ST. AUGUSTINE — Howdy, y’all! Frank “Alligator” Robb right here. You may acknowledge me because the tall, lanky, bearded Floridian who rescued the one you love Chance the Snapper in the summertime of 2019. Chance has since develop into a part of one thing even larger than the journey that first introduced him into our lives: scientific analysis that’s serving to us higher perceive threats to alligator well being, human well being and the broader ecosystem.
I’ve been working with alligators, crocodiles and different wildlife for practically 30 years. In that point I’ve captured greater than 400 crocodilians practically yearly. But beginning early in my profession, I needed to know extra—I needed to discover the intricate internal workings of those animals and higher perceive their potential contributions to human well being. That want led me again to highschool, the place I earned a level in biomedical sciences and immersed myself in research with wild alligators.
In 2019, I based a nonprofit referred to as Environmental Education Awareness Research Support and Services — EEARSS for brief. Days later I acquired a name from the City of Chicago asking for assist with the alligator who Block Club readers would later dub Chance the Snapper.
EEARSS is now engaged in a number of analysis initiatives, together with a collaboration with the Wise Laboratory of Environmental and Genetic Toxicology on the University of Louisville. The lab approaches its work from a “one environmental well being” perspective, which suggests they examine the interconnectedness of human well being, animal well being and ecosystem well being and the way chemical compounds trigger illness.
A key space of focus for the lab is how chemical compounds within the setting trigger most cancers. Compared to people, some species, like alligators and whales, have comparatively decrease charges of most cancers, regardless of being uncovered to the identical chemical compounds as people.
Our examine with the Wise lab focuses on human lung most cancers, analyzing the chemical compounds and ensuing DNA injury in alligators to raised perceive threats to the well being of alligators and people alike. We wish to perceive how alligators keep away from chemical-induced most cancers. In the brief time period, we hope to develop a foundational understanding of the chemical ranges in wild alligators. In the long run, we’ll use this baseline to find out how modifications of their setting are altering publicity to those chemical compounds and impacting their well being.
For this analysis, we’re capturing, testing and re-releasing wild alligators in estuarine areas just like the Indian and Banana rivers in Brevard County, Florida. We catch an animal, pull it to shore, take a blood and tissue pattern, add a monitoring tag and toe tag and ship it on its method.
And since each strong scientific examine requires a management group, on this case we’re lucky to have entry to the alligators from the St. Augustine Alligator Farm Zoological Park — the power that gave Chance a everlasting dwelling. The Alligator Farm meticulously tracks its animals’ diets and veterinary care, and its pure spring supplies a pristine setting — good for this analysis.
Just this week, with the assistance of groups from the Wise lab and the Alligator Farm, I captured Chance to gather his measurements and take a blood pattern.
Chance is now 7-foot-1. He was nearly 4 toes lengthy once I first discovered him. He has additionally practically quadrupled in weight to about 130 kilos since then! It took three of us to choose him up.
More importantly, he’s now contributing to important analysis that might pave the way in which for superior most cancers therapies — or maybe, sometime, a remedy.
Chance’s story continues to encourage. However, this work requires assets and assist. We’re at the moment making an attempt to purchase a ship, which we have to proceed our research. You may help us by going to EEARSS.org and hitting the donate tab.
Frank Robb, an occasional contributor to Block Club, endeared himself to hundreds of thousands in 2019 when he got here to Chicago to lure the elusive Humboldt Park alligator, who Block Club readers named Chance the Snapper. He’s been protecting Chicagoans updated on Chance’s life ever since.
