♪ opening music ♪ ♪ >> Hello, I'm Beryl Dakers.

Welcome to Palmetto Scene.

In tonight's episode, we'll meet the Birdman of Casey, and we'll take a look at our friends in the wild and the people who are doing their part to protect them.

First, however, we traveled to Charleston, South Carolina, where one dedicated organization provides the first line of defense to the city's 350 resident dolphin population.

♪ calming music ♪ ♪ Lauren Rust>> The Lowcountry Marine Mammal Network is a nonprofit based in Charleston, and our mission is to protect marine mammals, so dolphins or whales for future generations and we do that through educational outreach, monitoring and response to distressed animals along our coastline.

♪ I was inspired to start the Lowcountry Marine Mammal Network about four and a half years ago when I relocated back to Charleston, and just realizing there was a huge disconnect and a need for the public to learn more about our local marine mammals.

And, you know, Charleston is one of the few places really in the country that has a resident population of dolphins, meaning they are born and bred here, live in the rivers, and you can see the same animal on a daily, yearly basis for up to 40 years.

And we really wanted to bridge the gap.

A lot of the community wasn't aware of that, didn't know that there was local dolphins, and didn't realize that some of their actions could impact the local animals.

♪ Brooke Brown>> So I got started with the Lowcountry Marine Mammal Network, about two-ish years ago, and really what connected Lauren and I is my background in education.

And so I love being a part of bridging the complicated science with the everyday people and I have always found myself most comfortable right there in the middle.

And so our missions just sort of kind of aligned and the rest is history.

Organizations like the Lowcountry Marine Mammal Network are important for kind of multiple reasons.

One, it's an opportunity to connect with the community and provide a platform for discussion about you know how amazing these animals are in our backyard.

It also gives us a lot of insight to our coastline health.

And so I think organizations like this, that provide that platform for conversation and just bring to light how amazing all these animals are, and how great it is that we get to even see them and be a part of protecting them is a really wonderful thing to just have in any community.

♪ Most of the background that I have is with ecology research, and so looking at how different parts of an environment interact, looking at how marine mammals interact with their environment is a really exciting part of it, and so we do, for example, hydrophone work that we just began, and so we get to listen in on these animals communicating with each other, locating their food and figuring out how to take their fish from one place to the next with strand feeding and we get to see how all these different parts are kind of working together.

So the dolphins are working together, but then there's fish.

And then there's birds up above, which are, you know, definitely in the mix as well, and so taking into consideration all of those things, it's just a really exciting thing to be a part of.

♪ bright music ♪ Lauren Rust>> So one of the most interesting things about our local dolphins is they perform a unique rare feeding behavior called strand feeding.

It's a behavior that they've adapted to learn because they feed in very shallow creeks and rivers, and only our local dolphins do it.

So, it's a behavior where they basically corral or crowd fish up against a bank or dock, and then as a group, they rush the beach, and by doing that, it creates this tidal wave, and it pushes the fish ashore.

They beach themselves momentarily, grab the fish and then wiggle back into the water.

It is an amazing sight to see, and it's something that takes them years to master with one another.

What's also unique about this behavior is that it's passed down from mother to calf.

So not all dolphins do it, they'll only do it if their mother did it.

That's something that they spend years and years mastering.

They definitely find locations that are safe, that have a slopey bay, where gravity may help them get back into the water, and although there are some spots that they've momentarily gotten stuck, generally speaking, they've mastered it and do it very easily.

♪ music fades ♪ ♪ upbeat music ♪ So we do a number of different events.

Education is a core part of what we do.

So we do a lot of educational outreach, meaning we will set up tables at different events around the community, and it's just a great way to reach new people to answer questions and to recruit volunteers for the organization.

>> What inspired me to volunteer for the Lowcountry Marine Mammal Network is about 20 years ago, I became interested in the plight of the manatees who were endangered.

I was in college then.

And we moved to the coastal area about five years ago from the upstate of South Carolina.

And I kind of reignited that passion for marine conservation and started Googling organizations and happened to find Lowcountry Marine Mammal Network, joined them, started helping at events like this, and I just kind of fell in love with the organization.

They're a great group of people and they do a lot to protect the dolphins here in Charleston, South Carolina.

♪ Today, this is an event called Drinks for Dolphins.

This is one of many that we do throughout the year, specifically in the summertime.

They partner with the local brewery here in the Charleston area, and so much of the proceeds from the beer that they sell get donated to Lowcountry Marine Mammal Network.

...So we come out and we set up a table and we sell merchandise and we educate the public on marine life, specifically, though, dolphins, bottlenose dolphins here in Charleston.

And so it's actually a really neat opportunity for volunteers and for the community to learn about us.

♪ The importance of educating people is the fact that so many people are relocating to the Charleston area from all over the country, and they may not be aware of the marine mammals that are here, and so when they're out in their boats, and out in the water, they can actually, you know, recognize and say, "Hey, that's a "bottlenose dolphin", you know, and you know, hopefully respect it.

Things that people can do to protect marine mammals: watch your plastic, make sure you recycle your plastic, watch your trash on the beach, make sure to pick up the trash on the beaches, because it all gets into the ocean, and it all gets into the animals out there, as well.

Another thing that you can do if you're here, local, or actually, if you're anywhere, Lowcountry Marine Mammal Network has an app called Dolphin Count, and you can download it for free.

And anywhere you go in the United States, if you see dolphins in their natural habitat on the beach, you can go in there and say, "Hey, I saw two dolphins today.

I saw a mom and a baby today.

I saw..." and it's very easy to use, and it's part of what we call citizen science, where we use citizens to help get us the data that we need to improve programs.

♪ melodious music ♪ Brooke Brown>> So, I think getting kids involved at an early age is important for so many reasons.

One, this is our next generation.

Right?

And so getting these kids excited and passionate about something that is living in their backyard at an early age, and learning ways to protect them early on is building up our future scientists and future ambassadors and stewards, if you will, and so of course, that part's really important.

But, I also think kids think outside of the box.

They don't have these adult constraints to be limited by their worlds or you know how much money, something costs or any of that, and so I think they can be really creative.

Not only is it great to get our next generation involved, but I think it's really great for us to involve kids as adults, because it gives us a lot of ideas and insight to things that we maybe have, should have done all along.

So, what we do at the dolphin camp is we start off by talking about what a marine mammal is and how they connect with normal mammals like ourselves.

And so we go through all the different characteristics that connect us, things like hair, or the fact that we breathe air with our lungs or live birth and all of these other components, and we start there mostly because we want to draw this emotional connection because with an opportunity to have an emotional connection with these animals is really where we see things like stewardship come out of and take place.

So after that, we jump into some of the ways that Lowcountry Marine Mammal Network protects our local marine mammals.

Here in Charleston, we have about 300 to 350 Atlantic bottlenose dolphins living in our coastal waters, and that's a really cool thing.

Not all places have these local marine mammals.

And so we talk about of course how cool that is, but some of the stuff that Lowcountry Marine Mammal Network does, protect that.

And so that includes straining response, and so when animals are sick or injured or have already passed away, we do our best to respond to every single one of those within the state of South Carolina.

So from there, we basically do activities that reflect all of those components that we do on a normal day basis, like straining response, and so we have a blow up dolphin that we basically rescue from the tide line, and so we'll start with getting this animal comfortable, that includes keeping the animal wet, digging holes in the sand for their pectoral fins, and then after we've made the animal comfortable, we then move on and start assessing this animal, and so we'll take measurements.

We'll talk about how to figure out what type of marine mammal this is, because sometimes it's not always clear.

...Then after we've taken all the measurements, we'll look at external observations, and so see if it's entangled in anything, which it always is, and then we'll see if there's any cuts or wounds, and then we'll try to draw a hypothesis of what happened.

♪ In order to make any major changes, you start with the kids and it's because they're going to take whatever thing they are most excited about home to their families.

Most often, I'll hear kids super passionate about recycling or buying sustainable products and things that maybe their parents don't care about, but they are really passionate about it because this is their future and then they have learned very quickly that if they don't protect what is already here, then it might not be there for them when they're older, and so I think a lot of times we can really start with the kids and they are making a big impact in their home.

♪ calming music ♪ So the type of impact I hope Lowcountry Marine Mammal Network has in South Carolina is being a very big part of the puzzle, if you will.

I want again for us to be able to provide this platform for conversation about conservation and why it's important, and I think that Lowcountry Marine Mammal Network finds itself in a really unique position and that we get to represent this really charismatic megafauna, and when we get to speak up for the voiceless, it's a pretty powerful place to be.

And so I think not only in the environmental standpoint, are we making a big impact in South Carolina, but I also think just on the platform of learning how to communicate better with one another is also a place that we find ourself.

Lauren Rust>> So I think the biggest impact we want people to learn about, you know, in South Carolina and beyond, is just the love of marine mammals.

So we really just want the community to rally behind that and to understand how important they are, how amazing and smart they are, and to want to take a community effort to want to protect them for future generations.

♪ music fades ♪ Beryl>> Wow, and now for a story that brings us a bird's eye view into nature.

Here's Brittany Brackett.

>> Thanks Beryl.

Birds are one of nature's most majestic and fascinating creatures, but some of them have become or are becoming extinct.

Thankfully, there are a few agriculturists, like John Collins that have a passion for these beautiful birds, and are striving to assure that there will be pure populations that one day may be repatriated to their native lands.

♪ John Collins>> I am John Collins.

I am the president of Carolina's Virginia Pheasant and Waterfowl Society, Director with the Georgia Game Bird Breeders Association, as well as a member with American Pheasant, Waterfowl Society, the World Pheasant Organization, and American Dove Association.

All these groups are focused on propagation and conservation of ornamental pheasants and exotic doves, birds that are all heavily threatened or possibly endangered in their native environment.

Pheasant housing is a little bit different than most poultry housing.

There has to be a top net that not only keeps the pheasants contained, but also protects them from hawks and other predators.

They have to have places to hide, places to feel secure within that housing.

We try to plant a number of our pens.

Some of the pheasants do well with plants.

Others will destroy anything that gets put in their housing, So we're unsuccessful with planting aviaries there.

Keeping pheasants is almost a full time job.

My day starts early in the morning and we make the rounds of all the pens to check on the birds.

Every day birds have to have fresh water, fresh food.

And we check on enrichment in the pens.

We want to make sure there's plenty of enrichment to keep them occupied and give them a sense of shelter and protection.

Again, all these birds are endangered and heavily threatened, and some species we have a little more success than others.

Every day is a learning opportunity.

Birds will teach you something every single day that you interact with them, And a lot of my time out is just observing their characteristics and their behavior and interaction with each other.

Some of the species we keep are a little more pugnacious and better at defending their territory and they keep me on my toes going in to take care of them.

They don't let me in their environment and they do everything they can to run me out.

These are Temminck's tragopan.

Most of the pheasants are from Indochina.

These are Lady Amherst's peasants.

They're some of the oldest peasants kept by agriculture, along with the golden pheasants.

This is a Cheer pheasant.

We're checking eggs in their pen.

(clucking) I first became interested in pheasants as a child.

My grandfather raised pheasants for the sporting side of the hobby.

My job was to feed and to water and to look after birds that were doing poorly, clean up, carry feed, you know all the tasks that we relegate to our children to help us with.

As I grew, I started getting interested in caged birds, but they just didn't have the same allure and the same attraction for me, as the pheasants did, so started keeping ornamental pheasants and just, I fell in love with the beauty and the colors and the diversity of the birds, And as I learned more and more about them I learned about their predicament in the wild.

So I began to focus my efforts more on pure bloodstock and birds that were heavily threatened or possibly extinct.

♪ Getting ready to collect eggs today.

This pen is a Vietnamese pheasant ♪ and it looks like the female has laid an egg.

Getting ready to mark the Edwards egg we just collected.

It'll be cataloged as to the day it was collected, the pen it came from and the species.

All the pheasants here are unique species that are wild occurring.

You can find them in nature, those that are still in existence.

I personally focus fairly heavily on the Edwards pheasants here.

The Vietnamese pheasant was declared extinct and hadn't been a sighting since 2006 in the wild.

We incubate the eggs in an incubation room where most eggs sit in the incubator for about 24 days, some up to about 28 days.

We had a batch of chicks hatch out last night, and we're getting ready to transfer those chicks from the incubator into our brooder.

And they will stay in this brooder for the first week and then transfer to another brooder.

We do the transfer because the brooders are set up at different temperatures.

And as the birds age and get more feathers, they don't need as much heat.

The chicks are fed a special diet to help with their immune system to help combat different diseases that they might be susceptible to.

It also gives us a chance to look at the birds, watch them mature and look for possible signs of birth defects because we're working diligently to keep good blood lines.

So that at some point in the future, they can be repatriated back to their native land and maybe once again seen in the wild like they were at one point.

Beryl>> In our final segment we'll visit some furry friends.

Granted, learning to live with wildlife can sometimes be shall we say... challenging, but it really doesn't have to be.

Carolina Wildlife is helping animals in need get back to their natural habitats, while at the same time educating the public as to why our delicate balance with nature is so very important.

♪ Alina>> Carolina Wildlife is a non profit.

Our mission is to rescue, rehabilitate and release all native wildlife.

We will intake any animals that are injured, orphaned, or just misplaced and we will assess them, help you re-nest if they're healthy babies or intake them if they're injured or ill, and then our goal is to get them through the rehabilitation system, get them eating, get them surviving on their own and then we re-release them.

♪ We accept any kind of wildlife found in South Carolina.

That includes owls, songbirds, small animals.

We take in reptiles.

We take in pretty much anything that you can find out in South Carolina.

♪ The first thing you want to do if you have an injured animal is call us.

We can help guide you through how to contain the animal, how to transport it safely, or visit our website.

We have great tips there for how to assess if an animal is really in danger or not.

Once you do have the animal contained the best thing to do is put it in a safe, quiet and dark place away from animals and people until you can bring it to us.

Never feed or give water to any wild animal even if you think that it's very thirsty or hungry because often times that does more damage to wild animals.

We had a record breaking year last year where we intook 600 opossums.

Opossums right here in North America are a group of animals that are marsupials.

So these guys have a marsupium, that's a little pouch on their belly, and that's the same as kangaroos and koalas and wallabies.

It is Didelphis virginianas or Virginia opossum.

That's the only type of opossum you'll find here and just like all the other marsupials, they carry their babies around in that pouch.

So after two weeks, Mommy gives birth to all these little tiny babies, they crawl into her pouch and they stay in there drinking milk for as long as they need to until they're big enough to come on out and start hanging on mom.

Once they are big enough to get off of mom, about the size of a dollar bill, tail to tip, these guys start roving on their own but until then they are literally hanging out inside mom's pouch or on her back, the entire time.

♪ Opossums are omnivores.

Kind of like most humans, they eat meat and plant.

So that means as they're going out in the forest they're eating things like decaying animals, old leaf litter and that keeps the entire ecosystem clean.

They're basically garbage men.

They're out there making sure that things don't pile up and create lots of gross bacteria.

On top of that they eat a lot of insects.

So humans are susceptible to diseases like lyme disease and chagas and that can be transmitted to us via ticks.

Ticks are plentiful in the summertime and our friends, the opossums, eat thousands of them every season.

So, they're actually keeping us safe and healthy by removing sources of bacteria and reducing the amount of lyme disease that we're exposed to.

We should be very, very thankful for these guys.

♪ Oftentimes people are concerned when there's opossums in their yard but there are a few reasons you should be very happy they're in your yard.

First of all these guys don't transmit a lot of diseases.

They're actually immune to rabies for the most part.

Their body temperature's too low to host the virus.

So, you're not going to have rabid opossum.

Second of all, they're immune to a lot of venoms from different venomous snakes around here.

So if you see a venomous snake in your yard, there is a chance that the opossum that you also saw is going to make that his dinner.

♪ Opossums are often painted as very aggressive attack animals, but opossums' best defense is to look scary.

They will rarely, if ever charge at you.

The most that they'll do is maybe open their mouths very wide and hiss.

They do have big old mouths full of the most teeth of any land mammal in North America, 50 pretty sharp serrated teeth, but these teeth are just for show and mostly for crunching through things like decaying bones and leaf litter.

They use these teeth to crack open roots, nuts, berries.

So, it may look scary, but it's mostly for getting through things that are tough to eat.

Now, opossums do have a second form of self defense.

This is kind of what most people know, playing opossum.

They will go into a temporary state of catatonia.

So, they're very stiff and they can't move, and they start secreting a very stinky green juice out of their bottoms.

This smell combined with not moving, makes it look like they're dead, and for most predators that would maybe eat opossum, they don't want to eat something that's rotting.

So, either they look really scary or they look really dead.

And both of these techniques help them stay safe out in the wild.

♪ Opossums are oftentimes seen as a danger to our outdoor pets.

In reality, we get many opossums that are hurt by those pets.

Opossums rarely, if ever, will attack your animals.

They're at bigger risk than your pets are.

But of course, if you leave food out for your cats or what not, opossums are going to smell it, find it, and be pretty excited to have free food.

So, you have to understand that if there is food outside, there's a chance opossum's going to find it.

So, humans are able to co-exist with any species of animal here in South Carolina, whether it's something that we're scared of, like a lot of people fear venomous snakes or opossums.

They all serve a purpose, if we leave them alone, they leave us alone.

And the easiest thing we can do is give animals space.

So, as long as we respect our wildlife friends, we will keep our ecosystem healthy and we will be healthy because of that.

♪ Beryl>> For more stories about our state and more details on the stories you've just seen, do visit our website at palmettoscene.org and of course, don't forget to follow us on social media, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram @SCETV #palmettoscene.

For all of us here at ETV and Palmetto Scene I'm Beryl Dakers.

Good night, and thanks for watching.

♪ closing music ♪ ♪