PBS and NPR for Southwest Florida
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

We Get the Latest on Red Tide

JUDY BAXTER / CREATIVE COMMONS
Fish kill on the shore of the Gulf of Mexico following a Red Tide bloom.

One of the biggest draws to our area is the beaches, but when red tide is blooming off the coast, dead and injured animals wash ashore, and people who get a whiff of the airborne algae can have respiratory issues. Red tide can cause some birds to look drunk, while sea turtles can become basically incapacitated. While researchers busy themselves with trying to figure out what causes red tide, or what could help get rid of it, we’re sitting down with a person whose focus is on what the stuff does to animals and people. Heather Barron is the Hospital Director at CROW on Sanibel, where been busy rehabbing animals during the recent bloom.

 

The Clinic for the Rehabilitation of Wildlife is a teaching hospital and visitor education center dedicated to saving wildlife through state-of-the-art veterinary care, research, education and conservation medicine.