ST. AUGUSTINE — Howdy, y’all! Frank “Alligator” Robb right here. You would possibly acknowledge me because the tall, lanky, bearded Floridian who rescued the one that you love Probability the Snapper in the summertime of 2019. Probability has since grow to be a part of one thing even better 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. However beginning early in my profession, I wished to know extra—I wished to discover the intricate interior workings of those animals and higher perceive their potential contributions to human well being. That want led me again to high school, 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 Schooling Consciousness Analysis Assist and Companies — EEARSS for brief. Days later I obtained a name from the Metropolis of Chicago asking for assist with the alligator who Block Membership readers would later dub Probability the Snapper.
EEARSS is now engaged in a number of analysis initiatives, together with a collaboration with the Smart Laboratory of Environmental and Genetic Toxicology on the College 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 substances trigger illness.
A key space of focus for the lab is how chemical substances within the atmosphere trigger most cancers. In comparison with people, some species, like alligators and whales, have comparatively decrease charges of most cancers, regardless of being uncovered to the identical chemical substances as people.
Our examine with the Smart lab focuses on human lung most cancers, inspecting the chemical substances and ensuing DNA harm in alligators to raised perceive threats to the well being of alligators and people alike. We need to perceive how alligators keep away from chemical-induced most cancers. Within 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 adjustments of their atmosphere are altering publicity to those chemical substances 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 means.
And since each sturdy 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 ability that gave Probability a everlasting house. The Alligator Farm meticulously tracks its animals’ diets and veterinary care, and its pure spring offers a pristine atmosphere — good for this analysis.
Simply this week, with the assistance of groups from the Smart lab and the Alligator Farm, I captured Probability to gather his measurements and take a blood pattern.
Probability 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.
Extra 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.
Probability’s story continues to encourage. Nonetheless, this work requires assets and assist. We’re presently making an attempt to purchase a ship, which we have to proceed our research. You’ll be able to assist us by going to EEARSS.org and hitting the donate tab.
Frank Robb, an occasional contributor to Block Membership, endeared himself to hundreds of thousands in 2019 when he got here to Chicago to entice the elusive Humboldt Park alligator, who Block Membership readers named Probability the Snapper. He’s been holding Chicagoans updated on Probability’s life ever since.
