GULF COAST ZEITGEIST
Featuring both welcome and unwelcome varieties
The Exotic Island Life
OThe well-taught philosophic mind To all compassion gives; Casts round the world an equal eye, And feels for all that lives —From “The Mouse’s Petition” by Anna Laetitia Barbauld (1743–1825), prominent English poet, author and critic
ur Gulf Coast home is a garden environment. It comes packaged in a sunny, subtropical climate that supports a gorgeous array of native plants and animals. It also houses a well-managed population of non-natives (aka exotics), which fall into two categories: (1) welcome immigrants, flora and fauna (including humans) that are year-round residents or seasonal visitors; and (2) unwelcome
immigrants, botanical intruders and roaming wild creatures whose ancestry was born and bred in quite a different setting.
According to the Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC), exotic species are those that are living outside of captivity and are not historically native to a particular area (and that includes all the people here who are not of Calusa heritage). Most non-natives were brought here by humans—either on purpose or by accident. Not all non-natives pose a threat to native species; but when they do, they are classified as invasive.
It’s a relief to realize that even though we are considered “exotics” in this place, as long as we pay mindful compassion to the native species around us, we are welcome to make ourselves at home.
As for the unwelcome non-natives, it is also a relief to realize they are viewed with an equal eye of feeling. They are being watched by the Southwest Florida Cooperative Invasive Species Management Area (CISMA), whose goal is to educate the public regarding invasive species and what to do about them. CISMA has a hotline (888-IVE-GOT-1) and a website (floridainvasives.org) with links to EDDMapS.org (for Early Detection and Distribution Mapping System) offering photographs and information about these intruders. For the well-taught mind there is even a smartphone app, called IveGot1, which you can use to identify and report these plants and animals.
Finally, exercising compassion, CISMA joins with FWC to hold Pet Amnesty Days, allowing people to surrender their illegal pets (e.g., pythons, lizards, iguanas, hedgehogs, turtles and parrots). FWC keeps a list of responsible pet owners who have gone through a screening process to be able to adopt animals that are brought in. Other creatures are sent to zoos and educational facilities. Rarely do the animals have to be euthanized, according to Christal Segura, environmental specialist for Collier Country. Veterinarians are available onsite to evaluate the health of the surrendered critters. All this expresses the well-taught philosophy expressed in the motto, “Think globally, act neighborly.”
Fred Rogers (of Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood fame) would have concurred with such a motive; and, casting round the whole world an equal eye, we can all affirm the wisdom summed up by Adlai Stevenson’s well-taught mind: “We travel together, passengers in a little spaceship … preserved from annihilation only by the care, the work and the love we give our fragile craft.”
It’s a relief to realize that even though we are considered “exotics” in this place, as long as we pay mindful compassion to the native species around us, we are welcome to make ourselves at home.