be a model for our own behavior in the face of adversity.

This week I met a dolphin named Winter at Clearwater Marine Aquarium in Florida. You may know Winter from the 2011 film Dolphin Tale. In December 2005, Winter was merely a few months old and still dependent on her mother when she became tangled in a crab trap line. Rescued in the nick of time, Winter was rushed to Clearwater Marine Aquarium for veterinary assessment. The lacerations on her face and body would heal with time, but the blood supply to her tail had been cut off by the rope for too long. In spite of all efforts, Winter's devitalized tail fell off.

Dr. Kim Everson watches Winter swim effortlessly "like a
fish." Notice the lack of Winter's tail fin .

Countless volunteers worked around the clock in Winter's tank supporting her weight to keep her from drowning, bottle feeding her a homemade concotion that approximated dolphin milk, treating her injuries and keeping her company. Soon Winter grew strong enough and surprised everyone by learning to "swim like a fish" by moving her tail stump from side-to-side. Over time, however, Winter's care givers noticed her posture changing. She was developing scoliosis of the spine due to her undolphin-like swimming.

David Kinne of Clearwater Marine Aquarium
explains to Dr. Kim Everson that "whales [and dolphins]
have no lips," so to suckle from a bottle they roll their
tongue like a taco to create a seal around the nipple.

Necessity is the mother of invention. And none understand this better than veterinarians and animal caregivers. A marine biologist cannot pick up a gallon of dolphin milk at the corner grocery. Dolphin milk must be created on the spot from a sound understanding of a baby dolphin's nutritional needs. How much fat, how much protein, which vitamins and minerals a sea mammal needs is vastly different from what a heifer calf or human baby needs.

Inventiveness is not only practiced by biologists in exotic settings of course. Take, for example, Jack,* a nearly 200-lb Bull Mastiff dog with two bad knees. Following surgery to repair one of his knees, Jack needed a lot of help getting around with steady support of his weak but massive hind-quarters. Not even the super-sized commercial sling could be coaxed up around his large thighs, so his dedicated owner invented his own sling from a tow-strap and some fleece. Now Jack is recovering comfortably and preparing for surgery in his other knee.

Here Winter swims wearing her prosthetic tail. Because
a dolphin's skin is so delicate, Winter cannot wear her
prosthesis all the time or it will chafe (even with
repeated modifications and improvements made by
The Hanger Orthopedic Group). Wearing the prosthesis is
part of Winter's physical therapy to combat her scoliosis.

When Winter's caregivers noticed her cramped posture, they too began to brainstorm. If only they could help her swim like a dolphin... Businessman and inventor Kevin Carroll heard about Winter's problem and set to work  engineering a prosthetic tail for Winter that was secure and comfortable. In the mean time, aquarium staff had to train Winter to accept the strange pressure and weight of a prosthetic tail. Once Winter was used to wearing the prosthesis, she had to relearn how to swim dolphin-style. Winter's adaptability endured. The ingenuity and dedication of her caregivers coupled with her own animal instincts to thrive have allowed Winter, now seven, to swim like a dolphin again.

Winter's amazing story does not end there with her overcoming her own physical obstacles. Winter now helps motivate disabled children, veterans and other amputees to remain positive and continue to heal. Winter appears to understand and connect with fellow amputees, and they certainly respond well to her.


North American River Otter Cooper in the water is not
hindered a bit by his hindlimb paralysis. Here he drags
himself from his nest of blankets for a swim in
his private pool.

Clearwater Marine Aquarium is home to many other remarkable residents besides Winter. There is Panama, Winter's tank-mate, an elderly dolphin suffering from bad teeth and deafness that prevented her from hunting. In order to survive, Panama had learned to beg for food (not all of it nutritious) from humans in the harbor. Then there is Cooper, a North American River Otter found in a citizen's garage with spinal injuries (perhaps he was hit by a car). Although over time Cooper has regained some motion in his hind legs he cannot be released back into the wild, so he lives quite comfortably at the aquarium where he naps, eats and plays as he sees fit. You would never guess he is paralyzed as you watch him glide effortlessly through the water!

Even dogs and cats with disabilites can surprise and inspire us. You may have seen dogs with hindlimb abnormalities trotting along in their doggie wheelchairs. Trauma or disease resulting in partial paralysis can be overcome with time and ingenuity. And these dogs don't feel self-conscious about their apparatus...just gleeful to be out on a walk! The idea of amputating a pet's limb is horrifying initially to many pet owners, but the ease with which these amputees get around following surgery is astounding. When there is no hope for its recovery, the damaged limb is often more of a hinderance than a help and there is real relief for the pet to be rid of it. Many dogs and cats become blind or deaf as they age. They adapt incredibly well. So well it might take months for the owner to recognize a change. Then the real challenge is helping owners learn to adapt with them!

*Name changed to protect privacy.





Thank you David Kinne and Clearwater Marine Aquarium for the amazing behind-the-scenes tour! The work you do to rehabilitate and release injured marine animals is as inspirational as the creatures who remain in your care permanently.

 



David Kinne explains how injured sea turtles in the "Turtle
Backyard" (background) will be returned to the wild. Opaque
tanks and minimal interaction (food is tossed into the tank
from a distance) are necessary to reduce stress
and avoid having them imprint on humans.

Dr. Kim Everson admires Clearwater Marine Aquarium's
modern surgical suite complete with a CO2 laser for
surgical removal of fibropapillomas, large viral warty tumors
that seriously impair some sea turtles' ability to thrive in the wild.

A sting ray allows Dr. Kim Everson to caress its fin.
Dozens of friendly, curious sting rays swim in the tank.

David Kinne and Dr. Kim Everson review the treatment board
for the rehabilitating and permanant residents of Clearwater
Marine Aquarium. Treatment boards similar to this are used in
veterinary hospitals nationwide including at St. Bernard's
Animal Medical Center to keep track of the specific needs of'
each patient.





David Kinne explains to Dr. Kim Everson how widely the
personalities of the aquarium residents vary. Winter hates herring
and will spit it right back out. Dolphin Hope is quite a "diva"
refusing to eat any fish that is not intact, while one of
the otters refuses to eat fish with heads!



Dr. Kim Everson examines a fin protector
specially made by a concerned volunteer for a
gigantic leatherback turtle. The turtle was
relearning to swim with one fin after the
opposite fin was badly damaged in an accident.
The good fin kept rubbing up against the side
of the tank and was becoming chafed until
this ingenious solution was developed.

Dr. Kim Everson and David Kinne pose with Spot, a
gorgeous adult moray eel. Spot and his Cleaner Shrimp live
in companionable mutualism, with the shrimp removing and
eating parasites on Spot's skin and Spot providing protection.
The little shrimp even darts into the safety of Spot's mouth
when a perceived danger threatens. Spot wouldn't dream
of making the little shrimp lunch (even in the wild where moray
eels do not get "three square meals a day").