Key deer living near shoreline areas often visit the beach to rummage for food such as local beach plants and washed-up mangrove propagules. Some of them unfortunately get tangled in human debris that leads to severe injury or death. This includes getting rope tangled in their antlers and around their necks, or stepping through pieces of tubing or other round objects that they then cannot get off. In honor of a young Key deer buck who recently had to be euthanized after such an incident, SOKD organized a beach clean-up on 10/15/2020 along a 2 mile stretch of Long Beach on Big Pine Key. Despite the day starting off with rain, 46 volunteers joined the effort, some from as far away as Key West. The event was a huge success, with a mountain of dangerous stuff collected and lots of fun had by all. (SOKD organizes and participates in many clean-ups. We hope you join us!) Back