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Blind Raccoon Serves as Federally Licensed Wildlife Ambassador

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Dorothy Lee, aka "Miss Dot," holds Trouper, the blind raccoon.

Trouper, the blind raccoon, captured the heart of Dorothy Lee (aka Miss Dot) several years ago.

Miss Dot is a wildlife rehabilitator, who fought to save Trouper's life after he was attacked by a golfer as a wild baby raccoon. He is now 9 years old, and though he's blind, he has a mission to help other animals as the official wildlife ambassador of the Wildlife Education Project.

 

The Wildlife Education Project is a non-profit that seeks to instill a lifelong respect for all living things and the environment. Miss Dot and Trouper join Gulf Coast Live to talk about the project's efforts through Trouper's educational appearances with Miss Dot throughout the state of Florida and more.

 

Rachel Iacovone is a reporter and associate producer of Gulf Coast Live for WGCU News. Rachel came to WGCU as an intern in 2016, during the presidential race. She went on to cover Florida Gulf Coast University students at President Donald Trump's inauguration on Capitol Hill and Southwest Floridians in attendance at the following day's Women's March on Washington.Rachel was first contacted by WGCU when she was managing editor of FGCU's student-run media group, Eagle News. She helped take Eagle News from a weekly newspaper to a daily online publication with TV and radio branches within two years, winning the 2016 Society of Professional Journalists Mark of Excellence Award for Best Use of Multimedia in a cross-platform series she led for National Coming Out Day. She also won the Mark of Excellence Award for Feature Writing for her five-month coverage of an FGCU student's transition from male to female.As a WGCU reporter, she produced the first radio story in WGCU's Curious Gulf Coast project, which answered the question: Does SWFL Have More Cases of Pediatric Cancer?Rachel graduated from Florida Gulf Coast University with a bachelor's degree in journalism.