 MAMMAL CENTER WOULD OFFER HANDS-ON STUDIES Tallahassee Democrat -- Wednesday, July 11, 2001 By: Amanda Riddle, Associated Press FORT PIERCE -- Veterinary students would be able to learn hands-on about sea mammals under plans for a $20 million research center that would include a dolphin and whale teaching hospital. Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institution officials said Tuesday that the center will study the emergence of new diseases that have developed in manatees, dolphins, whales and other marine mammals in the past decade, including bacteria, harmful algae blooms and cancer. "Our fate is intimately connected with the fate of other wild creatures," said Gregory Bossart, director of the marine mammal research and conservation division. "We're all intertwined in this natural web, and it's in our best interests to find out why they're suddenly coming down with diseases like this." The first phase of the new complex, planned for completion by the end of next year, would include pools where sick manatees could live in their habitat while being studied. As its first project, the center plans to relocate six manatees infected with the papilloma virus from a state park in Citrus County north of Tampa to attempt to find a treatment. Bossart discovered the virus in manatees in 1998. Seven of nine manatees living in lagoons at the Homosassa Springs Wildlife State Park have been diagnosed with papilloma, which causes the growth of benign lesions but is not deadly. So far, the virus has not infected Florida's estimated 3,000 manatees living in the wild. But scientists are concerned it could become malignant or infect manatees living downstream from the park. The human version of the virus causes ailments from warts to cervical cancer. "These manatees are like the miner's canary," Bossart said. "Whatever affects these animals affects us all." As its second major project, the center plans to study diseased dolphins in the Indian River Lagoon. In the past five years, scientists have identified more than 25 skin disorders and illnesses, including hepatitis B and meningitis, said Stephen McCulloch, director of the dolphin research program. Death rates for dolphins in the estuary in the first six months of this year reached 20, the total for 2000. Scientists believe the major causes of disease and death are poor water quality, pollution, overdevelopment and increased boat traffic. As part of their research, they want to try to determine what effects those threats could have on humans. Harbor Branch, a nonprofit research institution, said it is looking for government funds and private or corporate donations to build the multi-million dollar marine mammal complex. Officials need to raise $1 million to break ground on the manatee research and education center, the first of three components. They expect the facility to be completed by the end of 2002, as long as $8 million is raised for construction and operating costs. Once the manatee center is complete, Harbor Branch plans to build a necropsy laboratory and dolphin and whale hospital, where fourth-year undergraduate veterinary students would learn to take blood samples, treat illnesses and determine nutritional needs, McCulloch said. They also would be able to watch biologists perform necropsies from behind glass partitions in a state-of-the-art laboratory. Harbor Branch currently sends its dead manatees and dolphins to Mote Marine Laboratory in Sarasota for necropsies. Kumar Mahadevan, executive director of Mote, said most veterinary science students who want to specialize in marine mammals don't get that kind of training until they are in the field. "It would be great if there was a formal school," he said. Copyright (c) 2001, Tallahassee Democrat |