ST. AUGUSTINE — Howdy, y’all! Frank “Alligator” Robb here. You might recognize me as the tall, lanky, bearded Floridian who rescued your beloved Chance the Snapper in the summer of 2019. Chance has since become part of something even greater than the adventure that first brought him into our lives: scientific research that’s helping us better understand threats to alligator health, human health and the broader ecosystem.
I have been working with alligators, crocodiles and other wildlife for nearly 30 years. In that time I’ve captured more than 400 crocodilians nearly every year. But starting early in my career, I wanted to know more—I wanted to explore the intricate inner workings of these animals and better understand their potential contributions to human health. That desire led me back to school, where I earned a degree in biomedical sciences and immersed myself in studies with wild alligators.
In 2019, I founded a nonprofit called Environmental Education Awareness Research Support and Services — EEARSS for short. Days later I received a call from the City of Chicago asking for help with the alligator who Block Club readers would later dub Chance the Snapper.
EEARSS is now engaged in several research projects, including a collaboration with the Wise Laboratory of Environmental and Genetic Toxicology at the University of Louisville. The lab approaches its work from a “one environmental health” perspective, which means they study the interconnectedness of human health, animal health and ecosystem health and how chemicals cause disease…