Filed at December 23, 2009 under Florida Keys and Lower Keys and Big Pine Key and Environment and On the Water by Keys
Stanley Switlik Elementary School fifth graders recently spent the day at Sea Camp on Big Pine Key learning about nature and man's impact on the environment.
Students dug through algae to find brittle stars, worms, sea cucumbers, crabs and even shrimp. Staff assisted as students practiced snorkeling in the swim area before going out on the boats in the afternoon.
An afternoon snorkeling close to the mangroves gave the fifth graders a closeup look at lobster, moon jellyfish, different types of coral and sponges, snapper, and sea grasses.
Students learned how pollution causes harm to the near shore environment, and why certain sponges cause rashes. They even got a chance to practice some science, learning about the structure of sponges.
Sea Camp donated the trip for 88 Switlik students, teachers, and chaperons.
Seacamp is a non-profit 501(c)3 organization that operates on the cooperative effort of parents, scientists, businessmen, camp leaders and others dedicated to the education of youth in marine science.
Located at Newfound Harbor on Big Pine Key, Sea Camp includes a science lab, recreation hall, dining hall, arts and crafts building, four dormitories and staff housing, along with other services including an infirmary.
Anyone interested in Sea Camp's mission, or working as a volunteer is invited to join the Seacamp Association, located at 1300 Big Pine Ave., Big Pine Key. For more information, call 872-2331.
via Sea Camp kids learn nature’s lessons.
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Filed at August 1, 2009 under Florida Keys and Lower Keys and Big Pine Key and Animals and Mammal and Key Deer by Keys
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).
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Filed at June 5, 2009 under Florida Keys and Lower Keys and Big Pine Key and On the Water and Diving by Keys
Forty years after the release of their “Yellow Submarine” album, the Beatles are embarking on another underwater adventure. Divers costumed as the iconic quartet are to star in the 25th annual Underwater Music Festival set for Saturday, July 11, in the waters off the Lower Florida Keys. Divers portraying “Ringo Starfish,” “John Lemon-shark,” “Paul McCarpney” and “George Herringson” are to rock the waters of the continental United States’ only living coral barrier reef during the offbeat underwater event, which typically draws as many as 600 divers and snorkelers each year. The submerged songfest is set for 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Looe Key Reef, an area of the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary south of Big Pine Key. It celebrates the colorful marine life that characterizes the Keys’ unique coral reef ecosystem while encouraging environmentally responsible diving. As well as watching the Beatles pretenders “perform” beneath the sea accompanied by backup singer “Mako Ono,” finned fans might even spot a replica yellow submarine saluting the album’s 1969 release.
Staged by local radio station WWUS 104.1 FM, the fish-friendly festival features the station’s selections broadcast underwater via Lubell Laboratory speakers suspended beneath boats positioned at the reef. The playlist is to include ocean-themed ditties such as Jimmy Buffett’s “Fins,” authentic humpback whale song and, of course, the Beatles’ “Octopus’s Garden” and “Yellow Submarine.” Underwater music “afishionados” also plan to jam on aquatic instruments sculpted by Florida Keys artist August Powers. Blending elements of sea creatures and actual instruments, Powers’ creations include a trom-bonefish, manta-lin and drumfish. To draw attention to the underlying message of reef preservation, the musical broadcast incorporates diver awareness announcements featuring tips on enjoying the ocean while minimizing impact on the marine environment.
To participate in the Underwater Music Festival’s 25th anniversary, divers and snorkelers can reserve space aboard boats run by Lower Keys dive operators or launch their own boats from public ramps and local marinas. For information about area dive charters and accommodations, call the Lower Keys Chamber of Commerce at (800) 872-3722 or (305) 872-2411, or visit www.fla-keys.com or www.lowerkeyschamber.com.
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Filed at May 26, 2009 under Florida Keys and Lower Keys and Big Pine Key and Animals and Reptiles and iguana by Keys
A 40-year-old Big Pine Key man was in jail Monday after he allegedly threatened to kill his wife and fired several shots in his home Saturday night, including one while deputies were present, reports say. Michael David Cristler Jr. of 31357 Avenue C was charged with assault with a deadly weapon without intent to kill and discharging a firearm.
Cristler denied threatening his wife, saying he was only shooting iguanas, reports say.
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Filed at May 16, 2009 under Florida Keys and Lower Keys and Big Pine Key by Keys
You should remember Tim Goll. He was convicted of killing the alligator at Big Pine Key’s Blue Hole in March 2006. In June 2007 he and Jordan Milo pleaded guilty to felony alligator poaching and received a very light sentence. Circuit Judge Mark H. Jones, saying he rarely has seen a case with as much public interest, sentenced Jordan Milo, 20, and Timothy Goll, 19, to six months at the Monroe County Detention Center, five years’ probation, community service and a psychological evaluation, despite the public outcry for five years in prison.
Goll has not been able to take advantage of this good fortune. In April 2008 he violated probation for failing to see his therapist, a requirement under the sentence agreement, failing to pay $50 per month for probation supervision, and testing positive for cocaine and marijuana. Goll was sentenced to 364 days in jail with credit for time served and had to complete an in-house program at the jail. This by the original judge.
In February 2009, Goll again violated his probation for failing to pay $50 per month, tested positive for cocaine, marijuana and Xanax. Fortunately, for the public, there was a new judge on the case. This time Judge David Audlin sentenced Goll to 36 months in the State prison, he gets credit for the 348 days he served in Monroe County Jail but will still have 2+ years left.
Rest easy Cola, justice has finally been served.
If you would like to read more check out “Blue Hole Gator Kllers Get 6 Months” and Kimberley Denney’s fantastic article in Key West The Newspaper.
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Filed at December 14, 2007 under Animals and Florida Keys and Lower Keys and Big Pine Key and Environment by Keys
In a letter to the US Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), The Humane Society of the United States asks the federal agency to immediately halt a trapping program in the Florida Keys because it is needlessly killing raccoons and other native wildlife species. Local residents and wildlife advocates have expressed outrage over the senseless trapping of native wildlife. In its letter to USFWS Southeast Director Sam Hamilton, The HSUS points out that the Fish and Wildlife Service may be violating federal law by carrying out this reckless and indiscriminate killing campaign.
Last March, the USFWS hired USDA Wildlife Services to humanely trap feral and free-roaming cats and bring them to animal shelters, which then would place them in colonies or return them to their owners. The stated goal of the program is to reduce predation upon the endangered marsh rabbit. However, instead of removing cats, it turns out that Wildlife Services has been trapping and killing large numbers of raccoons and other wildlife under a program which costs taxpayers $50,000. “The irony is that the main species they are trying to protect – the Lower Keys marsh rabbit – is rarely preyed upon by raccoons,” explains Laura Simon, field director of urban wildlife for The HSUS. “The federal government is killing dozens of raccoons and other species indiscriminately, for no good reason, and taxpayers are footing the bill.” Read more »
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Filed at December 7, 2007 under Animals and Florida Keys and Lower Keys and Big Pine Key by Keys
A convicted alligator killer has violated his probation by drinking alcohol and taking opiates while on work release from the Monroe County Detention Center this week, authorities said Thursday.
Jordan Milo, 21, of Big Pine Key, was returning to jail after a day’s work at a construction site Tuesday when corrections officers suspected he was under the influence of some substance. A urine test and three Breathalyzer tests showed opiates and blood-alcohol levels of 0.11, 0.12, and 0.13, according to sheriff’s spokeswoman Becky Herrin and Assistant State Attorney Val Winter, who prosecuted the case. Milo could have his probation reinstated or be sentenced to serve five years in prison, the maximum he could have received for poaching the alligator in the Blue Hole wildlife preserve last year. He also risks losing the chance to have the felony charge expunged from his criminal record, one of the terms of his probation.
“The judge could do anything,” Winter said.
An arraignment has been scheduled for 8:45 a.m. Thursday at the Monroe County courthouse on Whitehead Street. Milo either can admit violating his probation or deny it and request a hearing. His attorney, Nathan Eden, did not return The Citizen’s calls for comment Thursday. Meanwhile, the Sheriff’s Office has revoked Milo’s work-release privilege, Herrin said. Work-release inmates have more freedom than the general population, but they also are monitored more closely, she said. “They ride a bike to work and we know how long it takes to get there and back, and the employers are given a session on how to supervise the inmates,” she said, “but these things happen and we catch them when they do.”
Milo and his accomplice, 19-year-old Marathon resident Timothy Goll, began serving a six-month jail term in September, to be followed by five years on probation. Judge Mark Jones ordered them to complete eight hours of public service a month, half of which must be for environmental causes, during the first three years of their probation. The judge also ordered both receive psychological evaluations and the appropriate treatment, and banned them from the Blue Hole wildlife preserve. Both pleaded guilty in June to third-degree felony charges for blinding and bludgeoning to death a 6-foot female alligator they then ate at a backyard barbecue in March, photos of which they posted on www.myspace.com.
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Filed at September 8, 2007 under Animals and Florida Keys and Lower Keys and Big Pine Key by Keys
The two young men who killed Cola the alligator with a high-powered pellet gun and souvenir baseball bat, ate her at a barbecue and gloated with pictures on MySpace.com are going to jail. ”They picked the wrong gator to kill,” Gordon Sharp, the arresting officer for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, said Friday during the impassioned five-hour sentencing hearing.
Cola lived with its mate Bacardi at the Blue Hole, an abandoned rock quarry turned pond on a federal refuge on Big Pine Key. She was visited yearly by thousands, and described as “semi-tame.”
Circuit Judge Mark H. Jones, saying he rarely has seen a case with as much public interest, sentenced Jordan Milo, 20, and Timothy Goll, 19, to six months at the Monroe County Detention Center, five years’ probation, community service and a psychological evaluation. Before being led away in handcuffs, Milo, a sergeant in the 194th Army Reserve unit with orders to go to Iraq, blurted: “I will be dishonorably discharged.” That prompted an angry Jones to tell Milo: “You still don’t get it.” Read more »
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Stanley Switlik Elementary School fifth graders recently spent the day at Sea Camp on Big Pine Key learning about nature and man's impact on the environment.