atseemetheexpo

Young Frank Robb’s earliest forays were in the wilderness of Port St. John, to hear him say it, before there was anything there. His father worked as a land surveyor and took the young teen on some of those jobs. Inevitably, they would come across wildlife that his dad was adept at identifying. At that time, he also occasionally helped his uncle who was working trapping alligators, and thus the seeds were sown.

Today, his resume includes being an animal researcher, a biomedical degree from Eastern Florida State College, and his 2019 establishment of the nonprofit Environmental Education Awareness Research Support and Services (EEARSS).

EEARSS has a foothold with Brevard Public Schools doing classroom presentations, working with Titusville High School’s TV production class to produce a live podcast, and doing drone surveys with Astronaut High’s program. Some of its most poignant research has involved studying the endocrine systems of alligators. Coupling the fact that they are at the top of the food chain and eat almost everything in the environment, they share traits with humans so that what impacts their health may impact ours.

“They’re the perfect single species for human health,” Robb revealed. “Their endocrine systems and hormones are the same as ours.”

It was an alligator in Chicago, of all places, that earned Robb a lot more than his 15 minutes of fame.

In July 2019, he received a call and agreed to be transported to the site, a lake in Humboldt Park, where the gator had been eluding capture for 10 days.

The strong theory to the gator being out of its habitat was the idea that some drug houses use them in watchdog roles. By this time, the story had reached national prominence. News crews, food trucks, T-shirt vendors, thousands of people, and a Mariachi band greeted his arrival and turned him into a celebrity after he trapped and relocated the gator to St. Augustine, courtesy of Southwest Airlines.

Today, he speaks of throwing out the first pitch at a game at Wrigley Field and meeting some of the most wonderful people imaginable.

Robb’s eyes light up and a smile lifts his beard when he speaks of this time, but he retreats from this display into a somber stance as he finds room for his faith and as he says, things “beyond my pay grade.”

A year after the Chicago event, he found out that he had a heart condition that required a delicate surgery. Being that he works for his nonprofit, there was no insurance to cover the costs, and apparently, no one locally wanted to perform the delicate operation.

Calling some of his contacts in the Windy City set in motion a chain of events involving finding the medical expertise and covering the costs. Robb believes the gator story was all part of life’s bigger picture.

“I’m alive today due in big part to that story and being put where I needed to be. There are so many things in Florida that we’re blessed to have. We take for granted having what we have down here.”

EEARSS is actively searching for donations for its research and educational outreach. For more information, go to eearss.org. SL