The Manatee Rehab Partnership truck was broken into and equipment was stolen:

Our truck was broken into while parked in the Holiday Inn Express in Florida City Thursday night.  It was parked in a well light area and even angled so the entire truck could be viewed from the hotel.  Obviously this did not help.  What makes it even more frustrating is we were not in the normal hotel we stay at when we are in the south Florida area.  Our normal hotel was booked.

 

Anyhow, the burglars smashed in the window and took all of our tracking boxes which contained VHF and sonic receivers, headphones, hand held GPS units, binoculars, refractometers, thermometers and of course the good camera with all its goodies.  The police eventually took prints off the truck but they were not optimistic in the recovery of the equipment.  One police officer indicated there is a group that breaks into vehicles with boats in tow in search of fishing equipment to eventually pawn. 

We are currently awaiting to see if the Florida office insurance will cover replacement cost for the items stolen.  Something many of us did not know, vehicle insurance only covers the vehicle and the damage it received.  Vehicle insurance does not cover personal items stolen from a vehicle.  But you can file for replacement of personal items through you home owners or work insurance.  Until we can get replacement equipment in hand, we will hopefully be borrowing equipment from FWC. 

On a positive note, a small belted animal was seen at the Card Sound Bridge by DERM during their aerial survey but we were not able to locate the animal after they had to go back for gas and then get grounded due to mechanical difficulties.  We now have one of our listening buoys at Alabama Jack's and hope to pick up the signal soon.