Missing diver's body washes ashore on Cook Key

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

BIG PINE KEY, Fla. -- The body of a missing diver who disappeared during the lobster mini-season last week, washed ashore Monday, authorities said.

Ronald Maloy, of Palatka, was still wearing his diving gear and a tank with in it, when his body drifted ashore on Cook Key, said Becky Herrin, a spokeswoman for the Monroe County Sheriff's Office. Maloy, 53, disappeared on the final day of the two-day lobster mini-season. Investigators said they don't know how Maloy or his companion, 47-year-old Judith Silcox, died. Silcox's body was found drifting in the water Thursday by boaters.

The couple's boat was also found Thursday - a 22-foot Proline that was anchored with a dive flag posted near Big Pine Key, authorities said. The couple, who were both certified divers, were staying at a campground on Ohio Key, where authorities found a motor home, pickup truck and a boat trailer registered in their name.

Big Pine Key Publix?

A new Publix on Big Pine Key is getting a little closer to reality, as Monroe County planners are looking at how the chain could build a new supermarket at property now used for the popular Big Pine Key Flea Market. James Young, owner of the 11.6-acre property near mile marker 30, said Publix has a contract to buy the land contingent on the county allowing the development.

“Nobody knows what the county is going to allow,” Young said. “After the first of the year, we’ll know more. If the county doesn’t permit it by then, the contract will be dead.” South Florida Publix spokeswoman Anne Hendricks said she couldn’t confirm the grocery giant has a contract on the property and called the idea of a Publix on Big Pine Key a “rumor.”

However, Monroe County Growth Management Director Ty Symroski said he and his staff have been in discussions with Publix officials. “We don’t have any application at this point,” Symroski said. “We have talked to them about the issues involved with the development, as well as developing some employee housing.” One of the development issues involves traffic, although Symroski said he doubts Publix would generate as much car traffic as the flea market does in peak season.

“It’s more, I think, how the driving patterns change,” he said. “Many people on upper Sugarloaf who normally chose to drive to Key West to shop may drive up to Big Pine instead.” Another issue, Symroski said, is determining exactly how much commercial floor area the flea market makes up and how that square footage can be applied to an enclosed supermarket.

Young said the flea market has about 147,000 square feet or retail space and Publix is asking for 50,000 square feet for its store. Symroski said he’s also asking Publix to consider an affordable housing component and other issues. “They recognize they’re going to have an issue of where their employees can live,” Symroski said. “I’m also looking at ways to make sure this will be a highly hurricane-survival-type building. One of the things you want right after a storm is grocery stores.” Publix recently installed generators at its Key Largo, Marathon and Key West stores to ensure quick reopening after a storm.

Lobster diver still missing off Big Pine Key

Authorities continue to search for Ronald Maloy, 53, of Palatka, who has been missing since a lobster diving accident Thursday. He was diving with a woman found dead between Big Pine Key and Little Palm Island.

Boaters found the body of Judith Silcox, 47, also of Palatka, floating near an abandoned boat, anchored with the dive flag posted. Her tank had air. Authorities are examining the dive equipment and conducting an autopsy to determine the cause of her death.

Both were certified scuba divers who rented equipment from Paradise Divers on Summerland Key. Their motor home, pickup truck and boat trailer were found at Sunshine Key Campground on Ohio Key.

UPDATE: Missing Diver Found

Update on Dead Sperm Whale

Marine mammal experts underestimated the enormity of a sperm whale that washed ashore in Spanish Harbor Channel on Monday. The initial estimate was 15 tons.

A partial necropsy conducted in the water after the whale died Tuesday afternoon showed the whale was 51 feet long and weighed between 20 and 22 tons, according to Celeste Weimer, stranding coordinator for the Florida Keys Marine Mammal Rescue Team.

Wildlife officials towed the carcass out to sea Wednesday. As with most mammal strandings, wildlife officials do not know what caused it to swim into shallow water about a quarter-mile east of Big Pine Key.

2 Women divers dead off Big Pine Key

On the first day of the Lobster Mini Season a 66-year-old woman died after having heart problems while putting on her fins near Big Pine Key. Monroe County sheriff's officials said her death was still being investigated late Wednesday.

On the second day of the Lobster Mini Season a woman diver was found dead floating off Big Pine Key Thursday afternoon and the man believed to be with her appears to be missing.

Here is what police know about the case so far: The woman's body, wearing scuba gear, was found floating by another boater in the area at 10:30 a.m. An unoccupied boat was found in the vicinity as well, anchored with a dive flag posted. Two tanks on the boat, along with one worn by the woman, and one tank that remains missing were rented from Paradise Divers on Summerland Key by a man and a woman. The deserted boat was also registered in the same man's name.

It is presumed, due to the above circumstances, that a male diver is missing. A search is currently underway off shore by the Sheriff's Office, U.S. Coast Guard and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. Detectives are, in the meantime, attempting to identify the woman whose body was found and to confirm that she was diving with the missing man.

Sperm Whale Beached off Big Pine Key

BIG PINE KEY, Fla. -- A 35-foot sperm whale that beached itself off Big Pine Key on Monday died Tuesday afternoon.

The 15-ton whale, which experts said was emaciated, had to labor in order to breathe and had been attacked by sharks, died at about 1 p.m.

"All the people working here, all the people involved in the stranding network, our heart goes out to this animal. It's really hard," said veterinarian Dr. Robert Stevens.

Marine experts had been trying to rescue the whale since Monday morning.

"We waited for the animal to calm down before we tried to do anything with it yesterday," said Celeste Weimer, of the Marine Mammal Rescue team. "We gave it a bunch of tranquilizers to sedate it. Unfortunately, that didn't work for euthanizing the animal."

The sick whale had to remain in the shallow water overnight, bleeding, making it a target for sharks, which apparently attacked it during the night.

Experts believe the whale beached itself because it was ill, but the cause of its sickness has not been determined.

"It's been sick for a while," Weimer said. "It's extremely thin. It's lost 10 to 12 inches of blubber. It hasn't eaten in a long time. It could be any number of things from a bacterial infection, a viral infection, possibly some kind of human interaction," Weimer said. "We don't know that until we can get in there and look at it."

Experts and veterinarians said they would attempt a modified necropsy, or an autopsy for animals in the water in order to determine the whale's age, sex and possibly what killed it, NBC 6's Hank Tester reported.

Rescuers said the whale's carcass was too big to move to land.

"We're going to tow it off shore, and we're going to tow it way, way off shore so that it doesn't come back to us, and hopefully it'll stay out there. We'll sink it, and it will go back to the earth," said Vicki Cornish, of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association.

Injured Big Pine Key deer treated, released

BY TRACI RORK
Key West Citizen Staff

BIG PINE KEY — Wildlife officials on Thursday released an endangered Key deer back into the wild after helping it recover from an apparent dog attack.

Just three days before, the injured deer had lain covered in mud, struggling to breathe through its clogged nostrils. In addition to being disabled by a piece of trash wrapped around one of its hind legs, the deer's neck was bleeding. What initially appeared to be a gunshot wound later was attributed to a dog.

"He ran, not walked — ran," said Maya Totman, director of the Exotic and Wild Bird Rescue, who nursed the near-death deer back to health after a couple brought it to her home Monday. She said the deer didn't even limp, a surprise considering the rubber ring she removed had grown into the deer's leg.

Donna Marchant found the deer after veering off a trail along Long Beach Road. She initially thought it was dead, but reached down to touch it and felt its heart beating. She went to get help and returned with her husband, Dick, a towel and some water. They rinsed the deer and used the towel as a gurney to carry it to their car and take it to Totman's.

"We didn't know if we were even supposed to pick it up," Donna said, referring to federal regulations protecting endangered species. "But no way I was going to leave it there to die."

Totman called the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, who sent Les Pulley and other officials, who determined the wounds were dog bites.

Totman gave the deer Pedialyte for its dehydration, used lubricating jelly to remove the rubber ring, treated the infected wound with hydrogen peroxide and Neosporin, and stitched up the remaining wounds. She also administered antibiotics, multiplying the doses since she usually treats birds and not 40-pound Key deer.

"He was in shock when they brought him in and I was so glad to see that on Tuesday he was able to eat deer food and romaine lettuce," Totman said, adding the first 48 hours to 72 hours are critical to an injured animal's survival.

Around 6 a.m. Thursday, Totman heard a loud noise and saw the deer stomping its feet and pushing the door with its head. The FWC's Russ Costa advised her to let him go. "He was ready for his freedom. I opened the cage and he looked around and then ran," Totman said. An hour later, she saw it walking into the woods with four other deer.

"The hero in all of this is Maya," Marchant said. "She is a wonderful person and I really admire all the work she does." Totman hopes the incident highlights two problems in the Big Pine Key area: trash and vicious dogs that run loose.

Loose Dogs Concern Residents in the Florida Keys

JESSICA MACHETTA
Florida Keys Keynoter

MARATHON - Russ Costa with the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service on Big Pine Key was looking for a pack of dogs Friday morning after receiving complaints from concerned residents. "I found two of them and watched the owner load them up in her car," Costa said, "but I haven't seen the pit bull yet."

Maya Totman, director of Exotic and Wild Bird Rescue on Big Pine, says she saw a pit bull and another dog chasing a fawn in the National Key Deer Refuge, so she tried to chase them away from the fawn. The pit bull, she says, squared off and growled at her. "This is a very dangerous situation," she Totman.

Costa says following up on animal complaints is generally left up to Monroe County Animal Control, but since the dogs were in the refuge, it became his responsibility. "They will do injuries and kill the deer," he said.

Jim and Mary Ellen Malley, residents who bike the area most mornings, said they spotted the two dogs earlier, and then again as they came back across the habitat area with two more dogs. "The one definitely is a pit bull," Mary Ellen said. "The other looked like a small black poodle, another one was almost like a golden retriever, and then another one looked like a mixed-breed, it was a larger dog." "I'm scared of pit bulls," she said. "People say they're wonderful dogs and depend on the owner, but to me, they're dangerous because they're bred that way for a reason."

Keys residents are especially wary of dogs on the loose right now after two recent pit-bull attacks in Key West. The initial attack, June 20, left one dog dead and two men bitten while they attempted to pull the pit bull off its victim. That pit bull has been put down.

A second attack happened the next day, when a separate pit pull attacked a Key West resident as he walked his bison frise. He is still recovering from minor bit wounds. That dog is being quarantined at the Stock Island animal shelter.

"The owner has not called back and contacted us to tell us what to do," said Gwen Hawtof, president of the Key West Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, which runs the shelter. "The problem is he has a real liability issue here that he's taking very seriously. I don't know at this point if the dog is coming or going. Unfortunately, after a bite, the options are fewer and harder than preventing it from happening in the first place."

To report dogs running loose in Key West, call the SPCA at 294-4857; on Big Pine and in Marathon, call Stand Up For Animals at 872-3412 or 743-3779; in Key Largo, call Humane Animal Care Coalition at 451-0088.