Dolphins, Disabilities & Deeds (Dedicated to Winter the Dolphin)

Clearwater Marine Aquarium is a leading hospital for marine life; a passionate educator; and has been extremely impactful to the disability community. Kelsy Long, the Director of Media Relations, speaks about the history of the aquarium, the dedicated staff and volunteers, and how their most famous resident, Winter, had a movie made about her. (Dolphin's Tale). 

After this episode was recorded, Winter passed away at the age of 16, but you will hear in the episode the legacy she left behind, and lives she continues to touch around the world. 

Links:
Clearwater Marine Aquarium homepage: HERE 
 Information on Winter's Get: HERE

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Transcript

Naveh Eldar  0:00  
This was a emotional episode for me to edit. After dropping my daughter off for her freshman year of college at FIU in Miami, we decided to spend a few days in Clearwater, Florida, mostly because it was four hours closer to our home. And they had a beach there that was at least slightly less crowded than others in the area. We never been there. And my wife asked if I wanted to go to Clearwater Marine Aquarium, I typically don't go out of my way to go to an aquarium. But she was like, it's actually a Marine Hospital and the one that was featured in dolphins Tale, which starred winter to dolphin, and I love that movie. So I was all in. So that was on August 16. And we took an amazing tour, and one that unexpectedly made me want to have them on my podcast. Winter was beautiful and playful. And while we were there, we we saw I went to spend some time with a young man that had a limb difference. And then I heard about all this other stuff that they did around the disability community. And so it just made me really excited to have them on. Very impressed with the staff as a whole there. So the reason why this episode was difficult for me to edit was because we recorded the episode on October 21. But I got a text two days ago on November 12, that winter had passed away at the age of 16. Her legacy is set in stone, as you'll hear in this episode, and I just feel so fortunate that I got to see her in person. If you don't know in her story, you haven't seen the movie. When she was two years old, she got caught in the crab trap and ended up losing her tail flukes or her fin. And it was actually recommended by most experts to euthanize her. But Clearwater aquarium and winter had other ideas, luckily, and as you know, she she had a very happy life for another 14 years. The movie is currently on HBO, or you can rent it. And if you haven't seen it, you really should check it out. So this episode speaks about a lot of work the CMA does, and we don't even get to winter until about the halfway mark. But I wanted to just take this time to remember her and to dedicate this episode to winter and to those who cared so lovingly for her and now to the episode.

Welcome to the landscape, a podcast to shed light on the people, programs, businesses and now aquariums that are changing the landscape for individuals with any type of disability. I'm your host Naveh Eldar. Today's guest is Kelsey long, the Director of Media Relations at Clearwater Marine Aquarium in Clearwater, Florida. The aquarium cares for several marine animals with disabilities. And as I learned on a tour I recently took there has had an incredible impact on men, women and children with disabilities from all over the world before the interview starts, if you are new to the landscape, please subscribe recommend to others and leave a review on Apple podcast. Today's episode starts with Kelsey giving a history on Clearwater Marine Aquarium.

Kelsy Long  3:46  
We were founded in 1972, essentially as an education facility. So the idea from our founders was to educate visitors and locals about the marine life that was around a Clearwater area. From there, we we extended into a rescue and rehab facility. So in 1978, we worked with the city of Clearwater, they actually leased us our current space, which was an old water treatment plant in 1978. They leased it to us for $1 a year. Because, you know, the it was a defunct water treatment plant. And so with the tanks that they had there and the location of the facility being right on the water right near where a lot of the animals that we wanted to treat, were swimming and where they lived. It was perfect for us. So we went about rehabbing and fixing and refurbishing the facility so that it could be a home for rescued marine life with the entire goal of us, rescuing them, rehabbing them and then releasing them back into their natural habitat. What we found was that a lot of these animals that we were rescuing weren't fit to be released back out into the wild and when I say They were not fit, they were deemed non releasable by the federal government. So the Clearwater Marine Aquarium doesn't make that decision when animals are not able to go back out into the wild that is overseen by the federal government, they will review then animals history, their medical challenges, and then determine whether or not they can survive in the wild. And so while these animals, they have ailments, for example, a lot of our dolphins they're orphaned. And dolphin stay with our mother for for many years learning just how to be a dolphin. So how to evade predators, how to forage for food, all of these things that they will learn from their mother over the years, they never got to learn. So when they are orphaned, they would go back into the wild, and they would just, they would not survive. Okay, so a lot of our animals have that. And then many of them also have medical issues. Actually, four of our animals have hearing loss. So when you think of a dolphin in particular, hearing loss is a huge challenge because they use echolocation to find their food to navigate their environment. And when they don't have that capability. Again, they will not survive in the wild. So, you know, we started off as an education facility, we built that into a rescue rehab, a marine life hospital, essentially. And then over the years, an aquarium kind of built up around us. We started out with education is always at our core. And we are a marine life, we are working in life hospital 24/7. And when I say 24/7, I mean, we have a rescue hotline that you can call at 3am. And someone will be there to take your call on this issue.

Naveh Eldar  6:38  
Wow. That's extremely interesting to me. So like you said, You are a hospital where an aquarium was built around you. So that wasn't the intent. That's that's really interesting that I something I didn't know. Now, you said that the federal government decides if they can be released or not. I, and I'm assuming that ended. That's what I'm gonna ask you the question. If your doctors deem that it is ready to be released back, do you still have to get approval for that? Or is it more for the animals that you feel cannot be released.

Kelsy Long  7:11  
So that is also deemed by the federal government. So with and so that's mostly with our cetaceans. So with the dolphins, they are overseen by a National Marine Fisheries or NOAA. And then our sea turtles are overseen by Florida Wildlife Conservation Commission. So when these animals come in, our veterinarian will provide essentially their health chart, if you will, their history and how they're going. And we'll make a recommendation to say that this animal is ready for release. And then we'll get the final clear from FWC for sea turtles and then National Marine Fisheries or cetaceans.

Naveh Eldar  7:45  
You mentioned that your 24 hours a day, and people can call you at three o'clock in the morning. So how do you get Where do the referrals come to for the animals?

Kelsy Long  7:56  
So we get a lot of our rescue calls just from good Samaritans, from people that are walking out of the beach, from voters who are out enjoying the beautiful habitat that we have. Here in Florida. We also work a lot with our our local police force, our local park rangers, they send us a lot of referrals as well.

Naveh Eldar  8:18  
And then I mean, some of these animals are quite large. And obviously they're, they're marine animals. So how do you get them to your facility.

Kelsy Long  8:28  
So we get a lot of our animals in actually on site in quite, quite different ways. Essentially, it depends on their size, too. We actually had quite a large sea turtle that the Coast Guard actually had to bring in to us because he was just he was such a large animal. We have volunteers, we I mean, we are run by volunteers. And they are all throughout the Bay Area. And when we receive a call of an animal, you know, we will coordinate so we utilize WhatsApp and we use phone calls and all sorts of different ways to kind of coordinate you know, we have a volunteer that's dispatched to this area. And we'll use you know, Google Maps or Apple Maps anything at all to kind of pinpoint their location. And we'll arrange where they can meet up. So, for example, we have a good Samaritan boater who accidentally hooked to sea turtle on their boat, though, we'll advise them to you know, do not remove the hook, you know, tape it on their shell, and they'll bring it to their closest pier and we'll have a volunteer there ready pick them up. I mean, they'll have a banana box in their car and we'll drop come to CMA and drop it

Naveh Eldar  9:37  
off. I just find it very refreshing that people will do that. We'll take the time to call you instead of just going oh, I did something bad. Let me just cut this line and run. You know, so I think that that's really cool that good Samaritans as you call them.

Kelsy Long  9:54  
Yeah, absolutely. We have a great relationship with our community here and I think a lot of people especially I As of late, I think people are becoming a lot more aware of how they're impacting our environment, and they're seeing, you know, the challenges and the things that can happen. And, and hopefully, we are getting our message out, you know, we work with a lot of, again, local agencies here to put out, you know, public service announcements as we will and different words, our local media is fantastic. They work with us a lot to you know, on, for example, during those big voting holidays, like Memorial Day, and Labor Day, and you know, Fourth of July and things like that they, they will put out packages on their news channels, just reminding folks to be safe and keep an eye out. And just be careful out there on the water.

Naveh Eldar  10:42  
And so you mentioned sea turtles, and you mentioned dolphins, but I cheated a little bit because I visited your facility a few months ago, and which is what got me the idea was like, I have to have them on the show. But what are some other animals that find their way to you? And then what are some of the reasons you said that there's various reasons they come to you. And I didn't know even I visited and I had to be sat behind the scenes tour that we took. I didn't know that you had like deaf animals like that's, that was new for me.

Kelsy Long  11:13  
So we also, as far as our rehabilitation goes, we also work with whales, and porpoises sometimes, you know, a little bit smaller, we had, like in 2019, five pilot whales that actually beached themselves, about 14 miles south of our location on Reddington Beach. And so we responded to that. And we were able to, we actually took two of the five back to our rehab facility in the Tarpon Springs area and Fred Howard park, to rehab those two guys before they were able to be released. So we do a lot of work with whales. In the field work. We work a lot with manatees, Florida, manatees right now are in peril. There is an unusual mortality event going on right now. And we have teams out there in the field every single day tracking manatees assisting with rescues and releases as well, just to keep an eye on on this trouble that they're going through. We also work a lot with right whales. We have an aerial survey team that will fly from about December through the month of March. Up and down North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia and and Florida. Tracking right whales as they migrate from Canada down to off the coast of Jacksonville, which is actually where they calf they're young. And there are less than 400 Right whales in the entire population of the North and North Atlantic right whales and so they are one of the most severely critically endangered large whale. If you check Noah's website, you know they are they are the most endangered large right whale right now. And so our team is up in the air every single day weather permitting, tracking these whales to see if they are calving, any young, how many they are calving. Also, unfortunately, we are seeing a lot of entanglements with these right whales. And so our team will notify the Coast Guard we work a lot with the Georgia DNR as well on on site. So they'll go out and boats and we'll try to disentangle these animals if we can. We also will alert the shipping captain's if there is a right whale in those shipping lanes so that they can you know, move their boats or just avoid certain areas where we know that there are right whales actively in that area. And so we worked a lot with with the local areas there to move the shipping lanes because that is you know, those are major areas where the right whale was to migrate off the coast there in Jacksonville. You know, we do a lot of work, bring the animals on site to do rehab, but also our fieldwork is is immense. Not just in Florida, but in the Caribbean as well. We do a lot of work in Belize, Cuba, and the Dominican Republic as well. And we are expanding that footprint to

Naveh Eldar  13:57  
Oh wow. That is That's amazing. So do you have like a extension clinic or branch clinic in those areas? Or how does that work?

Kelsy Long  14:07  
So we do in Belize. We have an amazing conservation biologist by the name of Jamal Galvez look him up his his work is incredible. He actually started at a young age of almost 14 years old, working with our executive director of our research institute, Dr. Buck James buddy, pal, and saw him coming down and doing His work with manatees and beliefs. And he just knew immediately that that's what he wanted to do. And so now Jamal is an older you know, he grew up and now he oversees our, our branch down there and Belize and our work in Cuba and the Dominican Republic as well. We work with the local local groups there to help them with their rescue efforts and helping them with their standard operation operating procedures and, and also with tagging and tracking manatees that they are rehabbing and releasing themselves.

Naveh Eldar  15:02  
When I was taking our tour off the beaten path, there was a special enclosure, I believe was for the otters. Yeah. So why are those little guys kind of separated and protected from from everybody else?

Kelsy Long  15:17  
Well, so otters are wild, they are adorable, they do have these big sharp teeth. So you know, so they have their own little habitat area there and they are just, they're just so playful and adorable and they love their their water habitat. And so we keep them busy with a lot of different enrichment devices, they love to I call him our, our decorators because they love to rearrange the space and move the rocks and the blankets and the logs that we have for them. So the two otters that we have on site right now are Wally and Boober. And they are both rescued and and have been doing releasable as well. So Boomer was actually raised in an another facility, so he never learned how to be a wild otter and and Wally actually was rescued as a pup by a gentleman that was living on a houseboat. And he kind of took him in and cared for him to the point where unfortunately, while he became dependent upon this gentleman for his food and care, and as Wally got older honors tend to come a little bit more aggressive to hit adolescence and they start to smell a little bit and Wally unfortunately, didn't learn how to be a wild otter either. But we're happy to provide their forever home and Clearwater Marine Aquarium.

Naveh Eldar  16:44  
Yeah, they're mischievous little guys. I mean, I don't know, like their connection to like raccoons. But that's how I think of them. You know how like, they're just like the masters of getting into trouble.

Kelsy Long  16:55  
Yeah, they're back.

Naveh Eldar  16:59  
And so what do you do with the animals that can't be rehabilitated? I mean, you can't keep them all right.

Kelsy Long  17:05  
Correct. Yeah. So we have an animal that we have rehabilitated that has been deemed non releasable. If we don't have the space for them. We actually will work again with the federal government or with have to have FWC depending upon which entity oversees that animals welfare, and to find the best home for them. And so that's why the animals that do call CMA home, we're so honored to have them and to be there forever home, because, you know, it's it wasn't our choice, someone, you know, deemed us the most fit to take care of them for the remainder of their lives. And so, we actually have a sea turtle right now named tortellini. Who we rescued, we rehabilitated him not fully, of course, because he would be released if he was fully rehabilitated. But unfortunately, he does have a gastrointestinal issue, where he's not able to fully remove all the gas. So gas builds up inside his intestines on his shell, which you know, doesn't allow him to dive in to forage for food. So we actually have a few animals like that, that have that challenge in our facility right now, but we just don't have the space for tortellini. So we are working with our entities. So try and find a forever home for him.

Naveh Eldar  18:25  
Gotcha. So I have to know who gets to name them.

Kelsy Long  18:29  
So as far as sea turtles, we have a a naming theme, because we do get a lot of sea turtles are probably the the most common animals that we do get into our rehab facility. And so right now we have a sitcom naming theme. So so we have we have rose, and we have Jess, and we've had Chandler

Naveh Eldar  18:55  
great shows good. Okay, Sasha.

Kelsy Long  19:00  
Fellini was obviously part of the pasta take me. So we have a lot of fun with that. But with our four resident dolphins, for example, Hemingway was our most recent addition to our family. And what we did was we actually asked our audience, we did a poll, we asked them to submit name suggestions. And we had an overwhelming response. It was really incredible to see people that you know, wanted to name them after their grandfather, or, you know, their grandmother or their best friend or you know, and they had these incredible stories that they shared with us, which was just heartwarming. And so two names rose to the top. We had Hemingway and we had Finn, Hemingway, actually because he was found stranded off a fiesta key in the Florida Keys. So I know the famous writer and Ernest Hemingway were there. So we took those two names, and Nicolas Our other resident male dolphin, he's famous for his Knicks picks where essentially he he'll choose a winner between sporting matchups. And so we took a volleyball and we put the name fin, and we put the name Hemingway on on to volleyballs. And we put them at the end edge of his pool. And we had Nicolas pick, which he wanted. And so that's actually an extension of an enrichment activity that we do with Nicolas, it kind of keeps his cognitive things going, where they kind of choose right between two items. And so, so we had him decide, and he chose anyway. And so that's how he got his name,

Naveh Eldar  20:41  
great name. So I may cut this from the episode, but like, you guys should auction off getting to name one of them. Like I would bid on that. Like when he said, I want to name them after like a grandparent or something like that. I would bid on that. That's a good idea. Just a thought.

Kelsy Long  20:58  
Donation idea.

Naveh Eldar  20:59  
Yeah. So donate. That's what I'm saying. And it'd be like a silent auction prize is getting to name one of your animals. So you have such I didn't realize you were that large. Like I didn't realize you had field workers. I didn't realize you have people working in other countries. So how large is your staff? And roughly how large is your volunteer pool? Because I imagine it fluctuates quite a bit.

Kelsy Long  21:20  
Yeah, our stuff does fluctuate, depending upon the seasons, we have, I would say about 200, folks, and that includes our volunteers and interns as well, which again, you know, completely fluctuates with school schedules and the seasonality of CMA. We're very busy in the spring, and we're very busy in the summertime. And during the holidays as well. Our field workers we have about I want to say about 20 workers out there in the field, and they are all over the state of Florida. And so they they're doing incredible work. I mean, I I have a little bit of a crush on on all of them because they're they're just so cool. Especially our right wing, our aerial, right, well, team, they're just incredible. I mean, because they get to wear the flight suits. And you know, they just amazing to me the work that they do, and they literally know all 400 of those right whales by name, I mean, they have to study the markings on these guys, and they're up there in the air for eight hours at a time. I mean, I don't know that I I get hungry every three hours. And so they're up there all day long, just looking at these incredible animals and they just they're so passionate about it. It's it's just infectious.

Naveh Eldar  22:37  
Now another thing that you were known for that my audience may know you for Is it a movie was made around you and I know let the movie was named after the dolphin. But it's really about you and you know the aquarium. So can you tell us a little bit how in the world did that come about?

Kelsy Long  22:57  
Yeah, so dolphin tail actually was the brainchild of our previous CEO David aids. He came to CMA and its dolphin tail is based on a very true story of winter the dolphin she was trapped in a crab trap. She did lose her tail flukes. CMA was in financial peril. And she did her awareness and her story has reached millions I say millions I mean, we were that That movie was distributed in 42 countries so a lot of people from across the world know us because of that movie and because of winter and and her story and her challenge and and I think it's it's really incredible because people get drawn in by the movies, and then they start looking at us and then they realize that they we have six other animals six other dolphins in particular at our facility that have a similar story to winter. No, not all of them are missing their tail flukes. But you know, a lot of them are you know, missing their hearing our they lost their mother at a very young age, which a lot of people can identify with. And so it's it's really incredible to see how how winters story has helped. CMA grow. We always I always joke that, you know, winter kind of bought herself a new home because we expanded in 2020 and our expansion was 14 years in the making. Yeah, you know, we built that facility specific for the care of our five bottlenose dolphins. And I always joke that that winter built that herself.

Naveh Eldar  24:37  
And you never know how a movie gets made like Morgan Freeman's in it, for example, and Harry Connick Jr. If you haven't seen the movie, you have to check it out. It's a it's a great movie, great story. But you don't know like maybe somebody came and visited you and was like, you know, this would make a great movie. But how smart have it for your CEO to think to propose that there's a movie that was very smart.

Kelsy Long  24:59  
Yeah. So he you know, so David came in and he saw winter without, without her tail. And, you know, just him himself thought it was an incredible story. And so we worked with scholastic to, to write a book started out as a book. And from there, he just, you know, he just kept pitching, that was the thing he was very, very much a go getter and, you know, kept pitching kept pitching, there was actually on NPR one day about winter and how she was missing her tail flukes. And that's actually how the doctors that hair clinic, heard about winter reached out to, to David to, to build this prosthetic tail for her. And so they, you know, they teamed up, they built that prosthetic, they continue pitching this story, and eventually, it got the air of Hollywood, and, and the movie came out in 2011. And then dolphin tail two and two and 2014, which is again, a very true story about hope, the dolphin, who was also happy, and at our facility, to this day, hope in winter actually just celebrated their 16th and 11th Birthdays, if you can believe it,

Naveh Eldar  26:09  
I was just gonna ask that because I saw them both when we visited, and they look very happy and very healthy and very active.

Kelsy Long  26:19  
So, assess.

Naveh Eldar  26:21  
So you spoke about the prosthetic. And that was something again, there were so many things on my visit that clicked with, you know, my podcast is about disability issues, obviously, with people. But then I was like, Well, why not have an episode around animals when I was there. And then as I was getting to tour, I learned that that prosthetic actually impacted individuals that also have process. So can you talk about the technology that was developed for winter that eventually made it to people?

Kelsy Long  26:55  
Yeah, absolutely. So So hanker clinic, when they were developing those prosthetic for a dolphin for winter, you know, Dolphin skin is, is a lot more sensitive than human skin. And so the actual the sock, if you will, that, that what that goes on the the human or the animal to use, it needs to be very sensitive and very, you know, have a lot of cushion. So the the person can wear it, or the animal can wear it. And so because winter had such sensitive skin has developed a whole new technology for that. And it's actually called winter's gel. And they patented that, and they use it now on humans. And so actually done, Dr. Dan, who was you know, the Morgan Freeman character was based off of him. And he jokes that he he was a human trial before they actually put it on an animal so you should try things on animals on humans, but as Vice vice versa in this situation, so he tried it before winter did, he gave it the Okay. And and now they use winter gel in humans. So on site at Clearwater Marine Aquarium, we have a lot of war veterans, we have a lot of kids, a lot of adults that come to CMA with Wintershall. And it's just it's so amazing to see how a dolphin changed the lives of so many people

Naveh Eldar  28:16  
right? Now, you say that when I was there, there was a young man who he wasn't wearing a prosthetic but he was missing his left leg and was in a wheelchair and and winter was swimming down to spend some time with him and would go back up was but so I imagine that this is something that happens quite a bit like people see this movie, people hear the story. And they want to connect with something that's thriving and happy and all of that kind of stuff. So So is that a specific program? Or do people just drop in.

Kelsy Long  28:47  
So we have a specific program suited for individuals that have been inspired by either the movie by our animals by the work that we do in marine conservation, and it's called our and our inspira program. And so we work with with individuals and with groups as well to provide unique experiences for them when they are on site. So we found that, you know, a lot of a lot of children, a lot of individuals find feel connected to with her story, and her her story of perseverance, and never giving up. And no matter what challenge she's faced with, she's just going to continue to just, you know, just keep swimming, and live her life and be happy. And I think that people sometimes need something to look to something else to inspire them. We've had, you know, we had a little girl that was blind, and she needed a special tool in order to learn in order to do her school studies. And she was embarrassed she didn't want to use a special tool while we invited her to CMA and she came in She saw that winter needed her tail to help her be able to swim better. And that little girl associated that with the tool that she needed in school to do her work. Yeah. And so she started using the tool. And from what I've heard, she's been, she's been doing great in school. It's so it's so exciting. We've heard a story about a little boy who was going through a lot of surgeries, and he was stuck in the hospital and he was quarantined. He wasn't able to see a lot of his family. And he watched off and tail. And it was the one thing that he could connect to, again, you know, seeing winter and seeing the strife that she went through and how she overcame that. And he just, he instantly connected with her and her story. And we were very happy to invite him back to come and see her and to watch her swim around and see her happy and see her in her space and enjoying life. It's just it's so inspiring to see people find inspiration and an animal. Yes, very heartwarming. Yeah.

Naveh Eldar  31:03  
So is there a team that's associated with it, because it sounds like you kind of well, we'll create something unique for the people who come. So as their as their staff is dedicated to this.

Kelsy Long  31:14  
So there are a couple different ways that people come to us or they inspire a program, we do have a sheet on our website, if you go on to if you go onto our website, there's a link that you go to, and you just fill out the story. But it can be your story, it can be a story about your best friend, your mom, your brother, we just want to know your story and how you're connected to winter. And our team, we receive these emails, we review them and based on you know what your inspiration is what your situation is, if you're able to come to CMA, then we will arrange your visit. And we try to cater that specific to what your interests are, what your motivations are, obviously, what your time, you know, your schedule will allow for, we also receive a lot of interest from folks that are out of country. And we are able to schedule virtual tours for them. So our animal care staff will take their phone and video their video camera and they will have a you know, a FaceTime with you and the animals. So So whether you are geographically challenged, or you know, you're just not able to travel at that time, we deal with a lot of folks that are immunocompromised, and they're not able to travel, you know, we want to we want to make sure that CMA is accessible to them as well. And so we also work with a lot of groups. So we work with, for example, make a wish to bring a lot of families on site. Camp, no limits is another fantastic group that works with individuals with limb loss of limb difference. And so I mean that the list goes on. And there, there are so many when you look at it, there are so many incredible organizations locally in Florida and internationally, that work to help underserved communities have access to programs and facilities like ours, because even if you know you're not able to, to make it on site or anything like that, we want to make sure that there's a way that you can feel welcome at CMA. So we do a lot of programs with with foster families and foster children as well just to give them a normal day out just where they feel calm, they can connect back to nature. They can just be kids and not worry about what's next, you know, where's my next meal coming from what's happening next. And so we are we're happy to offer to provide that that safe haven for them. When they're on site.

Naveh Eldar  33:43  
You have so much around education. And again, when when I went there, there are discounts or even free offerings for teachers, you know, obviously people who are educators, what do you do to try to inspire future scientists and doctors? Because I know you do something?

Kelsy Long  34:03  
Yeah, so we've got an incredible education department at the Clearwater Marine Aquarium, because, you know, we were established as a education facility. And so that's at the heart of everything that we do when people come on site. They are we want them to have fun, but we also want them to learn something when they walk away from that. And so we offer a lot of different programs. We have incredible summer camps that we offer. We also work a lot with Homeschool groups, to welcome them on site. Our brand new facility afforded us the ability to build and and completely a complete floor just for education classrooms and school and things like that. So they have their own area there. So we do we do a lot with with educators and bringing them on site and we want to inspire that next generation of marine biologists and conservationists and animal care specialists as well. So through our summer camps, we also have a lot of online opportunities. So we've got a lot of free resources, if you go onto our website, we've got free, you know, curriculum, free videos, free worksheets, all sorts of thing, all sorts of things that you can download directly from our website for for your student, or just for your child, you know, if they want to learn a little bit more about sea turtles, or right whales, or, or anything at all, we've got tons of resources on our website, and that actually has built up a lot since the pandemic, you know, we learned that a lot of people are going to online learning and they were just looking for more content. And so we were happy to provide that for them.

Naveh Eldar  35:39  
You said that you have interns? Which obviously you do, do you work with particular universities? Or do they come from all over the place?

Kelsy Long  35:47  
A lot of our interns come from from all over, quite honestly, I mean, we have great relationships with our local university. So for example, after college, which is right down the street from us, we do a lot with them right now, we actually have a research program with them right now, where they have students coming on site about three times a week, and they're doing observation on our rough tooth dolphins. So which is a very unique program, because a lot of these students there, they're usually just looking at data and compiling data that has already been gathered by people out in the field. And with our partnership, we're actually giving those students an opportunity to be in the field and to gather that data. So we work closely with them. Also, you know, University of South Florida, University of Florida, Central Florida, you know, all of the local universities we work with very closely.

Naveh Eldar  36:38  
So what are your goals for the coming years? Or what are the projects you're working on that you're focusing on in the next one to five years?

Kelsy Long  36:47  
Yeah, so we've got quite a few projects that we're working on at the aquarium, I'd say one of the most pressing one that we're working on right now is building a manatee rehabilitation center. There are only four facilities in all of Florida that are able to take in and rehab vanities. And we are in crisis right now. So Clearwater Marine Aquarium we've been part of with the manatee rescue rehabilitation partnership, for a while, and this is a group of organizations that come together to help rescue to help, rehabilitate, release and monitor man as he is. And our role for these since establishment of the partnership has always been the assistance with the rescue, and the release and the transport and tagging these manatees as well as monitoring them after their successful rehab. And so now because there's such a need with an unusual mortality event that's going on on the East Coast, over the Indian River Lagoon, also with the anticipation of cold stress and drum settling in during our winter months here, and the loss of seagrass and potential red tide impacts. The Clearwater Marine Aquarium is looking to open up an emergency site for manatee rehab at our Fred Howard Park facility up in Tarpon. Springs. That's our short term, and our long term response in about two to three years, we're looking to build a full rehab facility on site at Clearwater Marine Aquarium. So and that's actually going to be a winter's old Helm. So her legacy continues.

Naveh Eldar  38:28  
I always end with a fun question. So if you had a sabbatical, six months sabbatical, but you you have to go abroad, where would you go?

Kelsy Long  38:43  
Oh, gosh, I, I want to go to Patagonia. I'd love to explore that area and just hike. And I mean, my husband and I, we you know, we live in Florida, which is mostly flat, and it can be hot a lot of the years. So hiking isn't available to us a lot. And so I just, I love to go there and just hike and to see the natural beauty that there is out in the world. And gosh, I just you know, I'd love to go everywhere. We actually had our honeymoon in Norway, just because there were some hikes that we saw that we wanted to do. And so that's where we ended up. You know, I just enjoy being out in nature and just seeing the amazing beauty that it is.

Naveh Eldar  39:23  
Yeah, somehow and I don't it I know the reason we went to Washington DC, and we were at one of the museums. And they were at it was actually the Natural History Museum, but there was a photo exhibit on Iceland. And it was just so stunning that like my entire family became obsessed. And so we want to take a family trip to Iceland. So, you know, similar to resist, you know, just to go hiking and just see the nature this there. It's amazing. Yeah, exactly.

Gotta see it. So thank you so much for your time. This was so interesting. And one of the things that's fascinating to me is the commonalities we have, you know, sometimes we think animals and we think you know, humans and but we have so much in common. I mean, it's evident by the the people that come to connect with the animals, right? They come and they, they see their emotions, they see their experience reflected in these animals and they get inspired by them. So I love the work that you do. I learned a lot even though I went there and took a special behind the scenes store and I still learned that today, so thank you so much.

Find links to Clearwater Marine Aquarium, as well as information on winters gel in the episode description. Make sure to follow the landscape podcast on social media, where I will also be sharing pictures and videos of our visit to the aquarium including the beautiful dolphin winter. Thank you for being a listener, and I'll see you for my next episode.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai