OneBlood says donors urgently needed after Hurricane Helene
A statewide blood bank says there is an urgent need for blood and platelet donations following Hurricane Helene.
These platelets and blood can be used for emergencies, as well as patients already seeking treatment for things like cancer.
OneBlood says all blood types are needed, but there is an even greater need for platelet donors and O negative and O positive blood donors right now.
Spokesperson Susan Forbes says donors can either visit a OneBlood donor center or a Big Red Bus to donate.
Hurricane Helene animal evacuees brought to Brevard.
The SPCA in Titusville rescued dogs and cats from Live Oak, which were evacuated. Ten dogs, including a pregnant one, seven puppies, and four kittens, were transported to Brevard before Helene hit Florida.
Susan Naylor Executive Director of SPCA said “The goal was to get those animals out of harm’s way to a safe location.”
All the animals will stay in Brevard until they are adopted.
“There will be animals coming in if their homes were destroyed,” Naylor said. “The more people who adopt or foster through us, the more we can help.”
Find out how to adopt or foster at SPCAbrevard.com
Orlando may move closer to Brevard.
The city of Orlando may shift closer to Brevard. WFIT’s Rick Glasby explains how:
Orlando city leaders have endorsed the annexation of Deseret Ranches. The move will expand the city’s boundaries by tens of thousands of acres. Deseret Ranches are owned by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. It’s located 50 miles southeast of Orlando airport, and 19 miles west of Cape Canaveral. The proposal faces a second vote by the Orlando City Council next month.
Environmentalists opposing the annexation contend the church is trying to evade the stricter environmental regulations in Orange County. Today, Deseret Ranches are primarily used for cattle, sod, and citrus farming. Right now about 90 ranchers and their families live there, but the Church has said its long-term plan is for half-a-million people to live on the land.
'Horseshoe U': Citizen scientists learn how to save sea-going animals that help save human lives
It’s early morning at the Naples Zoo, yet 60 volunteers packed into a classroom are excited to be learning how to convince a horseshoe crab to submit to a brief but proper welfare check.
Officials with the Florida Horseshoe Crab Watch Program are hoping everyone there will graduate to become citizen scientists, willing to carry a notepad and pencil and walk along the region's beaches looking for members of a species far older than the dinosaurs.
Countless humans have been kept from dying thanks to a compound in the animal's blue blood that has the unique ability to ensure the safety of vaccines, injectable medications, and medical devices.
The Food and Drug Administration requires a whole slew of medical items to pass testing using horseshoe crab blood to detect dangerous bacterial contaminants in medical products.
Taking blood from horseshoe crabs has been done since the 1970s, initially in ways that killed the animal. Today, in theory, labs take some of their blood and return them to the ocean. Still, studies show at least 15 percent of the animals don’t recover from the process and die.
Volunteers monitor more than 1,300 miles of Florida coastline. Horseshoe crabs have been around for more than 450 million years, which means they watched the extinction of the dinosaurs, survived ice ages, and switched from saltwater-based creatures to freshwater-based, and back, several times.
More info www.floridatoday.com