SANIBEL, Fla — There’s a saying: when you go to the beach, take pictures and leave only footprints. But along the newly refreshed Sanibel Causeway, a naturalist says that’s not what’s happening.
He called community correspondent Austin Schargorodski out to the causeway, because he says trash has been piling up there and it’s putting local wildlife at risk.
Watch to see what Ranger Rob Howell has been picking up and why it threatens wildlife:
On the surface, the refreshed Sanibel Causeway looks beautiful. But when you look a little closer... “In between every single rock - fishing line and trash,” said naturalist Ranger Rob Howell.
Howell said he regularly fills up buckets of it. Schargorodski ran into Connie Lawson who was walking the beach doing the same thing.
“Here’s something else. See I pick this up. The sea life can get choked and killed from this,” said Lawson, holding up a plastic bag she picked up.
That danger is Howell’s biggest concern here. Earlier this week, he said he tried to help a pelican struggling in some fishing line. “Birds are coming in here probably going after crabs and stuff and they’re getting hooked,” said Howell.
Thankfully, Howell said it untangled itself and flew off.
I reached out to Lee County about the trash. A county spokesperson told me littering is banned on beaches and parks and rangers can cite violators, but they focus more on educating people about how trash hurts wildlife.
That’s also Howell’s mission, and through his non-profit Keep It Wild he takes volunteers for cleanups like this. “If you want to have a little wilderness left in Florida, it starts little by little,” said Howell.
Schargorodski also connected with the organization ‘Keep Lee County Beautiful’, who regularly host beach cleanups. They say now that the causeway is back open, they’re hosting their first cleanup here after several years next month.
After emptying his bucket in the nearby trash and recycling bins, Howell said, “The fact that these are now out of the animals’ reach, and out of the potential grasp of anything that would want it, it means that’s less that can harm something else. All that matters is the preservation of life so that’s what we can do.”
