Week of Wednesday, July 26, 2023 n Page 20 captivasanibel.com Sanibel-Captiva Islander
Mother Nature takes charge Mother Nature didn’t mince words. She had convened what was left of Hurricane Ian to get a postmortem on his mission. Ian struggled in. All that was left of his previous fury was a wisp of wind, barely enough to blow a feather off the massive conference room table. Mother Nature: Take a seat, if you can manage to get to it, you ungrateful wimp. How dare you countermand my orders? I told you to leave a light rain and puffy wind on Sanibel, not destroy it. Ian: I took matters into my own hand, Art Stevens Mother Nature. I knew the price I would pay but we hurricanes got tired of your conservative approach to mass destruction. We hurricanes were born to destroy, not to deliver puffs of nothingness. You have tested our masculinity far too long. MN: How dare you ignore the instructions you got from me. I’m Mother Nature and I determine what is best for mankind. My goal was to shake humans up before they fully destroy the planet I’ve preserved for thousands of years. You forget that it is I who created you and all the other hurricanes. Your assignment was to gently remind mankind that if it didn’t respect the centuries old climate I helped to create on planet earth, then it had only itself to blame for destroying the planet. Who gave you the right to defy my methods? Ian: Mother Nature, you must realize by now that there is a mutiny on your hands. We who are your very own creations cannot ignore how kind and gentle you have been to mankind since you taught your first ape to make fire by rubbing two stones together. So what did mankind do with that breakthrough? They created cigarettes on their own and tried killing themselves. Then they invented smokestacks, discovered oil and coal, and soon the clean atmosphere above them was reeking with poison. As a result, the glaciers in the North and South Poles began to melt, the oceans got warmer, and we hurricanes benefited from that. We allowed ourselves to get stronger to shake those doubting humans up. MN: All of those things are true, but I chose a different course. I chose not to intervene and allow mankind to set its own near destruction. Once it realized how close they would come to annihilation I would alter the course of history and return Planet Earth to the pristine garden of Eden it once was. You and your fellow hurricanes have no right or authority to interfere with that plan. Ian: Yes, but I took the law of nature into my own hands because you weren’t doing your job. I focused on Sanibel, a wealthy community which has supported the tender loving care of the environment just to teach a lesson. If Sanibel could go down, then mankind would learn a lesson and cease and desist. Don’t you think mankind has learned its lesson by now? MN: All you have really done is erode Sanibel tourism for a brief time. They will rebuild, tourists will order their blackened fish again and she will sell seashells by the seashore as always. The people who live on Sanibel are strong willed. They are not to be tampered with. All you did is destroy some buildings and homes but not their resolve. Ian: You may punish me, Mother Nature, take away my healthcare plan, turn me into a wisp of my former self but others will follow in my wind stream. You will see. Our fury will endure unless mankind stops messing with you. There’s no other way. I will bear my punishment.
Shell Shocked
See MOTHER NATURE, page 21
CLINIC FOR THE REHABILITATION OF WILDLIFE
The CROW Campus Tour is offered on Wednesdays through Fridays on the Sanibel campus.
CROW resumes tours, launches program By TIFFANY REPECKI
trepecki@breezenewspapers.com
Still continuing to recover nearly a year after Hurricane Ian, the Clinic for the Rehabilitation of Wildlife on Sanibel is open and again offering programming to educate and engage visitors. A teaching hospital dedicated to saving sick, injured and orphaned native and migratory wildlife in Southwest Florida and beyond, it resumed its CROW Campus Tours earlier this month, which provide participants with an insider's look into the care and rehabilitation that staff provide to their patients. In addition, CROW recently launched a new story and snack time program for youths that aims to foster a love for literature and animals, while also sharing its mission. Additionally, three days a week, CROW hosts a Program of the Week covering a range of topics related to wildlife and patient care.
CROW Campus Tour Taking place on Wednesdays through Fridays at about noon after the Program of the Week, the CROW Campus Tour gives participants an in-depth look into what patients experience from intake to release, including the inner workings of the hospital and treatment process. Added post-storm, visitors will also get a look into CROW's rebuilding efforts. “Our tours, even preHurricane Ian, gave people an insight into the hospital and how it works,” Executive Director Alison Charney Hussey said. “How our patient care is accomplished, how animals are rehabilitated once they are strong enough to be out of the hospital but prior to their release.” Now, the tours also incorporate how CROW prepared and recovered Alison Charney from the storm. Hussey “And what our future plans are for rebuilding,” she said. On the guided tour, participants are taken to the hospital. “They get to walk through the lower level of the hospital,” Hussey said. “As well as get a peek into the upper level of the hospital as far as treatments and intakes, if they're happening at that time, even a potential surgery if it's happening at the time of the tour.” Next, participants are taken over to CROW's Animal Ambassador Enclosures, where they will meet Mina — a great horned owl — and Talon — a red-tailed hawk — up close and hear about their stories. The tour lasts for about 45 minutes to one hour. “The majority of the tour is outside, so we encourage our participants to be hydrated, to bring water bottles, especially in the summer heat in Florida,” she said.
The Clinic for the Rehabilitation of Wildlife recently launched Story Time on Tuesdays. Each tour is limited to 12 people and participants must be age 10 or older. “What we do is sometimes very emotional, for even our staff,” Hussey said. “Taking care of wildlife injuries, there can be the potential to see patients that have substantial injuries. So we just want to make sure it's age appropriate.” She noted that photographs are not permitted. “Our permits do not allow us to have the general public take photographs of the patients in care,” Hussey said. The tour costs $25 per person, and advanced registration and payment is required. To register, contact 239-472-3644, ext. 229 or reservations@crowclinic.org.
Story Time A free program focused on conservation education and community engagement, Story Time is scheduled for Tuesdays at 2 p.m. at the Visitor Education Center from now until Aug. 8. The interactive five-week program is aimed at educating and engaging children on the region's native wildlife. “Children are the future caregivers of our wildlife, so it's important to foster their love of animals and learning at an early age,” Hussey said, adding that staff is excited to welcome back visiting youths. “Their happy faces and interesting questions lift our hearts and love of learning,” she said. During the program, a staff member narrates a conservation story for attendees. Covering a variety of topics, each week will feature a different story showcasing a local author. The remaining ones are: See CROW, page 21