Author: Christina Tsirkas

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Aetherography

New art form captures the magnificence of birds

Coral Springs resident Meir Martin is the creator of “aetherography”—an art form that transcends photography to capture time, motion, and the rhythm of nature through birds. By fusing together hundreds of photos of individual birds into one large-scale image, Martin reimagines nature not as a frozen moment, but as an unfolding experience.

“It is the art of layering time,” explains Martin. “Where photography isolates, aetherography gathers. Where photography freezes, aetherography flows. And what it reveals is the truth of life as it actually happened: chaotic, abundant, overwhelming, and magnificent.”

Martin—who admittedly spends at least 340 days per year taking photos of birds in the Everglades each morning—has amassed a collection of about 1.5 million photos. “Everything in my life is birds, birds, birds. I’m addicted to it, and there’s no cure,” he jokes. With such an extensive library to sort through, it sometimes takes him years to complete certain pieces, which contain hundreds of bird photos. “I keep looking until I find the image that will fit.”

Walking into Martin’s home, which he converted into his gallery after his wife’s passing, is a surreal experience that pulls you deep into the vision of an impassioned creator. Every surface—from the ceilings to the windows and soon the floors—is covered with artwork, each piece set in a custom wood frame that Martin makes himself.

Before birds became his calling, Martin, born in Israel, began his career primarily as a wedding photographer. But one day, when a man walked into his store asking for a camera with a 400-millimeter lens, Martin’s trajectory changed. Sick of the photography he was doing, he joined the man on a field trip and fell in love with photographing birds.

Martin spent the early 1980s photographing desert birds in Israel. In 1983, while on a trip to the Dead Sea, he became the first person to take a color photograph of a pair of desert tawny owls, and in 1986, he published a book, “Desert Birds of Israel.”

“Israel is one of the most amazing places in the world for birding,” says Martin. “Nobody knew that until I published a book in 1986. In America, you have only three species of eagles. In Israel, which is the size of New Jersey, we have about 12.”

After moving to Florida with his wife, Martin took a break from photography and—an innate creator—invented a new system to clean pet urine from oriental rugs. In 2008, after a chance encounter with a man at a dog park while walking his 172-pound Neopolitan Mastiff, he was drawn back into photography, joining a camera club.

“I went to the club, and everyone was taking regular pictures,” recalls Martin. “The digital camera came to the world, and everyone is taking pictures. My pictures would just be one of them. This is not what I want. This is not my style. I have to find something else.”

There was a competition in the club every Thursday to see who had taken the best photo that week. The first time Martin entered, his photo didn’t garner much attention. But the second time he did, the members took notice. Using Photoshop, he had combined images from multiple photographs he had taken, to create something different.

While Martin’s work received attention, acceptance was a different story. “The guy from the photography club said we are photographers and this is not photography. They didn’t accept it, so I left the club,” he says.

After leaving, Martin devoted himself fully to this emerging art form, and aetherography was born. “I’m the first one in the world making this new artwork,” he says—an assertion he supports through extensive research, including the use of ChatGPT, in search of anything resembling aetherography across the globe.

That sense of originality extends beyond technique into meaning. Each piece carries its own narrative, one Martin eagerly brings to life when he speaks about his work. “Everything that you do, you have to have a story,” he says. “What is the image for? What is the artwork for?”

Recently, he began the months-long application process to turn his home from a gallery into a museum. “This house will now become the Aetherography Museum,” enthuses Martin, who wants people to be able to experience this new art form in person.

While he wants to share his work and his stories with the public, he is still unsure about selling his pieces. “Right now I don’t sell any artwork. It’s mine, I love it,” explains Martin. “When I open the museum, it’s probably going to be different.”

Martin is currently working on a piece to honor the anniversary of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting. He was across the street from the school that day and heard the gunfire. The artwork, which will be featured in the February issue of the Parklander, includes a golden eagle from a photograph he took in Israel in the 1980s. Above the eagle are 17 birds, each representing the 17 victims of the shooting. “This is a very powerful image with a lot of history in it,” says Martin, who is willing to donate the piece to the high school.

For more information, visit www.meirmartin.com.

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All creatures great and small

Tales of a South Florida horse vet

Since the 1980s, Glenn Gillard, VMD, has been a trusted name in equine veterinary care across Palm Beach and Broward counties. With more than four decades of experience treating everything from elite racing horses and show jumpers to backyard companions, his days have been filled with stories that are equal parts heartwarming, humorous, and humbling.

At just 13 years old, while working as a hot walker at a New Orleans racetrack, he knew he wanted to be a veterinarian. “I noticed veterinarians would show up to the barn, and they were like celebrities,” recalls Dr. Gillard. “Back in those days, they would have a jumpsuit and a tie. They looked like superheroes to me. And I said that’s what I want to do. I didn’t realize there were a few academic hurdles that I would have to overcome, but I did. I fell in love with it at that point. And I think spiritually, someone was looking out for me.”

After graduating from the University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine, Dr. Gillard was offered a job at the Pompano Beach Racetrack and relocated to South Florida, where he worked with Dr. John Mitchell, who had a profound impact on his career. “I could have easily fallen into the trap of working for someone unethical in the race industry,” says Dr. Gillard. “But John Mitchell was the ultimate in ethics and integrity, and he represented the veterinary profession the way it should be done.”

After three years of working together, Dr. Gillard purchased half of the practice from Dr. Mitchell, opened up shop, and has been a fixture in South Florida ever since.

“I love my clients,” says Dr. Gillard with a bright smile. “I have clients where I’m in the third generation. I’m taking care of their grandchildren’s horses, so they’re almost more like family than they are clients.”

Throughout his career, he has been like a superhero to his clients, tackling difficult cases, creating innovative solutions—or, as he likes to say, “winging it”—and demonstrating compassion in situations where owners couldn’t afford veterinary care.

Recently, Dr. Gillard was involved in a case where a flesh-eating fungus, Pythium insidiosum, attacked a 5-year-old stallion. “This flesh-eating fungus grows by the hour,” he says. “I’ve had three other cases. The first two started in the leg and grew so fast those horses had to be euthanized. The third was a racehorse that had it on the ankle. I thought I had nothing to lose, so I sprayed the lesion with liquid nitrogen for three minutes, which was unheard of. I froze it down to the cannon bone. Then I froze the bone. That horse survived.”

So when they called Dr. Gillard out to this 5-year-old stallion, he was prepared, until he learned the location of the fungus. It was on the horse’s penis. He immediately wanted to do debridement surgery. After surgery, the horse did well for 12 days, but the fungus returned. At that point, Dr. Gillard gave the client two options: euthanize the horse, or go back for surgery round two.

At the same time, Dr. Gillard attended a meeting in Palm Beach and wound up meeting a veterinarian from a wildcat preserve. They had a jaguar with this same organism on its leg and had successfully treated it with Levamisole, a drug normally used for parasite control.

“We put the horse on the Levamisole, and we’re out two months now, and he’s cured,” enthuses Dr. Gillard. Cases like these are the reason he remains active in his career. “People ask when I’m going to retire, but it’s exciting. We just did something other people haven’t been able to do. This was a dead horse, and we saved it. I get a charge out of it.”

That’s not the only time Dr. Gillard’s innovation has saved a life. “Once, a little girl brought her kitten to me after a horse had stepped on its leg,” he recalls. “The leg was like a bag of marbles. It was more than one fracture.” He sedated the kitten and created a makeshift splint out of a syringe casing.

“I cut it, lined it with elastikon tape, put it on the cat’s leg, and smooshed the leg into the splint. Then I told the father we’re trying it for three weeks, and if something happens or you smell something, tell me and I’ll come out and put the cat to sleep.” Three weeks later, Dr. Gillard went to check on the kitten, and it came running around the barn. He cut the brace off, and the kitten was healed. He swears it was divine intervention.

Another time, Dr. Gillard was called to look at an Appaloosa horse by a 13-year-old girl. “I get there, he’s got a corneal ulcer, skin disease, and raging diarrhea,” he recalls. “We put him on the cross ties, and while I was treating the horse, the girl was mucking stalls in this little family barn.” The bill came out to just over $400.

“Normally, what happens with those things is a mother will call in a credit card. So I asked if her mother called in a credit card. But the girl takes out a little purse and says she’s taking care of it today. I look in the purse and see a bunch of singles and a couple of quarters. She’s got a smudge of manure on her cheek. When she asked how much the bill was, I looked at the manure smudge on her cheek and said, ‘$4.50.’ So she gives me three singles and six quarters.” His accountant thought he was crazy. “You gotta have fun with it,” emphasizes Dr. Gillard. “I make enough through the season that I can do that.”

Dr. Gillard’s career has been marked by both purpose and a sense of fun—from dissecting the volleyball-sized heart of a 36-year-old Polo horse with biology students at Spanish River High School, to guiding future veterinarians through their first bovine rectal exam as an adjunct professor at Florida Atlantic University. “Most of the kids were from Boca and wanted to work with dogs and cats. But you still have to have exposure to cows. So I would sit there, and they’d have their $400 designer sunglasses on, and as their wrist dropped into the cow’s rectum, I’d take pictures of their facial expressions,” laughs Dr. Gillard. “I have a whole album of kids that were doing their first rectal.”

Even situations that weren’t fun at the time can now be looked back on with a sense of levity, like the time a professional horse trainer called Dr. Gillard out at 11 p.m. on a Saturday, because she thought her horse was in trouble. “She told me he’s doing a silent agonal scream,” recalls Dr. Gillard, who drove there at about 90 miles an hour, pondering what could be wrong with the animal.

“I get there and there’s a semi-circle of about six cars, all with their headlights focused on this horse in its stall.” Heart racing, Dr. Gillard observed the horse carefully as it yawned. “I had to walk back to my car and count to 50. I told the lady that the horse is tired, sleepy, and yawning. No silent agonal scream. I can laugh now, but at the time my heart was going 100 miles an hour.”

While his heart rate may have come down, even at 76 years old, Dr. Gillard has no intention of slowing down. “I can see myself always keeping a toe in the water—otherwise, I don’t know what I’d do. I’d probably be climbing the walls,” he says with a smile.

To learn more or to get in touch with Dr. Glenn Gillard, call (561) 738-4601.

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Local paranormal investigator documents haunting experiences in new memoir

From a young age, Coral Springs resident Bill Slevin knew he was destined to work with the paranormal. Now, 36 years into a calling that most would have run from, Slevin is a

world-famous paranormal investigator, researcher, demonologist, parapsychologist, educator, and author.

In his new memoir, “Living Life Haunted,” Slevin documents his lifelong work within the paranormal field, which includes heading up the Paranormal Existence Research Society, a professional nonprofit paranormal research group with teams across the country and the world; serving as chief operating officer of the Warren Society for Paranormal Research and Education, named after renowned paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren, whose real-life cases inspired the “Conjuring”movies; and investigating more than 1,000 residential haunting cases and seven demonic cases.

The book is far more than a collection of ghost stories. It’s the harrowing journey of a man finding purpose in a dangerous, taboo field before it became mainstream. “It’s not just a book about cases,” affirms Slevin. “It’s also about my journey, how I started. I wanted to get out there what it’s like living in the shoes of somebody who does this for real, not on TV.”

As an educator, part of Slevin’s mission has always been to explain the difference between how demons and paranormal cases are portrayed for entertainment vs. what they look like in real life. And while there are many bone-chilling accounts of real hauntings, not all the cases in the book are paranormal.

“It’s not always demons; it’s not always ghosts. Sometimes it’s natural things,” says Slevin, who also wanted to depict the reality of his job. “We deal with people’s lives. If we don’t know things like mental health and addiction, we can mess people up way worse than they already are, because it may not be paranormal.”

________

An excerpt from “Living Life Haunted”

The case that started it all—June 4, 1989: My first residential investigation

“We opened the door and stepped inside. Immediately, something hit us hard.

It was like walking into a wall of nausea. Within seconds, all three of us stumbled back, gagging uncontrollably. My stomach churned violently. I’ve never felt anything like it, and I still haven’t.

We bolted out the front door, collapsing onto the lawn, gasping for air. For a moment, we said nothing; each of us trying to make sense of what just happened.

I considered the logical explanations. Gas leak? Carbon monoxide? But Mary had just walked out of the house looking perfectly fine. That couldn’t be it.

After a few minutes, we composed ourselves and cautiously reentered. Nothing.

No smell. No nausea. The house was still and silent, as if mocking us. We exchanged glances. Did that really happen?

We moved forward into the living room. John, to my right, carried a large video camera mounted on his shoulder; at that time, they were heavy and clunky. Mike held an old cassette audio recorder. I stood between them, absorbing every sound, every flicker of movement.

The air in the room was heavy, oppressive. I felt uncomfortable, but more than that, I felt anger. An irrational, simmering rage was bubbling up from nowhere. I didn’t understand it, but I knew something was building.

And then it happened.

A growl, deep, guttural, inhuman, rumbled through the room like thunder from the pit of the Earth; John let out a blood-curdling scream and hurled the camera to the ground, lens-first, without a second thought.

We snapped on the lights.

John was clawing at his back, yanking at his shirt. Mike and I rushed over as he pulled it off, and we froze. I will never forget what we saw.”

To learn more or read on, visit www.billslevin.com.

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Becca’s Closet Providing Homecoming and Prom dresses for girls in need

School is back in session, and that means, for most high school students, Homecoming is fast approaching, and with it, the opportunity to dress up and celebrate with peers at a formal dance. For many girls, this is an exciting time and a chance to go shopping for the perfect dress. But for others, the expenses involved create unnecessary financial stress that, in some cases, may force them to miss out on a major high school milestone.

Rebecca (“Becca”) Kirtman wanted to change that. While a freshman at Nova High School in Davie, she realized that purchasing dresses and accessories for Homecoming and Prom presented a significant financial hardship for some students, and she made it her mission to ensure that all girls, no matter their financial situation, had access to formal dresses.

The idea came to Becca after reading an article in a teen magazine about female students at a private school in California who decided to donate their dresses to a less affluent school in their community. Inspired by the article and determined to create this kind of opportunity for less affluent students in her own community, Becca began writing letters to different manufacturers requesting dress donations.

Through her project, known as the Nova High School Dress Bank, Becca singlehandedly collected and donated more than 250 brand-new formal dresses, helping girls across Broward, Miami-Dade, and Palm Beach counties attend their high school Proms and Homecoming dances.

When a tragic automobile accident took Becca’s life in 2003, her parents immediately decided to continue their daughter’s work, turning her project into a registered nonprofit organization named Becca’s Closet.

“It was a very easy decision,” recalls Jay Kirtman, Becca’s father and president of the organization’s Board of Directors. “She started this and we needed to continue it, so we formed the organization within 10 days of her passing.”

The Kirtmans changed the name to Becca’s Closet both to honor Becca and because her friends were always raiding her closet and borrowing her clothes.

From the beginning, Becca’s Closet garnered a lot of support from the community, with several members of the Florida Panthers organization jumping on board. “It took on a life of its own,” says Kirtman. “We were almost immediately on CNN, the ‘Today Show,’ ‘Inside Edition,’ and many other TV shows.”

The national media coverage spurred inquiries from people across the country wanting to do the same thing in their communities. Becca’s Closet now has a national presence, with more than 50 chapters across the United States all run by volunteers.

South Florida remains the organization’s operational center. “We currently have over 7,000 dresses locally in South Florida,” says Kirtman. Becca’s Closet recently received a donation of 1,000 dresses from fashion retail chain Windsor. “When the organization receives a large donation like this, we reach out to chapters around the country to see who needs dresses and then distribute them accordingly,” explains Kirtman.

Every year, Becca’s Closet dresses thousands of girls in South Florida, and tens of thousands across the country. “The most rewarding thing for me is the appreciation people have when they get a dress,” says Kirtman. “Hopefully they know what Rebecca did and what she stood for. And we only hope they continue doing something in their own communities.”

To qualify for a dress, you must be a high school student with financial need who cannot afford to purchase a dress for a school-sponsored event/dance.

“We’re on the honor system,” explains Kirtman. “If they tell us they can’t afford a dress, we give them a dress.” The honor system is in place to protect the girls. “It’s hard enough for kids who can’t afford things to jump through hoops and prove everything. We want this to be a positive experience.”

Girls seeking a dress need to provide a current high school ID and answer the question of how they would get a dress if they didn’t get it from Becca’s Closet. They do not have to provide tax returns or other financial documentation. “We’ve had a couple of kids in our 20-plus years who have gone home without a dress,” recalls Kirtman. “You can count that on one hand, and those are the kids who are trying to beat the system.” Becca’s Closet also serves a lot of girls in the foster care system, girls who are homeless, and those in the court system.

For the past 23 years, Becca’s Closet has had a donated central distribution center located inside Festival Marketplace in Coconut Creek, where girls could make an appointment, go see the dresses, and try them on. “They worked one on one with an adult volunteer and two student volunteers and had their own private dressing room,” says Kirtman.

In lower-income areas, the organization will sometimes get more than 30 students from the same school and takes thoughtful steps to ensure that each girl still feels special.

“We keep logs on which high school the girls go to and what dress they got, because we don’t want to give the kids who go to the same high school the same dress,” explains Kirtman. If a girl does choose the same dress that someone in her school already chose, the volunteers inform her and give her the option of selecting another dress.

With the closure of Festival Marketplace in May, Becca’s Closet is now looking for a new home. “We have not been able to find a home to distribute dresses for girls who need them,” says Kirtman. “If we don’t procure something, we’re going to be doing pop-ups at a major hotel and will be doing a big giveaway at the end of September.” Ideally, Becca’s Closet would prefer to remain in central Broward near major highways to be easily accessible for kids across Palm Beach, Miami-Dade, and Broward counties.

On Nov. 11, the organization is hosting its annual fundraising luncheon at Anthony’s Runway 84 in Fort Lauderdale.

To donate dresses, to get involved, or for more information, visit www.beccascloset.org.

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Pelican Harbor Seabird Station Nonprofit celebrates 45 years and 45,000 animal rescues

Pelican Harbor Seabird Station (PHSS) is Miami’s premier native wildlife hospital, which over time has evolved into a world-class wildlife rescue, rehabilitation, release, and education center. This nonprofit organization, now in its 45th year, is an internationally recognized seabird rehabilitation center that has rehabilitated and released more than 45,000 native animals.

Like most nonprofits, PHSS started with humble beginnings. In 1980, PHSS founders Harry and Darlene Kelton lived on a houseboat and had no experience in animal care. After moving their houseboat to the Pelican Harbor Marina, they found an injured brown pelican, removed a fishhook from its mouth, and decided to nurse it back to health.

When people learned of what the Keltons had done, they started bringing injured pelicans to their houseboat. What began as a love of pelicans quickly grew into a larger calling.

As more and more people began bringing injured pelicans and other animals to them, the Keltons knew it was time to expand, to create a real rescue and rehabilitation center. Others got involved, with the Miami-Dade Parks Department providing land, and in 1992, Miami-Dade County built the organization’s current facility, which is part of the Pelican Harbor Marina.

In 1996, former Executive Director Christopher Boykin led the effort to expand PHSS’s patient intake beyond seabirds to include all Florida native species, with the exception of rabies-vector animals such as racoons and foxes, as the facility did not have space to safely quarantine them. In 2023, PHSS treated more than 2,000 animals spanning 131 native species.

The Keltons remained involved with PHSS their entire lives and were known for helping revolutionize the rehabilitation and care of brown pelicans. Harry and Darlene developed a special medical procedure called “the cotton fish,” where they would stuff fish with cotton balls and feed them to a sick pelican with a hook in its stomach. Once the fish was digested, the cotton would cover the fishhook, and in many cases, the pelican would regurgitate it.

“We still use the cotton fish technique,” says Renata Schneider, DVM, a staff veterinarian at PHSS. “I would guess that it works 50% of the time. It’s noninvasive, so we always try that first. Then if we have to do a manual or surgical removal of the hooks, at least the metal is wrapped up in cotton.”

In October, PHSS will move to a new location along the Little River (about five minutes away from its current location). The new Wildlife Hospital and Education Center is 14 times larger than the current facility and will feature more ambassador and rehabilitation pens, a center for hosting school groups, natural history exhibits, and a manatee viewing location.

“At the new building, we plan to dramatically expand our educational programming as we will finally have space on-site to welcome larger groups of children and adults,” says Marianna Niero, PHSS’s communications manager. “We are planning enhanced tours, hands-on experiences, lectures, day camps, and other programming. The additional space will also allow us to offer more volunteer opportunities of various kinds, all with the aim of creating opportunities for people to connect with our native wildlife and to the ecosystems of South Florida.”

As PHSS has grown, it’s remained committed to its mission of improving the lives of sick, injured, and orphaned native wildlife with the goal of releasing healthy animals back into the ecosystem, enabling future generations.

One of PHSS’s recent rescues was a great blue heron white morph, a rare, federally protected bird that was a victim of animal cruelty. A fisherman threw a rock at it and broke its wing. The bird required multiple surgeries, but they were able to rehabilitate and release it. “The bird’s wing looks droopy, so we still get calls from people thinking it’s injured,” says Niero. “It’s nice because usually when we release a bird we don’t know how it’s doing. But because of these calls, I know it’s still there and doing well.”

According to Niero, more than 90% of the animal injuries PHSS sees are because of humans, and 70% of seabird injuries are from improper disposal of fishing equipment. “It might be cruelty, a car accident, pollution, or loss of habitat because of overdevelopment,” explains Niero. “That’s why it’s important to support organizations like ours. We owe it to wildlife because we are taking so much from them. They have no space and their environment is so polluted because of us. We should give back as much as we can.”

Some of the animals that cannot be released back into the wild become ambassadors for PHSS and help with education and outreach programs. One such ambassador is Mowgli, a female screech owl that fell from the nest as a baby and was attacked by a cat. The attack left her with a permanent injury to her left wing that makes her unable to fly properly and therefore unreleasable.

In addition to being an ambassador, Mowgli is also a teacher, training young screech owls how to hunt. “When we raise orphaned baby screech owls, before we release them, we have to make sure they know how to hunt and survive in the wild,” explains Niero. “We put Mowgli in an enclosure with the young owls, and we release mice. Thanks to game cameras, remains, and by weighing the owls, we can tell if they are learning. We call this ‘mouse school,’ and once they pass mouse school, they are cleared for release if everything else is fine with them.”

PHSS also has a library program called “Books with Mowgli,” where children can meet Mowgli and learn more about owls.

In addition to its educational programs, PHSS is open to the public as well. Free tours are available Saturdays at 11 a.m., and self-guided audio tours are available Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. For a more in-depth experience, guided “Behind the Scenes” tours are available and must be booked in advance.

For more information or to get involved, visit PelicanHarbor.org.

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Trooper’s Law and the importance of animal hurricane preparations

As hurricane season approaches, a new law is going into effect to further protect dogs. Trooper’s Law, effective Oct. 1, will make it a third-degree felony to abandon a restrained dog during a natural disaster. The measure was inspired by Trooper, the bull terrier who made national headlines last year when state troopers found him tied to a fence and left in belly-high water on Interstate 75 during Hurricane Milton evacuations.

Trooper was adopted by Parkland residents Frank and Carla Spina and was honored at Parkland City Hall in January. “The state troopers appeared and presented him with a ‘Junior Trooper’ Florida Highway Patrol badge, which he wears around his collar,” says Frank Spina.

After being rescued and adopted, Trooper went through an even greater ordeal, requiring surgery to remove cancerous tumors from his body, and then undergoing a four-hour endoscopy to remove more than 100 pieces of garbage from his stomach. Thankfully, the procedures went well, and Trooper is now thriving.

Trooper and the Spinas have been invited to witness Governor Ron DeSantis officially sign Trooper’s legislation into law. “The governor and his wife are very big proponents of Trooper,” says Spina. “They think the world of him.”

Trooper’s situation was not the first to force lawmakers to expand protections for animals during natural disasters. The Pets Evacuation and Transportation Standards Act of 2006, known as the PETS Act, was passed and codified into federal law following the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in 2005, when an estimated 200,000 pets were stranded and close to 150,000 perished during the storm. The act requires states to include the needs of households with pets and service animals in emergency preparedness operational plans in order to receive federal funding for those plans.

Florida was one of the first states to revise disaster relief plans to include household pets and service animals, creating pet-friendly shelters and aiding in pet evacuation and transport. But where the law still falls short is in protecting farm animals, including horses. Because they are not considered household pets, the PETS Act does not require states to incorporate hoofed animals into their emergency plans, and Florida does not have specific legal protections for these animals during hurricanes, despite the need for it. During Hurricane Ian, one dairy farmer in Myakka City lost 250 dairy cows.

The Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services offers guidelines on disaster preparedness for horses, livestock, and pets, which include what to consider when sheltering in place or evacuating. For horse and livestock owners, it’s important to maintain contact with private businesses and nonprofits as many of them often step up during a storm, offering aid and/or shelter. During Hurricane Ian, the World Equestrian Center in Ocala provided free shelter for 3,000 horses, and American Humane helped rescue farm animals stranded during the storm.

Many of these organizations also offer free online resources on making preparations for your animals in case of a hurricane. It’s never too soon to prepare.

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Tomorrow’s Rainbow When tragedy creates new purpose

Abby Mosher turned a personal tragedy into purpose, creating one of the most magical places for children in Coconut Creek—Tomorrow’s Rainbow.

Tomorrow’s Rainbow is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that provides free mental health support services for children ages 3 through 18, their caregivers, and adults healing from grief, loss, or trauma. What makes Tomorrow’s Rainbow special is that it incorporates animals—specifically, horses, goats, and mini donkeys—into its program, providing outdoor, experiential sessions where children explore their world through interactions with the animals.

This year, Tomorrow’s Rainbow will celebrate its 20th year of providing these life-saving services to children—services inspired by Mosher’s difficult loss. On a family vacation in Texas 25 years ago, a head-on collision took the life of Mosher’s husband, Paul. She and her 7-year-old son, Dustin, survived but were thrust into a world of grief and loss that didn’t have many resources available for children.

“When we came back to Florida, I thought, with Broward County being the sixth-largest school district in the nation, that there’d be tons of resources available,” says Mosher. “But I found that Broward County had no children’s grief center.”

Thankfully, Mosher had insurance, so her son was able to receive individual therapy. But that therapy had its limitations. “The social isolation for him was devastating,” explains Mosher. “He didn’t have a single friend he could relate to.”

That’s when Mosher decided she wanted to create a space where families could come together with other families who knew what it was like to have someone important in their life die. She also wanted to make it accessible for those who couldn’t afford individual therapy.

Mosher didn’t know at the time that her newfound dream would quickly align with her childhood dream of owning a horse. Through her work with the parent-teacher association, she knew Wally Hennessey, a Hall of Fame harness track racer. She and her son would go to the track to watch Hennessey race.

“After the race, Wally would take his goggles off, and he’d be covered in sand, and the horse’s nostrils would be flaring from winning the race, and Wally would be perfectly peaceful,” recalls Mosher, who wanted whatever that peacefulness was. When the Hennesseys introduced her to a woman with miniature horses, she knew the animals had to be part of her program.

Three years later, Mosher met her current husband, Shel, and shared with him her dream of supporting grieving children with horses, and he was on board. Together, they purchased a 2.5-acre mini-ranch adjacent to Tradewinds Park, and in 2005, Tomorrow’s Rainbow opened its doors.

It wasn’t until after opening and going through trainings with the Equine Assisted Growth and Learning Association that Mosher realized how powerful horses are in the healing process. “Horses are the only animal that can mirror our behavior,” explains Mosher. “The horse is the mirror for the child. So if the child doesn’t like what they see, if they adjust themselves, the horse will adjust as well.” Mosher likens it to a football player watching game tapes to get better. With horses, you watch their behavior to improve your own.

Tomorrow’s Rainbow offers bereavement group sessions and individual equine-assisted psychotherapy. When children first arrive, they undergo a screening process. Those who have suffered trauma in addition to grief are put into individual equine-assisted psychotherapy, where they work with a horse, an equine specialist, and a therapist. “We have to support the trauma before we can support the grief,” explains Mosher. “So we get them into our individual services and then when they’re ready, they can transfer to our bereavement group services.”

A bereavement session begins with introductions under a large tree, followed by an activity, horse grooming/interaction, and then play. “Kids can’t stay in their grief for a long time,” explains Mosher. “So we have to have opportunities for them to laugh and be kids.” During the bereavement session, adults are in a facilitated talk circle and given some psychoeducation on raising grieving children.

Children often tell their stories through the activities, acting out what happened at the puppet theater, or building something related to their loss at the LEGO table. Program facilitators are trained to honor the children’s stories and provide the space for them to express without judgment or shame. “We’re not teaching them how to grieve,” explains Mosher. “Children are experts in their own grief. We are supporting them. We’re not giving advice, we’re not problem-solving. It’s not a problem we can fix.”

At the end of a session, children are taken into a room filled with teddy bears where they can symbolically light a candle to remember their loved one. These charming, child-friendly touches run across the property, from the puppet theater to the teddy bear hospital to the wishing well. “We have dissolving paper so the children can write messages to their loved ones and put them in the wishing well, and the paper will dissolve, but the words will stay floating on top of the water until they’re ready to swirl it,” says Mosher.

To ensure that children of all economic backgrounds have access to these services, there is no cost for the bereavement groups. A combination of corporate and private donations, along with grants from organizations including Parkland Cares, Broward Behavioral Health Coalition, and the Jim Moran Foundation, helps offset the cost of individual psychotherapy sessions, which are normally $150 per hour. The organization runs on a tight budget, but for Mosher, the priority is the impact these services have on children.

“They come in with the weight of the world on their shoulders, and they leave joyful,” enthuses Mosher. “The energy completely changes when they realize they’re not alone and they don’t have all that stuff bottled up inside anymore, because they had a safe space for it to come out. And nobody made fun of them, nobody told them how to feel, and nobody tried to change them in any way, they just honored their journey.”

In addition to its on-site work, Tomorrow’s Rainbow has a “Grief on the Go” trailer to support underserved communities in Broward and Palm Beach counties through partnerships with nonprofits that work with at-risk children.

For Mosher, Tomorrow’s Rainbow has become her life’s mission. “I feel like I don’t work a day in my life,” she says. “To see the children and the impact this program has on their lives is a blessing. I knew we were going to help children heal. But what I didn’t know is that we would literally be saving lives, and that’s pretty powerful.”

For more information, visit TomorrowsRainbow.org.

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Playing it forward Teen organizes drive to support student athletes in Africa

For Jordin Bekker, a freshman at North Broward Preparatory School, a recent school service trip to Tanzania was the perfect opportunity to give back to her native continent.

“I felt really inspired, being from Africa and knowing I was going to go on this trip, to give back to my community,” says Bekker, who grew up in South Africa and has lived in Parkland for almost three years.

A lifelong athlete whose love of sports helped her develop confidence, engage with people, and release her anger in a healthy way, Bekker wanted to support student athletes.

“Since sport is my passion, and there are many kids in Tanzania who don’t have the opportunity to pursue a passion like sports because they lack equipment and facilities, I wanted to give back part of what I was able to experience growing up,” explains Bekker, who decided to do an athletic clothing drive.

Bekker and her mother created a Facebook post about the drive, asking for used athletic clothing donations, and the response from the Parkland community was overwhelming. “The people of Parkland are absolutely amazing,” enthuses Bekker, who received three seasons’ worth of brand-new lacrosse uniforms from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School alone. “I didn’t expect this to blow up as much as it did. We received messages multiple times a day from people telling us they had bags and bags for us.”

Bekker spent weeks collecting and washing clothes and cleats and sorting them by size and age group. Due to the volume of donations, she had to put a shed in the backyard and is already planning on expanding her efforts next year. “It’s definitely something I want to keep doing,” she confirms. “I love kids.”

With the help of her fellow classmates and travelers, Bekker was able to transport 27 duffel bags, each filled with two T-shirts, two pairs of shorts, a pair of cleats, a soccer ball, and a ball pump.

The bags were distributed to students at Ngongongare Primary School, which has four sports teams and more than 700 students. “Giving them the sports equipment made me cry,” recalls Bekker. “Before we gave them the equipment, I watched them play during recess. They were playing barefoot on stones that would pierce your foot. Their field was slanted with long grass, and a goal made out of wooden planks. They were so happy when we gave them the equipment. They sang and danced to say thank you to us.”

Since returning from her trip, Bekker has already collected 50 more pairs of cleats and has begun registering her charity, aptly named Play It Forward, to continue and expand her mission of providing clothes and sports equipment to children in Tanzania.

For more information, visit platitforwardinc.com. {Is this URL link correct? It doesn’t work. And playitforwardinc.com doesn’t have anything on the site yet.}

https://playitforwardinc.com/ coming soon

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Hillsboro Inlet Lighthouse: A historic treasure

One of the brightest lights in the world shines from Hillsboro Inlet—the light beam emanating from the Hillsboro Inlet Lighthouse, which can be seen from 28 nautical miles (just over 32 miles) away. Built in 1907, the lighthouse has withstood major hurricanes and fires to guide ships through the shallow waters and coral reefs of Hillsboro Inlet for the past 118 years.

In 1855, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers designated Hillsboro Inlet as hazardous to the safe navigation of ships and recommended that Congress authorize the funding of a lighthouse. However, due to a lack of funds, more than 50 years passed before the approval and construction of the Hillsboro Inlet Lighthouse began.

During that time, Hillsboro Inlet continued to challenge ships. In 1900, the SS Copenhagen, a British cargo steamer, sank after striking a reef in 25 feet of water off the coast of Pompano Beach. Finally, in 1901, the United States Lighthouse Board persuaded Congress to authorize the construction of a lighthouse at Hillsboro Inlet. “The sinking of the SS Copenhagen really jumpstarted getting this lighthouse,” says David Velez, a Hillsboro Lighthouse Preservation Society (HLPS) volunteer. The HLPS, a nonprofit organization, works with the U.S. Coast Guard to maintain the lighthouse.

At 147 feet tall at its highest point, the Hillsboro Inlet Lighthouse is one of the tallest lighthouses on the East Coast. One hundred and sixty-seven winding steps lead to the watch deck of the lighthouse, which offers sweeping views of the coast and overlooks part of the Florida Reef, where sharks and fish are commonly spotted.

One of the lighthouse’s most unique features is its second-order, bivalve Fresnel Lens, which dates back to 1907 and was the most technologically advanced at the time. “The lens is original from 1907,” says Amber Velez, membership chair of the HLPS, whose grandfather was one of Hillsboro Inlet’s original lighthouse keepers. “Only a few of these lenses are still active, one being ours. Others are on display in museums. Ours is rotating just as it was in 1907.”

The lens comprises 356 glass pieces that form a large diamond. “When it was first put into service, the lighthouse had a vaporized kerosene light visible up to 15 nautical miles out,” explains David Velez. “They created the lens in such a way that no matter where the light was coming from the kerosene flame, it would refract and create a horizontal beam shooting out into the ocean.”

In 1932, the lighthouse went from kerosene to electrical power, and in 2021 it switched to an LED light visible from 28 nautical miles out. “That’s only at 50% brightness,” says David Velez. “If we increased it to maximum brightness, we’d probably get complaints from residents.”

Originally the Hillsboro Inlet Lighthouse used a mercury bath to rotate its Fresnel lens, which weighs about 3,500 pounds. Floating the heavy lens on a pool of liquid mercury allowed it to rotate quickly with minimal effort, creating the bright flashing signal that lighthouses are known for. “This was done on mercury because mercury is frictionless,” explains Ralph Krugler, a historian with the HLPS and author of “The (Almost) Complete History of the Hillsboro Inlet Lighthouse.”

“Once the lens was floating, with one finger, you could push a giant lens around in circles,” says Krugler.

The lighthouse keepers were responsible for maintaining the mercury bath. When dust, sand, or other impurities built up in the mercury, they had to strain it. “They would drain the mercury and run it through a cheesecloth,” says Krugler. “These guys weren’t wearing gloves and were doing all this by hand.” Sadly, keepers were commonly referred to as “mad hatters,” as constant exposure to the bath often led to mercury poisoning and abnormal behavior.

Throughout the years, several major hurricanes caused some mercury to spill out of the basin. Thankfully in 1998, all mercury was removed from the lighthouse, and the mercury bath was replaced with a ball-bearing system that would rotate the lens. In 1974, the lighthouse became fully automated, meaning keepers were no longer needed.

On Friday, March 14, the HLPS is hosting its annual fundraising gala. Those who attend will be treated to a private tour of the lens room and an up-close look at the original 1907 Fresnel lens, an experience not available on public tours.

Proceeds from the gala—which takes place under the full moon on the lighthouse grounds—will go toward upkeep, repairs, and HLPS’s restoration project.

The million-dollar restoration project involves a complete overhaul of the struts, cables, and turnbuckles, along with the blasting and repainting of the lighthouse to restore it to its original color scheme composed of three black sections and two white.

“It’s a 10-year restoration plan with a 10-year guarantee,” explains Amber Velez. “We’ll have 10 years of guaranteed service, so if anything happens with the paint or rust starts coming back, the restoration company will come back and take care of it.”

Because the lighthouse is located on U.S. Coast Guard grounds and is bordered by the Hillsboro Club, it is only open to the public once a month for public tours. Upcoming tours are scheduled for March 8, April 12, May 10, and June 15. Visitors meet at the Sands Harbor Resort and Marina in Pompano Beach and are transported by boat to the lighthouse grounds.

For more information, visit www.hillsborolighthouse.org.

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Diving deeper with dolphins

Dolphins are known for their playful personalities. We love watching them leap into the air and swim alongside boats. Many of us even have swimming with these adorable mammals on our bucket lists. But dolphins aren’t all fun and games. Dolphins are highly intelligent creatures that can be aggressive, cunning, and remarkable, which explains why our NFL team is named after them!

Dolphins love to play games—sometimes at the expense of other animals. When it comes to game playing, dolphins are masters at having fun. In many instances, dolphins have been observed tossing fish or turtles to each other for sport. On an episode of BBC’s and PBS’s “Spy in the Wild,” a pod of dolphins is caught snatching a lone puffer fish and playing catch with it. The dolphins are careful not to bite the fish too hard, as they know the puffer fish are poisonous. But these cunning mammals also know that when they consume small amounts of puffer-fish poison, it acts as a narcotic, relaxing the dolphins and taking the game—and the dolphins—to new heights.

Male dolphins form gangs. A study published by the National Academy of Sciences found that young male dolphins form close bands of two to three dolphins to find females to mate with. These bands also work together to defend against other dolphins looking to take the females. In instances where backup is necessary, these small bands are linked to a larger network of male dolphins that serve as allies. These male gangs can form a network of up to 50 dolphins.

Dolphins are naval assets. According to the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society, dolphins have an entire area of their brain dedicated to echolocation, meaning they can “see” with sonar, helping them navigate and hunt in deep and murky water. Considered one of the most sophisticated sonar systems known to nature, their echolocation skills have made bottlenose dolphins a naval asset. Since 1959, dolphins have been an important part of the Navy’s Marine Mammal Program, helping to identify and guard against mines and other underwater threats.

 Dolphins can stay awake for two weeks straight. Imagine going 14 days straight with no sleep and maintaining your health and mental acuity. Sounds completely impossible, right? For dolphins, it’s not a problem. The two halves of a dolphin’s brain can sleep in shifts so that dolphins are constantly half awake. This uncanny ability to literally sleep with one eye open helps dolphins guard against predators.

Dolphins are deep thinkers. Dolphin brains contain spindle neurons, which are associated with advanced abilities such as problem-solving, recognition, reasoning, communication, and even adapting to change. The presence of these neurons suggests that dolphins are actually deep thinkers. Many years ago, at the Institute for Marine Mammal Studies in Mississippi, a dolphin named Kelly astounded trainers with her cunning behavior. One day, when a gull flew into her pool, Kelly caught the gull and handed it over to her trainers, who rewarded her with lots of fish. Kelly quickly learned from this experience. The next time she was fed, she hid one of the fish at the bottom of her pool and later used it to lure more gulls to her pool. Then she would catch the birds and hand them over to her trainers, reaping the rewards of even more fish.

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Parkland girl finds her heart horse

Copa is an off-the-track thoroughbred that raced under the name It’s All Copacetic. But when he first arrived at Twine Barn Sanctuary in Parkland, things weren’t all copacetic. Twine Barn Sanctuary founder and president Crystal Coan knew she had her work cut out for her.

“Copa would jump or bolt off at a gallop over every little thing, even moving shadows on the ground from trees he was standing under,” recalls Coan. “Sometimes even his own shadow!” Coan had Copa assessed to see if he had any underlying pain or injuries that would make him behave this way. There were none.

“When he was given the green light to work, it became clear that he’d learned his naughty behavior meant people would dismount and he wouldn’t have to work anymore,” explains Coan. So she decided to work with Copa to curb his dangerous behavior.

Coan and Copa went on a number of thrilling rides she refers to as “flying dragon rolls,” one of which threw her hip out for weeks. Still, she refused to give up on Copa.

“I never once thought about giving up on him,” affirms Coan. “He was super sweet and always wanted to be hanging over your shoulder, so I knew with a lot of patience, desensitization work, and regular exercise, he had the potential to become someone’s heart horse.”

And that’s exactly what happened. When Mikaella Alzein met Copa at Twine Barn Sanctuary, it was love at first sight. Mikaella was only 9 years old at the time and hadn’t started riding yet. The idea of riding Copa gave her the motivation to get started and stick with it.

“When I first saw Copa, I immediately knew he was my favorite horse,” recalls Mikaella. After a few weeks of training, Coan allowed Mikaella to ride Copa for the first time on a lead rope and only at a walk. “I was so happy,” enthuses Mikaella. “I knew I wanted to work with this horse. I could see us going far and having a future together.”

A couple of months later, on her first ride off the lead rope, Mikaella realized how much work it would take to achieve the future she envisioned with Copa. Copa bucked the entire length of the field they were riding through, and Mikaella fell off the 17-hand horse. Copa’s bucking, which was unpredictable, happened during many of their rides and never deterred Mikaella.

“Mikaella would smile, dust herself off, tell him she loved him, and get right back on,” says Coan. “Sure gave us and her parents some scares, but she wouldn’t give up on him.”

“If you want to be a good rider, you’re gonna also have to face your fears,” explains Mikaella. “I faced my fears while he was bucking.”

To help with Copa’s bucking, Mikaella’s parents brought in horse trainers Igo Sifuentes and Irene Arshad. Even though they knew their daughter was determined, they still had their doubts about Copa and made sure Mikaella always wore a helmet and safety vest when riding him.

“At the beginning I thought there was no hope for him,” recalls Jaelke Alzein, Mikaella’s mother. “He would start good and then go wild like a rodeo. I thought the horse was crazy.” But Coan and Sifuentes assured her that Copa just needed a lot of love and consistency.

Mikaella stepped up and began spending hours with Copa in the barn to build love and trust between them. “Every day she took her books and read to him, and sang to him,” recalls Alzein. “She still does that to this day.”

During the summer, instead of going on vacation, Mikaella spent her days at the barn cleaning stalls, feeding the horses, and, of course, bonding with Copa.

As their bond deepened, Mikaella was even able to fall asleep beside Copa. “The first time I slept in his stall, I woke up with him playing with my hair,” she says. “It was a super calming, special feeling.”

“She’s the kind of kid that he needed and he’s the heart horse she’d always dreamt about,” enthuses Coan. “It was a match made in heaven.”

In early 2023, Mikaella started jumping, and within seven months she became the Grand Champion in Parkland in her division. Her dream was to be able to take Copa to a show and compete with him.

In October 2023, Mikaella started jumping with Copa. “I was so excited when that happened,” she enthuses. “It felt like I was flying.”

In late 2023, after a year and a half of working and bonding with Copa, Mikaella took him to his first show in Parkland. It didn’t go well. “He was freaking out,” recalls Jaelke Alzein. “He wanted to jump out of the arena.”

But with love, patience, and positive reinforcement, Copa and Mikaella are now successfully competing in shows together. “He behaves so well. He looks like a champion, and he behaves like one,” says Alzein. “He’s very calm.”

Five months ago, Mikaella became Copa’s official owner. Since then, they have competed in five shows together, and Coan couldn’t be happier for the pair. “Mikaella was determined to learn and grow with him so they could compete together one day, and I thank the universe her parents have supported them the whole way,” says Coan.

The Alzeins’ latest form of support comes in the form of a 3-acre property in Parkland. “This horse changed our lives completely,” says Jaelke Alzein. “We’re finally going to be able to bring Copa home with us. He’s part of the family and we want him with us.”

Mikaella, who is now realizing the original vision she had for her and Copa, has her own set of aspirations for the former racehorse.

“I want him to have the life he thought he would never have,” explains Mikaella. “I’m sure if you told him a couple of years ago that he was going to go to a nice barn, start training as an athlete, and be a champion, he wouldn’t have believed it. I want him to have a name, and be able to jump 3 meters, and go to the Wellington Equestrian Festival.”

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Seven surprising facts about reindeer

You know Dasher and Dancer and Prancer and Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donner, and Blitzen, and—of course, Rudolph the iconic, red-nosed reindeer. But did you know that—if accurately depicted—all of Santa’s reindeer would be pregnant females? That is just one of the fascinating facts I learned about reindeer on a visit to Running Reindeer Ranch in Fairbanks, Alaska, earlier this year.

Fact #1: Both male and female reindeer grow antlers every year, but only pregnant females keep their antlers through the winter (it helps them forage for food in the snow). All other reindeer shed their antlers at the end of fall. Hence, Santa’s reindeer must be carrying more than just presents!

Fact #2: Because they only grow during spring through fall—which is a short period of time in Alaska, with spring and fall each lasting about two weeks—reindeer antlers grow about one to two inches per day. According to our reindeer wranglers, after they leave work on Friday and come back on Monday, some of the reindeer have added a whopping four inches to their antlers!

Fact #3: Female reindeer normally grow bigger antlers than males do, which is why the leader of the herd is usually a female, as was the case at Running Reindeer Ranch.

Fact #4: Reindeer antlers are made of bone, meaning these animals can inflict some serious damage when fighting or defending themselves.

Fact #5: While growing, reindeer antlers have a velvety outer layer that looks very inviting to touch. But there are nerve endings and blood in the growing antlers, so touching them makes the reindeer uncomfortable. It’s a big no-no on the ranch! Once the antlers are fully grown, this velvet layer dries up and itches, so the reindeer rub their antlers against trees to get it off.

Fact #6: Reindeer are the only species of deer that have been domesticated. People have been domesticating them for about 7,000 years now—longer than they’ve been domesticating horses.

Fact #7: Reindeer can see ultraviolet light, which helps them survive the harsh arctic winters. Their main winter food source is lichens, plant-like organisms that absorb ultraviolet light and appear black in the reflective snow. The ability to see ultraviolet light allows the reindeer to find the lichens and also helps them to spot predators.

Running Reindeer Ranch (pictured here) is owned and operated by Alaskan natives Jane Atkinson and Doug Torelle. They have a herd of 13 reindeer, with more on the way come spring. They offer visitors the opportunity to walk among their herd through a birch forest and learn all about these amazing creatures that—bonus fact—thrive at a temperature of 40 below zero!

Thinking about ditching the Florida heat to start a reindeer farm in Alaska? Think again! In Alaska, only those native to the state are allowed to own raindeer.

For more information, visit https://runningreindeer.com.

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