Audubon of Florida says it's discovered the oldest wild Roseate
spoonbill on record while studying the species as part of Everglades
Restoration in Florida Bay. Researchers captured the 16-year-old they’ve named Enrico last month as part of a new Spoonbill Satellite Telemetry Project. Audubon Research Director Jerry Lorenz says the pink-colored bird has more than doubled the known life expectancy of a roseate spoonbill.
The organization hopes to get an interactive website up soon so everyone can watch the satellite data being brought in from the spoonbills.

Every week, more than three-thousand people move to Florida. Those new residents bring cars--but also a need for housing and more roads. As Florida leaders cope with the population boom, environmental experts struggle to try to limit the impacts on wildlife. One innovative project in Collier County may help. W-G-C-U’s Russell Lewis has more.

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A roving Florida panther that had taken livestock from a number of residences near Ochopee and Copeland in rural Collier County in the past few weeks has been removed from the wild. WGCU’s Valerie Alker reports.

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For the first time a healthy Florida panther keeps getting too close to its human neighbors. Number 79 has discovered how to avoid hunting for his own food and has attacked pets and livestock in rural Collier County. Panthers usually eat wild hogs and deer. The last panther to act this way turned out to be sickly. So Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission panther biologist Darrell Land says they captured number 79 to make sure he was healthy. WGCU’s Amy Tardif spoke with him.

There are two opportunities for the public to comment regarding the state and federal government’s current approaches to panther conservation. The new Florida panther recovery plan is on line at the Fish and Wildlife service website. And later this month the federal wildlife service will release a document on what officials should do when more of the endangered cats start acting like number 79.

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Eighty-five infant sea turtles were released off the Florida Keys Tuesday. Their release was delayed a week due to Hurricane Rita. Eighty one of the silver dollar-size reptiles were endangered green sea turtles while four were threatened loggerheads.

The director of a turtle hospital in Marathon Richie Moretti says the animals were rescued on the beaches in the Keys about three weeks ago. They were either stuck in the bottom of their nests or tried to swim to sea, but couldn't. Moretti says the release took place on a sargassum weedline about 10 miles off Marathon.

"And they're going to stay in this weed for the next 15-20 years of their life. And they're going to go all around the Sargasso Sea. They're going to go up along North Carolina and turn right to the Azores. Alright. They're waving good-bye, thank you for the ride."

Weedlines are natural habitats that nurture young sea turtles. Early Tuesday, Moretti flew in a small plane off the Keys to find the weedline. The U.S. Coast Guard base in Marathon provided a boat and crew to transport him and the turtles to it.