Protecting Wildlife on our Planet

From left to right:  Russ Lowers, IHA Biologist; Stephanie Weiss, IHA Biologist; Don Dankert, NASA Natural Resources Specialist; and on the bottom is an 8ft female American Alligator.  The Kennedy Space Center Ecological Program ensures that NASA programs do not harm the environment and a key part of this Program is the Alligator monitoring project.   Being the top of the food-chain in the 140,000 acre Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge, the health of the Alligator at KSC is a very good indicator of the health of the surrounding ecosystem.  KSC environmental contractor (IHA) biologists capture 15-20 per month to tag, extract various blood and tissue samples, and gather other physical dimensions.  Great care is taken in the methods used to capture these animals so that they are not harmed in the process of gathering these data.  The KSC Alligator monitoring project has the highest re-capture rate in the wild of any Alligator monitoring program to date.