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Podcast Interview 3:
Scott Vogel Published June 26, 2025 In this engaging conversation for Wisdom for Wannabes interview 3, Scott Vogel shares his extensive journey in volunteering for wildlife conservation, highlighting his passion for education and community involvement. From his early adventures in nature to his current roles at Loggerhead Marinelife Center and Busch Wildlife Sanctuary, Scott emphasizes the importance of connecting with people and inspiring them to care for wildlife. He discusses the challenges and triumphs of animal rehabilitation, the significance of local conservation efforts, and how individuals can make a difference in protecting marine life. Scott's experiences in SCUBA diving further enrich his understanding of the ocean and its inhabitants, making him a passionate advocate for wildlife education and conservation. Listen to/watch the podcast recording or read the transcript below to learn more. |
Interview recording:
"Think globally, act locally." - Scott Vogel
(Wisdom for Wannabes podcast episode 8, 36:20)
Key Takeaways from Interview with Scott Vogel:
- Scott Vogel has dedicated over 60 years to wildlife conservation.
- He transitioned from animal care to education due to a back injury, discovering a passion for teaching.
- Scott's adventures in nature began in childhood, leading to a lifelong commitment to conservation.
- He emphasizes the importance of community involvement in wildlife education.
- Loggerhead Marinelife Center is a key player in turtle conservation efforts.
- Scott has logged 1,400+ volunteer hours at Loggerhead Marinelife Center and 800+ at Busch Wildlife Sanctuary.
- He encourages individuals to participate in local beach cleanups and reduce plastic use.
- Scott's experiences in SCUBA diving have deepened his appreciation for marine life.
- He believes that education can inspire a passion for conservation in others.
- Scott's greatest joy comes from connecting with people and sharing knowledge about wildlife.
Scott Vogel and his dog Jack, who was also named as a volunteer for Loggerhead Marinelife Center on July 18, 2025, for his work in helping to identify areas of struggling hatchlings on the beach during turtle tours in Juno Beach, FL.
Scott Vogel with a snake at Busch Wildlife Sanctuary.
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Scott Vogel with a turkey from Busch Wildlife Sanctuary, while doing outreach at Loggerhead Marinelife Center.
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Scott Vogel with an owl at Busch Wildlife Sanctuary.
Scott Vogel with Charlie, California Couger, at Busch Wildlife Sanctuary.
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Scott Vogel giving a turtle demonstration at Loggerhead Marinelife Center.
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Interview Transcript:
Jackie Morreale (00:00): Hello and welcome to Wisdom for Wannabes. I am the host, Jackie Morreale. Today, I am providing a warm welcome for a featured guest named Scott Vogel.
Scott has spent the past nine years at Loggerhead Marinelife Center, as well as Busch Wildlife Sanctuary, in Juno Beach and Jupiter, Florida, as a volunteer educator, as well as on the rescue team for both organizations. At Busch Wildlife Sanctuary, Scott has worked as a handler of ambassador animals, and he has learned over the course of his lifetime, over 60 years, about animal advocacy and wildlife conservation. In his spare time, he is also a master SCUBA diver with the PADI organization.
He is an outdoor connoisseur of all animal wildlife rescue, animal conservation, animal education endeavors, and he has become a real important person in Palm Beach County by way of his efforts and outreach to help the population learn more about these important ambassador animals and animals that need to be rescued in the wild. So Welcome, Scott, thank you so much for joining us for this interview today.
Scott Vogel (01:13): Well, thank you for having me, Jackie, and thanks for such a warm welcome. I'm glad to be here.
Jackie Morreale (01:20): Please again tell us your full name, your hometown, and where you're currently living.
Scott Vogel (01:24): My name is Scott Vogel. Originally, I'm from Rego Park, Queens, and I still go back there all the time. I've been spending most of my time for the last 13 years in Jupiter, Florida, where I found a lot of great new ways to me to work with ocean conservation and wildlife conservation and doing things that really make me happy because I feel I'm making a difference.
Jackie Morreale (01:48): You are making a difference. In a few words, What do you do? What is your passion?
Scott Vogel (01:54): I've always had this passion for adventure and being in the wild. Growing up in Rego Park, we weren't exposed to a lot of stuff. It's inside the city. It's a beautiful neighborhood. Even when I was little, some kids are restless. I didn't think that word quite fit. Later on in life, I figured out it was a wildness.
Without channel, and a lot of energy, I was getting into trouble when I was little, more than most kids, getting injured more than most. I liked doing dangerous things and things out of the norm. It was my way of being. Eventually, I learned how to channel that into things that I found out I was passionate about, because I didn't know when I was little.
Jackie Morreale (02:19): No way.
Scott Vogel (02:36): As time went on and I got more exposed to the oceans, and as a Boy Scout to camping, these things became much more important to me. I started doing a lot more.
Jackie Morreale (02:44): It sounds like you have been involved in animal conservation your entire life. I don't want to quantify that, but I did get into the numbers a little bit.
We're looking at many, many years of this being part of your life.
Scott Vogel (02:55): Yeah, it probably started around 59 years ago when I learned how to swim.
Jackie Morreale (03:00): It's amazing. If you were to pinpoint one thing, and I know you have all these different roles going on in your life that all come together with this one main passion and main role behind them of wildlife conservation, what is your favorite part of your job?
Scott Vogel (03:16): It is making the difference. I know when I'm working with a private tour, a public tour, a leading field trip, I feel that I'm getting through to people and I make a difference out there. Whereas all the work I did when I was younger, I didn't think about that. I was making a difference, but I really wasn't thinking about it.
My decision when I had much more free time in my mid-50s and I sort of retired and had lots of other time to give, I planned on being in animal care. I didn't plan on educating at all. I had been doing that for a long time. I wanted to work hands on. My daughter Joanna would ask me, what are you going to do with yourself? I had plenty of things to do. What immediately bounced into my head was, I'm going to work at the zoo. I made it happen, but I didn't want to educate. I wanted to take care of the animals.
Just about when I got started with that, my back went out in a way that's chronic and I was in physical therapy for months. After trying to work like that in animal care, which is pretty much in the beginning, scooping up poops all day, I went to one of my supervisors and said, you know what?
Jackie Morreale (04:21): Yes, very physical.
Scott Vogel (04:27): This isn't working. I need to switch into education.
What a great move that was, because that's when I really learned how much I enjoy doing that. It wouldn't have happened if my back didn't go out.
Although my back bothers me every day, it's manageable. I'm glad it went out, because it led to all these other really cool things.
Jackie Morreale (04:45): The chronic back pain. Mine has also led to interesting new journeys and things like this.
As someone who has taken one of your tours at the Loggerhead Marinelife Center, you are so good at the education component of it. You taught us so much about animals and how to do better and think about them every time that we go outside our door, really.
I'm glad for your back having the little bit of pain that led you into this animal education component of your life because you're really good at it and you're making a difference.
Scott Vogel (05:15): Well, I found that quite often something bad happens so you do something else instead. It's called silver lining.
Jackie Morreale (05:25): It totally is a silver lining! I'm so happy that’s your favorite part, as you really are talented.
If anybody is watching this and has not yet been to the Loggerhead Marinelife Center or Busch Wildlife Sanctuary in Juno Beach and Jupiter, Florida, you need to go. You need to go on a day when Scott Vogel is there because you are really special at this job that you do.
Scott Vogel (05:48): Well, thank you.
Jackie Morreale (05:49): You're welcome.
Let's dig a little deeper into your own need for adventure because it started 59 years ago. Have you always had this need for adventure on land and beneath the surface?
Is this just something you were born with or acquired in Scouts or how did that go for you?
Scott Vogel (05:56): Yes. I was restless and had a wildness and I didn't know what the need was. I have an older brother and a younger brother and we were a pain in the butt to my parents. We were getting shipped out to Florida a lot where we could really let off steam. The first year for that for me was when I was seven. They know we're going to be playing in pools and oceans. Better make sure they know how to swim.
That's where it began. My mom decided to send me and my brother to swim lessons. We had a couple of days before that happened. I knew I did not want this fellow to think that I can't swim. I snuck off on my own, I devised a methodical plan, scientifically thought-out plan as a seven year old, to teach myself step by step how to swim.
Jackie Morreale (06:29): So important.
Scott Vogel (06:50): Took me around 20 minutes, step by step.
Jackie Morreale (06:52): You taught yourself how to swim before the lessons that were supposed to teach you how to swim?
Scott Vogel (06:54): Yes, and I didn't tell anyone, didn't want anyone to know because then he would know I couldn't swim before I did this. Then she sent me to the lesson.
The guy was hanging around where we were and he was at our pool. After 10 minutes he went back to my mom and said, I can't teach him how to swim. You swim, it's fine.
Jackie Morreale (07:11): Hey, already got it. Wow, good for you.
Scott Vogel (07:12): Vivian told me, my wife, when I explained this story to her, that it says a lot about your personality. I never thought about it that way. Yeah, I think she's right.
Jackie Morreale (07:22): I think she's right. You're a self-starter. You know what you want and you go after it. I think whether it's teaching yourself how to swim or knowing that you want to handle animals or teach other people about the animals, you do it and it's inspiring.
Scott Vogel (07:35): The undersea adventure started a year later when my older brother and I, in the same area of Florida, went to Woolworths because for a dollar you could buy a mask, and a dollar for a snorkel, and a dollar for a set of fins.
Jackie Morreale (07:44): Wouldn't that be nice right now, right? Can't even imagine. Three dollars.
Scott Vogel (07:50): Well, for $3, we were set. We had everything we needed to explore. We were going out there and swimming out to where the water was probably over 30 feet deep. It was so clear on nice summer days.
We could see groupings of sand dollars from the surface from around 30 feet deep. We were far from shore. We were looking for landmarks on the shore because shore itself was hard to find. We were doing surface dives, filling up bags of sand dollars. You could bleach them white and sell them to the vacationers for a dollar a piece.
Jackie Morreale (08:10): At 30 feet deep.
Scott Vogel (08:25): We were exploring the oceans earning a living.
Jackie Morreale (08:28): Good for you. A little scary to me, 30 foot deep free dives.
Scott Vogel (08:33): I was scared, too. I was always scared out there, but I couldn't let that stop me. This was just too good to do. That fear never went away. That fear just makes me more alert, I think. We would swim out and pass fish and little wrecks. The first time I saw SCUBA divers down there, I said to myself, I will do that.
Jackie Morreale (08:45): Good for you. Since then, you have gone so many times and so many places around the world… It's amazing, you predicted it...
Scott Vogel (08:57): Ten years later, that happened when I took a course in SCUBA, and worked with that professor for the next 40 years, working with students.
Jackie Morreale (09:04): Amazing. Did you guys have a board out there with you or some sort of flotation device?
Scott Vogel (09:10): No, we had nothing, just us. I remember yelling at boats, Hey! Boats going by. We didn't have a dive flag or anything. No, back then, if your kids came back in, everything was fine. But we lived to tell the tale.
Jackie Morreale (09:18): Right, if only I could tell my kids that now. They always have eyes on them, even in the back of our heads.
Scott Vogel (09:27): Mine too. Now if I think if I did that, let my kids do that or my grandchild do that, I'd probably wind up in jail for neglect. A little bit different.
Jackie Morreale (09:35): Exactly. Different times, right? Well, you live to tell the tale and I'm so glad that you did.
(Continued)
Scott has spent the past nine years at Loggerhead Marinelife Center, as well as Busch Wildlife Sanctuary, in Juno Beach and Jupiter, Florida, as a volunteer educator, as well as on the rescue team for both organizations. At Busch Wildlife Sanctuary, Scott has worked as a handler of ambassador animals, and he has learned over the course of his lifetime, over 60 years, about animal advocacy and wildlife conservation. In his spare time, he is also a master SCUBA diver with the PADI organization.
He is an outdoor connoisseur of all animal wildlife rescue, animal conservation, animal education endeavors, and he has become a real important person in Palm Beach County by way of his efforts and outreach to help the population learn more about these important ambassador animals and animals that need to be rescued in the wild. So Welcome, Scott, thank you so much for joining us for this interview today.
Scott Vogel (01:13): Well, thank you for having me, Jackie, and thanks for such a warm welcome. I'm glad to be here.
Jackie Morreale (01:20): Please again tell us your full name, your hometown, and where you're currently living.
Scott Vogel (01:24): My name is Scott Vogel. Originally, I'm from Rego Park, Queens, and I still go back there all the time. I've been spending most of my time for the last 13 years in Jupiter, Florida, where I found a lot of great new ways to me to work with ocean conservation and wildlife conservation and doing things that really make me happy because I feel I'm making a difference.
Jackie Morreale (01:48): You are making a difference. In a few words, What do you do? What is your passion?
Scott Vogel (01:54): I've always had this passion for adventure and being in the wild. Growing up in Rego Park, we weren't exposed to a lot of stuff. It's inside the city. It's a beautiful neighborhood. Even when I was little, some kids are restless. I didn't think that word quite fit. Later on in life, I figured out it was a wildness.
Without channel, and a lot of energy, I was getting into trouble when I was little, more than most kids, getting injured more than most. I liked doing dangerous things and things out of the norm. It was my way of being. Eventually, I learned how to channel that into things that I found out I was passionate about, because I didn't know when I was little.
Jackie Morreale (02:19): No way.
Scott Vogel (02:36): As time went on and I got more exposed to the oceans, and as a Boy Scout to camping, these things became much more important to me. I started doing a lot more.
Jackie Morreale (02:44): It sounds like you have been involved in animal conservation your entire life. I don't want to quantify that, but I did get into the numbers a little bit.
We're looking at many, many years of this being part of your life.
Scott Vogel (02:55): Yeah, it probably started around 59 years ago when I learned how to swim.
Jackie Morreale (03:00): It's amazing. If you were to pinpoint one thing, and I know you have all these different roles going on in your life that all come together with this one main passion and main role behind them of wildlife conservation, what is your favorite part of your job?
Scott Vogel (03:16): It is making the difference. I know when I'm working with a private tour, a public tour, a leading field trip, I feel that I'm getting through to people and I make a difference out there. Whereas all the work I did when I was younger, I didn't think about that. I was making a difference, but I really wasn't thinking about it.
My decision when I had much more free time in my mid-50s and I sort of retired and had lots of other time to give, I planned on being in animal care. I didn't plan on educating at all. I had been doing that for a long time. I wanted to work hands on. My daughter Joanna would ask me, what are you going to do with yourself? I had plenty of things to do. What immediately bounced into my head was, I'm going to work at the zoo. I made it happen, but I didn't want to educate. I wanted to take care of the animals.
Just about when I got started with that, my back went out in a way that's chronic and I was in physical therapy for months. After trying to work like that in animal care, which is pretty much in the beginning, scooping up poops all day, I went to one of my supervisors and said, you know what?
Jackie Morreale (04:21): Yes, very physical.
Scott Vogel (04:27): This isn't working. I need to switch into education.
What a great move that was, because that's when I really learned how much I enjoy doing that. It wouldn't have happened if my back didn't go out.
Although my back bothers me every day, it's manageable. I'm glad it went out, because it led to all these other really cool things.
Jackie Morreale (04:45): The chronic back pain. Mine has also led to interesting new journeys and things like this.
As someone who has taken one of your tours at the Loggerhead Marinelife Center, you are so good at the education component of it. You taught us so much about animals and how to do better and think about them every time that we go outside our door, really.
I'm glad for your back having the little bit of pain that led you into this animal education component of your life because you're really good at it and you're making a difference.
Scott Vogel (05:15): Well, I found that quite often something bad happens so you do something else instead. It's called silver lining.
Jackie Morreale (05:25): It totally is a silver lining! I'm so happy that’s your favorite part, as you really are talented.
If anybody is watching this and has not yet been to the Loggerhead Marinelife Center or Busch Wildlife Sanctuary in Juno Beach and Jupiter, Florida, you need to go. You need to go on a day when Scott Vogel is there because you are really special at this job that you do.
Scott Vogel (05:48): Well, thank you.
Jackie Morreale (05:49): You're welcome.
Let's dig a little deeper into your own need for adventure because it started 59 years ago. Have you always had this need for adventure on land and beneath the surface?
Is this just something you were born with or acquired in Scouts or how did that go for you?
Scott Vogel (05:56): Yes. I was restless and had a wildness and I didn't know what the need was. I have an older brother and a younger brother and we were a pain in the butt to my parents. We were getting shipped out to Florida a lot where we could really let off steam. The first year for that for me was when I was seven. They know we're going to be playing in pools and oceans. Better make sure they know how to swim.
That's where it began. My mom decided to send me and my brother to swim lessons. We had a couple of days before that happened. I knew I did not want this fellow to think that I can't swim. I snuck off on my own, I devised a methodical plan, scientifically thought-out plan as a seven year old, to teach myself step by step how to swim.
Jackie Morreale (06:29): So important.
Scott Vogel (06:50): Took me around 20 minutes, step by step.
Jackie Morreale (06:52): You taught yourself how to swim before the lessons that were supposed to teach you how to swim?
Scott Vogel (06:54): Yes, and I didn't tell anyone, didn't want anyone to know because then he would know I couldn't swim before I did this. Then she sent me to the lesson.
The guy was hanging around where we were and he was at our pool. After 10 minutes he went back to my mom and said, I can't teach him how to swim. You swim, it's fine.
Jackie Morreale (07:11): Hey, already got it. Wow, good for you.
Scott Vogel (07:12): Vivian told me, my wife, when I explained this story to her, that it says a lot about your personality. I never thought about it that way. Yeah, I think she's right.
Jackie Morreale (07:22): I think she's right. You're a self-starter. You know what you want and you go after it. I think whether it's teaching yourself how to swim or knowing that you want to handle animals or teach other people about the animals, you do it and it's inspiring.
Scott Vogel (07:35): The undersea adventure started a year later when my older brother and I, in the same area of Florida, went to Woolworths because for a dollar you could buy a mask, and a dollar for a snorkel, and a dollar for a set of fins.
Jackie Morreale (07:44): Wouldn't that be nice right now, right? Can't even imagine. Three dollars.
Scott Vogel (07:50): Well, for $3, we were set. We had everything we needed to explore. We were going out there and swimming out to where the water was probably over 30 feet deep. It was so clear on nice summer days.
We could see groupings of sand dollars from the surface from around 30 feet deep. We were far from shore. We were looking for landmarks on the shore because shore itself was hard to find. We were doing surface dives, filling up bags of sand dollars. You could bleach them white and sell them to the vacationers for a dollar a piece.
Jackie Morreale (08:10): At 30 feet deep.
Scott Vogel (08:25): We were exploring the oceans earning a living.
Jackie Morreale (08:28): Good for you. A little scary to me, 30 foot deep free dives.
Scott Vogel (08:33): I was scared, too. I was always scared out there, but I couldn't let that stop me. This was just too good to do. That fear never went away. That fear just makes me more alert, I think. We would swim out and pass fish and little wrecks. The first time I saw SCUBA divers down there, I said to myself, I will do that.
Jackie Morreale (08:45): Good for you. Since then, you have gone so many times and so many places around the world… It's amazing, you predicted it...
Scott Vogel (08:57): Ten years later, that happened when I took a course in SCUBA, and worked with that professor for the next 40 years, working with students.
Jackie Morreale (09:04): Amazing. Did you guys have a board out there with you or some sort of flotation device?
Scott Vogel (09:10): No, we had nothing, just us. I remember yelling at boats, Hey! Boats going by. We didn't have a dive flag or anything. No, back then, if your kids came back in, everything was fine. But we lived to tell the tale.
Jackie Morreale (09:18): Right, if only I could tell my kids that now. They always have eyes on them, even in the back of our heads.
Scott Vogel (09:27): Mine too. Now if I think if I did that, let my kids do that or my grandchild do that, I'd probably wind up in jail for neglect. A little bit different.
Jackie Morreale (09:35): Exactly. Different times, right? Well, you live to tell the tale and I'm so glad that you did.
(Continued)
Scott Vogel with a juvenile alligator at Busch Wildlife Sanctuary.
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Scott Vogel handling a snake at Busch Wildlife Sanctuary.
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(Continued)
Jackie Morreale (09:40): Let's go into some quick-fire questions where I'm just going to ask you some questions off the top of my head and you can tell me what your favorite thing is.
What is your favorite animal?
Scott Vogel (09:54): The wolf. Never met one. Heard them howl. That's my favorite.
Jackie Morreale (09:58): Okay, maybe a spirit animal, who knows. Favorite beach?
Scott Vogel (10:02): I would say where I live because I live close to the beach and it's a great beach, but I'm not going to use that as my favorite beach, although in many ways it is. The favorite beach I visited, I could say Hawaii and it's great, but no, because it's so built up.
We were in Costa Rica living in the rainforest on a vacation. The rainforest ended at the beach. It was just forest and beach and us and magnificent. That's the nicest beach I've ever visited, although there are so many others but that moment stands out.
Jackie Morreale (10:35): Well, I think a lot of other people would agree with you, Costa Rica is beautiful. One day in my future I will visit. I have not, but now I have a reason to go.
When you're on the beach, you've got to read something, right? What is your favorite book?
Scott Vogel (10:46): I can't point out one favorite, but I can point out a trilogy that had an effect on me. I could also point out a double that had an effect.
The trilogy, the early one, is On the Road by Jack Kerouac. Two guys exploring back and forth across the country. The next one in that trilogy is Travels with Charlie, John Steinbeck did the same thing with his big poodle, and I loved it.
Then of course Blue Highways by William Least Heat-Moon, later on did the same thing.
These put an adventure travel thing in me about the internal part of the country. In 1983, I bought a motorcycle to set off and do that my way with no time limits. I wasn't working at the time, and a motorcycle forces you to seek shelter every night and socialize. It never happened. But it had a big effect on me.
Jackie Morreale (11:35): Did you take your bike on a wild adventure that you need to write your own book version of?
Scott Vogel (11:39): I did some cool traveling. The book never came about because all of a sudden unexpectedly work came up and stayed. By the time I was able to do that again, that need to do that on a motorcycle with no time limits. Time limits just would not work with this.
It wasn't part of what I really wanted as much as I wanted when I was 24.
Jackie Morreale (11:49): I know you have a dog now. I know you mentioned travels with Charlie. Can you imagine traveling with your Jack somewhere cool and foreign like that and exploring?
Scott Vogel (12:13): Sure. What do you think, Jack? He's busy chewing on a little coconut.
Jackie Morreale (12:17): Very busy, right? Mine is barking at somebody in the neighborhood.
Anyway. What is your favorite movie?
Scott Vogel (12:21): That's tough. I am a real movie buff. I would just give you three because one is too hard to single out. Godfather parts I and II, but you gotta laugh too. So, The Producers. Those are the three. I didn't have anything to watch, I could watch them enough.
(Continued)
Scott Vogel handling a hawk at Loggerhead Marinelife Center while doing an outreach from Busch Wildlife Sanctuary.
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Scott Vogel handling an opossum at Loggerhead Marinelife Center while doing an outreach from Busch Wildlife Sanctuary, as an enrichment program for LMC staff. In the back of the photo is Rebecca Reid, the Director of Education at Busch Wildlife Sanctuary.
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(Continued)
Jackie Morreale (12:33): It's a classic. Love it. The Producers is great too. Agree. Favorite place?
Scott Vogel (12:43): I could say the favorite place is where I am right now. I live here because I love it.
Favorite place I visited with my daughter, Joanna. When she was 11, her and I spent tons of time together. We camped a lot and traveled a lot. I wanted to do a national park with her and I wanted to do it right. We decided on Yellowstone. Rather than go out there and drive all around and see the cool things that people see, I contacted Outfitters, and we got some horses and we rode in and lived in the park for a few days, and slept under the stars.
We had one campsite where the fire pit and the fireplace around it had all these chips all around it, stone chips. It was rich with obsidian, and they would chip away making their arrows there and those chips were still all over the ground.
One evening, we came face to face or very close to bison and bears and moose and elk. One night, the coyotes were really singing out there, communicating with each other over big space. They would be howling. When their howling would come, and start to slow down, we would howl and bring them back up again. Then they'd slow and we'd bring it up.
It was a symphony of the wild.
Living in the backwoods of Yellowstone, then riding in August with our horses so high up that we were playing in snow looking down at hawks soaring in the sky below us. It was very cool stuff. We heard the wolves howling. We never got to see wolves. We got close. They wouldn't howl with us, but the coyotes did.
At Night, we would leave our horses in a meadow, loose, and the elk would come down. Because elk are, I guess they're lonely and they lived higher up in the mountains because without wolves, everything lived low down because they had no enemies. When the wolves came back, the elk and the moose went to where they always belonged, not at the river beds, but higher up in the mountains where the wolves didn't want to go.
When we were there with our horses, we would leave the horses out and the elks would come down. In the morning, we'd see all the elk and pack mules and horses all getting along, loving the company of each other, which I didn't expect to see that. So that's a cool place.
Jackie Morreale (15:00): That's so beautiful! What a cool bonding experience with your child, Scott. That's awesome.
Scott Vogel (15:07): Yes. We've had many others, but that one, it's the favorite moment, I guess.
Jackie Morreale (15:20): Okay, last quick question. Favorite sport?
Scott Vogel (15:23): My brothers and our friends, we all had high energy levels, and we played everything. I played league stuff and everything. I can't watch a baseball game anymore and basketball's hard to watch.
I'll never get tired of watching football because of its action and danger and the stuff I can relate to.
Jackie Morreale (15:37): Do you still like a New York team or have you moved on to Florida team?
Scott Vogel (15:45): I like the Giants no matter how terrible they are. The Jets too. I just love watching.
Jackie Morreale (15:49): It's a lifelong commitment, right? And never easy, but yeah, I agree.
Scott Vogel (15:58): I don't get tired of it.
Jackie Morreale (16:00): Well, good for you.
Let's dig a little bit deeper into stuff you're working on at Loggerhead first and then at Busch. Do you have an idea of about how many total hours that you have spent volunteering at these wonderful animal conservation organizations?
Scott Vogel (16:17): At Loggerhead and at Busch, I log in and out for my official hours, and I probably have close to 1,400 hours at Loggerhead over last nine years. But friends come by often, and I bring them on private tours, and those hours don't count, but the official hours are 1,400.
At Busch, I do the same thing, but those hours are a little lower, close to 800, but getting all those hours done at the same time.
Jackie Morreale (16:44): That's a lot of volunteer hours, Scott! This is just since the past nine years that you've done this, and you're still going back and forth to New York doing your thing.
Scott Vogel (16:54): I'm only in Florida eight months a year. I would do a lot more if I were here more. It's a lot of time, but it still leaves me time. I'm running and swimming and biking and going to the gym and by the pool most afternoons. There's a lot of balance.
Jackie Morreale (17:07): You’re doing all your adventure stuff and yes, it's so important to have balance.
I want to say, you have given so much to us in Palm Beach County and South Florida. You have given so much in terms of yourself, your time, your passion to these two organizations. I'm so glad that you moved in, that they're easy enough for you to get to. They're local for you because you really have made a difference for kids trying to learn, for adults.
You make me think every time I walk on the sand based on what you taught me, how to think about the animals and how to behave responsibly every time I leave my door.
Scott Vogel (17:46): Let me say something about both organizations. I love what I do, but it's not strictly because of what I'm doing. It's how these organizations treat me and the rest of the people who give their time. They're great organizations to work for. They respect and appreciate us and they show that and they make it a lot of fun working there.
One of the great things about working at both places is the people.
Jackie Morreale (18:11): It seems like great camaraderie. It's all about the teamwork and everybody respects each other and is there to give back and for the animals and for the people around.
Scott Vogel (18:20): They appreciate me and they let me know it all the time.
Jackie Morreale (18:22): That's wonderful. I'm so glad. I appreciate you too for the record so much! Thank you.
Scott Vogel (18:27): Well, thank you. And I appreciate you and always have.
Your viewers may not know, I know you since just about when you were born.
Jackie Morreale (18:35): I was going to say, you taught me how to SCUBA dive, you were there when I learned how to ski, you have been there forever.
Joanna and I, growing up at the same time – we’re very lucky to be around really amazing people like you, and still, seeing you do your thing is very inspiring to me.
Scott Vogel (18:46): I don't plan on stopping.
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Scott Vogel giving a hands-on demo using a Kemps Ridley skull at Loggerhead Marinelife Center.
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Scott Vogel giving a demo using turtle carapaces at Loggerhead Marinelife center.
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Jackie Morreale (18:57): Good for you. Don't, keep going, keep going!
In a roundabout figure, do you have an idea of how many people you have given tours to at these organizations?
Scott Vogel (19:09): All year long, I lead tours for the Loggerhead Marinelife Center through our wilderness area, besides on the beach. That's on average a dozen people per tour, you're doing two a day, 40 weeks a year, over nine years.
Jackie Morreale (19:24): Exactly. Well, what I noticed for our tour, is we started out as four people. Then all of a sudden another family saw what you were teaching and they were interested. Then another family caught on. And suddenly you have this huge group of people learning from you about turtles. It's an amazing thing!
I can see how there's an exponential effect on your words and what you have to share.
Scott Vogel (19:48): Now that I do a little more math in my head, it's probably 5,000 – 8,000 people.
It's great when those little kids come along like you saw, I may have a group of fifteen adults. I always tell them how much I want their questions. I say, ‘Please, stump me’.
Sometimes I can't get much out of them, but then a couple little kids come over. I can get them involved, even though they didn't pay to be on this tour. Once I get them involved, it helps. Because they're quite willing to open up.
Jackie Morreale (19:53): So inquisitive, right? So many questions, and so adorable.
About how many animals have you rescued or helped release?
Scott Vogel (20:15): At Loggerhead I'm on the rescue team, but not on it for long. I've gone out for burials where the animal didn't survive. We get wash backs; hatchlings washing up on our beaches where every time there's a big storm during hatching season, they can't go back out again because they've used up the yolk sac that they hatched with and swim out miles to where they belong. Storms bring them back in.
They don't have a yolk sac anymore that enables them to soak up energy and swim out without eating. So, they can't swim out, can't go back to the ocean. I find them when I'm running the beaches. I just alter my run with hatchlings in my hand to get to the center and bring them in where they're not patients, they're just guests who will eat and eventually we put them on a boat and bring them out.
I've probably done that with at least 50 hatchlings over the years. I have worked releases when the turtles, adult, or not, bigger turtles, patients are ready for release. They've done all their rehab and they're well again. I work every release I can and that's probably well over 50. Not everyone gets a public release for me to work, but if it's a public release, I'm there working it.
Jackie Morreale (21:34): I know you had a big girl that was released a week or so ago. Dilly Dally, right?
Scott Vogel (21:39): Dilly Dally was around a couple of weeks ago. She was missing a flipper, a shark took it, but she healed well. Our veterinarian, Dr. Barron, had to remove the bone that was sticking out from its base and whatever tissue was there and sew it up. These healing processes can be slow, and we have to ward off infection. But Dilly Dally was eating everything in sight as soon as the anesthesia wore off and had a very great energy level and was a pleasure to see her go back.
Missing a flipper, she'll live a fine life anyway. They're very resilient.
Jackie Morreale (22:11): Scott, you know so much about this stuff. I really admire and want to be more like you in terms of your passion for animals and your understanding for wildlife conservation.
Very simple question: When is turtle hatching season?
And:
- When should we be most careful or if we're at the beach and running?
- When should we look for washbacks or when is the best time to be able to be aware of this?
Scott Vogel (22:33): Hatching is really picking up right now, in June.
Nesting season started March 1st, but the only early turtles that are nesting are leatherbacks. They're magnificent, but we don't get that many. Starting a month or a month and a half later, the loggerheads start nesting. They're nesting at force now, but those eggs take a couple of months to hatch after they've been laid. So right now, hatching is really picking up.
You don't have to really look for anything. Most of this goes on at night, over 99% of it.
They get to the water and they're fine but occasionally there's a daytime hatch out and you might see turtles struggling in the sun. If you think they're fine and it's a long way to walk to the ocean, the rules say never touch anything.
If you're really in doubt, is this turtle okay or not, bring it to the center, we have coolers outside you could put turtles in those coolers anytime day or night and our staff will periodically during the day bring them in check them out get them out that night or whenever we have a boat to bring them out if they need a boat. When in doubt bring them in.
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Scott Vogel explaining the turtle nesting process.
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Scott Vogel explaining the turtle rehabilitation process at Loggerhead Marinelife Center.
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Jackie Morreale (23:48): Amazing. I love that you know all this information. I personally have never seen this but I know of people who've seen a hatch and turtles not making it to the beach so I really appreciate that advice.
Scott Vogel (24:03): There are predators out there too, and that's part of nature. It's another reason they hatch at night. They don't have to struggle in the sun and there are fewer predators, but there are so many hatchlings for each turtle that nests. The numbers game works in their favor.
Jackie Morreale (24:05): How many, on average, how many would one nest be able to hatch?
Scott Vogel (24:22): When a mama lays a nest, it's going to typically have anywhere from 80 to 120 eggs in it. But she's not just going to lay that nest, she's going to crawl back into the ocean and two weeks later come out and nest again. Then go back into the ocean.
Every two weeks she might do this five, six, seven, or even as many as eight times. So, each nest will only have that average of 100 eggs. She'll make many new nests every two weeks.
Jackie Morreale (24:48): So one mama turtle in this one season, potentially lays up to a few hundred, eight hundred, eggs. Wow. How many of those hatchlings on average are making it?
Scott Vogel (24:55): 800. Yeah. Well, it depends what you mean by making it - out into the ocean? Plenty. A lot of them make it into the ocean, but a lot less make it those miles out to the seaweed beds that they need to make it to, because things are eating them along the way. Birds may be eating them. A bunch make it to the sargassum.
But, we estimate that one out of a thousand lives long enough to reproduce.
You would think it's sad, these guys have been around for almost a couple hundred million years. So, this system works. They're all endangered now, all the species. But that's not because of this numbers game and what nature has devised. It's because of something else, and that would be us.
Jackie Morreale (25:31): Right, that would be people, yeah, unfortunately.
How many animals have you helped to rehabilitate or how many animal professionals, you mentioned veterinarians, have you worked alongside?
Scott Vogel (25:57): Well, we have a huge team at both Busch and Loggerhead. Not counting volunteers who are in animal care, It’s about 30, 40, 50 different professional rehabbers. It's vet techs, it's veterinary assistants. We have a main vet at both hospitals.
It is really hard to find a turtle vet that specializes in turtles. As a matter of fact, the vet who was working there when I started, Dr. Charlie, he's world renowned. For many years, it was impossible to give IVs to sea turtles. They clot so quickly and so well. It prevents them from dying when a shark takes a limb, but you couldn't give them IVs. And turtles that really needed IVs to live, 85 % of them would die worldwide.
Until Dr. Charlie devised techniques that enabled us to successfully administer IVs to these turtles. Now 85% of turtles in need of IVs use Dr. Charlie's techniques worldwide, and more than 85% of them survive to go back home again.
These veterinary people are amazing and so dedicated. We have people coming in in the middle of the night when if a turtle gets found in the middle of the night, they're racing in for that turtle.
There's always someone else on call, whether it's a vet or a vet tech. They're a very dedicated group. They're not in it for the big money either.
Jackie Morreale (27:18): They're in it for the love of the animals, right?
Giving an IV to a turtle is something I've never, ever thought about before at this moment.
I can imagine someone who's passionate about that is going to find a way, and they have.
Scott Vogel (27:32): At the Loggerhead Marinelife Center, everything we do is open to the public too. Even inside our indoor hospital, everything can be seen. If a turtle needs an IV, you get to watch that. If it's in the back in our operating room, which is a sterile environment, there's still cameras there and you can see it on our big television. It's all there for everyone to see.
Jackie Morreale (27:51): Great. Very basic question. What is your favorite type of turtle and why?
Scott Vogel (27:56): That's easy, it always has been the Leatherback. They are the biggest of them all. They are the one we know the least about. They're also the most ancient species of turtle in the world today. They evolved many years before most of our other turtles evolved into what they are. They're these incredibly deep diving turtles who will go a half mile to a mile down.
They don't live anywhere near shore except to come and lay eggs. It took me seven years of working on that beach before I finally saw an adult leatherback come up and nest right near where I was on the beach. They're just amazing animals and fun to see.
Jackie Morreale (28:32): At the Loggerhead Marinelife Center, there is artwork on the wall that shows all the different types of turtles, at least the ones in Florida. The leatherback, like you said, is this massive sea creature, and I love that the back looks like leather with the seams over it, and they're able to swim a mile deep.
Scott Vogel (28:53): There's a reason that back is leathery. Their food that they eat lives so deep under the ocean. They like these gigantic jellyfish. They're medusavores. They only eat jellyfish and other squishy things. But if it's going to eat its weight in jellyfish every day and it weighs 1,500 pounds, these huge jellyfish live so deep, it's got to go half mile deep to get those jellyfish. And if it had a hard shell, the pressure would break the shell. And so they have a soft leathery shell that can get squishy without breaking.
Jackie Morreale (29:20): Hence the name, right? So interesting.
What is your most interesting fact about turtles when you're giving a tour at Loggerhead Marinelife Center?
Scott Vogel (29:21): Hence the name, yes.
There are so many different interesting facts. I think the coolest thing is that, when they hatch, they crawl into the ocean. They're going to be out there for 25, 35, 40 years or even more before they're old enough to lay their own eggs and they're traveling all over the place. While most species aren't crossing oceans, the leatherback is, it might circle the world a few times, but eventually...
It's using its memory to come back to the same beach it hatched on to lay its eggs and it might have traveled a couple hundred thousand miles. The method they use is their little tiny brains, they don't have big brains, but they have magnetite crystals in them. When they're walking into the ocean from their own nest, they're setting their internal GPS on where they came from. They're brilliant navigators. Now they get out into the ocean and they're using landmarks and recognizing magnetic fields of the earth, to navigate and it brings them back to where they came from.
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Special turtles in rehabilitation at Loggerhead Marinelife Center.
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Jackie Morreale (30:23): That is amazing. One of the things that stuck with me from the tour, is you said that that particular beach at Loggerhead Marinelife Center in Juno Beach is, I believe, the most nested at beach in the world.
Scott Vogel (30:39): It's the most densely nested loggerhead sea turtle beach in the world. A beach in Oman, some years theirs is a bit denser, some years ours is. There are reasons for both. We have great protections here. Oman doesn't have the level of protections there. I hope their nesting stays as strong as it is now or gets stronger.
They don't have the level of protection. I hope that doesn't really mess things up in Oman.
Jackie Morreale (31:07): Agree. What has been your greatest experience working with the folks at Loggerhead?
Scott Vogel (31:13): Well, my greatest experience in volunteering in general did happen while I was working at Loggerhead. I volunteered at dog shelters and Queens College for many years and human hospitals, the Queen Zoo, Busch and Loggerhead. But one day at Loggerhead, while I didn't have a tour to leave and I was just out there in our outdoor turtle hospital talking with guests, I noticed an older woman.
Walking with a child who might have been around 11 or 12, probably a grandmother and grandchild. They're looking at the different turtles. I realized that the grandmother is describing everything to the granddaughter. I realized this little girl was blind. I approached them and I talked to them for a second and I said, don't go anywhere, I'll be right back.
I went and I collected in a big turtle carapace, which is the outer shell, lots of different biofacts and all different things and I went back to them and I brought them into my own private area and I gave them a little private tour which was all hands on. Because it's one thing for Grandma to describe things, but I'm giving her a skull of a loggerhead so she can feel the skull and letting her know that these turtles have the biggest skulls and most powerful skulls of all turtles.
Asking her why she would think it might have that. She realizes it must be eating things that it needs. It eats hard things, crunchy things.
Jackie Morreale (32:32): So this little girl was blind, so you gave her a tour that was so suited to her needs. You let her touch everything and ask her own questions and understand things based on touch. Amazing.
Scott Vogel (32:38): Yes. The moment became really big for me when we're talking about the hard things that this turtle eats and I hand her a big conch because loggerheads will smash conch and she's holding the conch and she didn't know what she was holding. The conch. The whole shell. They'll smash the conch and eat what's inside. Nothing else in the ocean is smashing conchs.
They're the only creatures with a jaw strong enough to do that.
She's holding the conch. She doesn't know what it is. I said, Do you know what a snail is? This is like a big snail. But She had never touched the snails. She said, this is a conch. And her whole face lit up. She had heard of conch. She never touched one. And this was a school trip. She was doing the report. Her grandmother was thrilled, and she was thrilled. I realized after that, I have to create the field trip for the blind.
I talked to our education paid staff and one of them was already working on this. Her name is Lindsay French. She's not with us anymore. She moved on, but she's very involved and I talk to her on occasion. She was already working on this, so I decided to work on it too from my own end and I created a 45 minute field trip with the blind that was sticking your hand in tanks and feeling things that might feel like jellyfish and who eats that, the leatherbacks.
I gave her all my info when she did create the field trip for the blind. I like to think that I had some part of that and that was really my ultimate moment in volunteering.
Jackie Morreale (34:08): I'm so happy to hear (you're going to make me cry by the way, that's so beautiful).
I think that's so important to allow all different populations to access the information and get that hands on learning. It’s such a beautiful thing.
Scott Vogel (34:20): We do lots of things with the handicapped. We bring in troubled kids all the time. Then we have one of our research people is deaf and she signs. She does all of our signing and she'll do field trips for the deaf, which is a little easier if you have a signer. The blind is a little more of a challenge. So we'll do all kinds of handicapped. We also have programs where we're all trained how to work with people on the autism spectrum.
Jackie Morreale (34:35): It’s so inclusive and so important that everyone has access to this animal education that you're providing. I appreciate you sharing that and identifying that there was an opportunity to do it better. Thank you, Scott.
Scott Vogel (35:00): One of my favorite field trips to work with is when we get kids from drug programs, or troubled youth. A lot of people don't want to work with them. I like working with them. I consider it more of a challenge. If there's a group that no one wants to work with, I'll gladly work with them. And a lot of them may be aloof and off on their own. They're here because they sort of, they're doing something that's mandatory anyway, but there's always a few who are really interested in what you're saying and doing.
You don't have to get through to everybody. Sometimes getting through to one is great.
Jackie Morreale (35:28): Maybe just connecting with you is enough. Or maybe connecting with one of the animals. Who knows? That’s your talent. You have so many, but to be able to get through to audiences that are unique in that way is it, to me. You are a special guy, Scott. That's true.
Scott Vogel (35:45): Don't let it get to my head, stop. I feel glad that I found out how much I like this stuff through an injury and I consider that the blessing.
Jackie Morreale (35:54): Like you said, it’s the silver lining.
Let's talk about what everyone can do, because we talked about being inclusive in all different populations. What can we all do? You have this beautiful art at the center that is made of all pollution. Is it about that?
What can we do to help turtles, and other marine life animals, when we go to the beach?
Scott Vogel (36:16): It's a great question.
Many people feel sort of helpless. I'm just a person and some of these problems are so big I couldn't possibly make a dent. If you look at it the wrong way, that can really get you down.
We have a saying: Think globally, act locally.
If there are beach cleanups in your area, get involved in them. You meet a lot of other people with the same interests and some of those have other ideas on positive things to do.
If you're walking on the beach and you see plastic, pick it up.
Plastic isn't the only problem, but it's a very big one. It's really hard to try to even use less plastic. How do you go to the store and not buy stuff that comes in plastic? It's not easy. Recycling is good, but it's certainly not the answer because most plastics that you try to recycle don't ever get recycled.
We can still reduce what we use. I'm on the social committee here where I live and we have a budget. We buy stuff for our social room for people to use. There are all kinds of plates and forks and spoons and knives that are disposable. You know what? You don't have to buy plastic. If you shop around, this biodegradable stuff that looks and acts just like plastic is there, and doesn't even cost much more. It acts like plastic, you think you're using plastic but you're not. We don't spend any money when it comes to plastics like that. Besides that, what's worse than single use plastics, and it's a lot of this out there, is zero use you order takeout. We all do it.
If you don't request to not put the knives and forks in with that, they come with it, too.
Most people then throw that out. That's zero-use plastic. That's worse than single-use. Remember to ask them, don't put in that. We have it at home. Do beach cleanups. Use less plastic.
This is not underwater stuff, but camping stuff. If you're out in the woods and you see a plastic bag, could that plastic bag ever be a problem for a sea turtle?
Most kids give the answer, yes it could, because the ocean is downstream from everything. In the woods you could be many miles away from ocean, but winds blow things around, they land in a stream, the stream flows into a river, the river empties into the ocean, and that winds up there. Keep your own self clean and conduct yourself properly and get involved in local organizations that do good work.
That makes a big difference.
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Scott Vogel making a big difference in the lives of young visitors to Loggerhead Marinelife Center.
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Jackie Morreale (38:41): It's such useful advice that we could all do. I never thought about when you order takeout, if you're not going to use those plastic utensils, you don't need them. Just say that you don't need them, right? There's zero use plastic. And if you have to use disposable, opting for paper instead of plastic, and especially not Styrofoam, right?
Scott Vogel (38:54): There's plenty of things out there to biodegrade. Foam is the worst. I don't even think it can be recycled.
Jackie Morreale (39:06): These are things that everybody can do. By the way, I am not surprised at all that you are the social chair of your community.
Scott Vogel (39:13): I was the chair for years. I gave that up. I'm on the committee. We needed other young blood taking over being the chair. They're older than me. But I still consider them the young blood.
Jackie Morreale (39:26): Good, I'm glad you passed the torch. I know you're spending a lot more time with the animals and that makes total sense to me. I'm sure that the whole community is interested in hanging out with you and learning from you and hearing your stories.
Scott Vogel (39:40): We have fun and have fun events too. We try to do them all in a way that's environmentally sound.
Jackie Morreale (39:48): Agreed. Let's switch gears to Busch Wildlife Center. I know you've been working there also for nine plus years. I've seen photos of you with Florida Panthers, with alligators, even with a snake curled up around your head. You've had all these completely exotic, to me anyway, experiences with animals very hands-on as a handler of these ambassador animals.
What has been your greatest experience or experiences working there at Busch Wildlife Center?
Scott Vogel (40:16): It started from working at the zoo in New York. I was an educator with the animals. When I moved down here and Busch was in the area, I wanted to be an educator there. A lot of the same animals. Because it's private, we didn't have to deal with WCS. If you're working at a zoo, you need so many courses and classes to even touch an animal. They didn't have that. We were willing to train me in handling things.
To me, it's educating the folks who go in there about all the animals. We have amphitheater presentations on site every day where I'll get to talk to people who are there to see the presentation about any particular animal, grab the animal, walk around, have them meet it up close and personal and learn all about it. Get to learn that they're not so scary and need our help when it comes to doing this or how we treat that.
Seeing the looks on their faces when there's a snake or an alligator or an opossum or a skunk or an owl right in front of them. Using these same animals as their own advocates to go do outreach and plead their own cases and meet people during fundraisers and things like that who are there to give and help these creatures out. I really love doing the handling and especially doing outreach for handling. We'll go to schools, we'll go to fundraisers. We go to a lot of assisted living communities. Those people get so thrilled about us visiting, none of them miss this. Some need a lot of help and they're wheeled around, but they're getting to meet these critters too.
It makes us feel great to get these older people and little kids involved in learning about these things and learning what they could do to help us.
We are first and foremost a hospital that gets in almost 6,000 animals a year. The goal to get them out in the wild, but a lot of them for one reason or another, is going to be healthy but can't go back home. They live in habitats and we get to talk to people about them. We don't know the backstories on every animal because some came from a zoo or somewhere else and we didn't get a backstory on it. We have backstories on a lot.
The personal stories are really great to give and it can give people a personal connection with a certain animal or a certain species and they'll want to do things to help.
Most of the community, the Juno Beach, Jupiter, Hope Sound, Boca Raton communities, they bring in animals from everywhere to us or call us and we go get them. We're pretty well known in the area and very well needed. Where else do you bring an animal that needs help?
Jackie Morreale (42:48): I have no idea. This is new information to me. The photo of you with the Florida Panther is just amazing to me. Scary! But amazing.
Scott Vogel (42:50): He's my favorite animal at Busch now because I played with them as a baby. His name is Charlie.
I met Charlie when I went to work early one day when Busch was in its old facility. We eventually had to move and have a brand new facility, but Charlie visited one day. He was seized. He was being sold illegally as a pet when he was a kitten. Law enforcement set up a sting and they got Charlie and locked up the person selling Charlie.
He was given to a wildlife educator who was doing traveling work with different wild animals from California. He passed by our sanctuary and he came in and I was there early. We weren't open yet. He invited me in to interact with Charlie and he did what he did for his day there. Then he left. He always wanted us to have Charlie but wanted to wait until after we moved out and moved into a new place rather than put Charlie through that stress. It took five years for that to happen. Then when we got Charlie one day.
I saw Charlie, and I didn't know it was the same cat. I'm looking at Charlie and he's a big old California cougar and he's snarling at me. Then I was told that I know this cat and I actually played with him.
I love my friend Charlie, and he snarls at me. He doesn't snarl at everybody, but when guests come by, I say, do you want to see Charlie smile? I'll walk up and say, Hi Charlie, and they'll get to see his teeth because that's how he feels about me.
Well, he doesn't consider me a friend, but I love that about him.
Jackie Morreale (44:22): So Charlie is a California cougar. What’s the difference between California cougars and Florida Panthers, other than they happen to reside in a different state?
Scott Vogel (44:39): It's a great point you're bringing up because he is a California cougar and we are a sanctuary for local wildlife.
So why is Charlie there? That's the rule. We get local animals into our hospital and those that need a place get a place there. But there are some exceptions to the rule and a Florida panther and a California cougar are the same species. In Florida, our animals tend to be smaller like a deer in Florida.
They are very small compared to that same species of deer in Canada. The animals that have to deal with the winter tend to be hardier and bigger, and the tropical versions are smaller. There's only around 220-230 tops of Florida Panthers in the state. That doesn't seem like a big number, but it's a stable number, and they're doing okay. When a cougar like Charlie needed a home, one cat cannot live with another cat.
Zoos, unless they have a recently passed away cougar, can't take him. Charlie, or before him, Tomala, who is another California cougar who we have, when they needed a home, we had an empty habitat. We figured it's a good thing to take this animal in, it needs a home, and people can see when they look at this animal, the difference between it, which could be 200 pounds, and a Florida panther, which could be 100, the difference in head size and shoulder size.
They're the same species so for educational and ethical reasons, it paid to break the rules, take in this animal that needs a home. That's why we have Charlie and Tomala.
Jackie Morreale (46:03): You said that there are so many in the wild, I hope to not encounter one, but I hope that if I ever do that I'm with you because you would know what to do much better than me.
Scott Vogel (46:06): Well, 220 is not a big number for the entire state. Most of them live in the south part of the state. It's not a tremendous number at all, back in the late 80s, it was down to like 24. So this number is okay. If it got much bigger, they'd have some public pushback because they do get in trouble. They may want a pet. They may eat livestock. We wouldn't want the public to turn on them either.
Jackie Morreale (46:16): So this is a comfortable number that has grown through conservation efforts. So similarly to what can we do at the beach for marine life, what can we do in our everyday travels to make for a better environment for these animals that are wild and living in our environment here in Florida?
Scott Vogel (46:42): Some very simple things are when you're driving down the road, you're eating an apple, you're done with the core, you have the core, it's biodegradable, you toss it out the window, those things aren't good. Only because, because things come to eat that apple core, opossums will come to eat that apple core. Things come up, deer like eating apple core. You're attracting wildlife to the road's edge.
Bugs will come by. We have kestrels living in Florida. They're really fast they're small and they're great at getting bugs. With lots of bugs on the side of the road if they're eating banana peels and apple cores of these birds you see them on the phone on the electric wires on the side of the road. They'll swoop down to grab the bug in the case we get hit by a car. That's a simple thing.
Be very careful with garbage in general. If you live in a home that's in an area that's wooded and you leave garbage out or not contain your garbage cans properly, bears come by. Bears learning to eat from human garbage become problem bears. Problem bears wind up being dead bears. We can coexist with bears by just treating our garbage right. They live in every state. Black bear-human interactions, although you hear of them when they happen, are incredibly rare.
They can't unlearn a bad habit, and we have bears living at the sanctuary whose mama taught them some bad habits and they can't be out in the wild. We have them because they're going to go to humans looking for food. So treat your garbage right. Take care of your wild spaces. Don't use things like chemical fertilizers or chemical insecticides on your lawns, because we need bees as pollinators. These things spread all over where you don't even want them.
Our bee populations are in trouble. So, use natural things. Plant wildflowers instead of lawns. Lawns are deserts for wildlife. Let natural wildflowers grow at least in a portion of your land and this helps everything. These are little things that make a big, big difference. Put an owl box in your backyard. Owls will move in, screech owls.
And the owls are so cool to see. What do they eat? Little lizards and little bugs. You don't want the bugs in your yard. They might eat mice. Who wants mice? None with these owls moved in.
Leave your snakes alone. They're getting rid of things you don't want. They're getting rid of invasive things. The snake, these are all of our friends.
Jackie Morreale (49:06): I agree. Let's talk more about the adventure side of Scott because I know that you're a master SCUBA diver with PADI. You taught me how to SCUBA dive, started at Queens College and we had our practice dives in Riviera Beach, over 20 years ago.
I know you've been doing this even longer than that, and education is an area of passion and talent for you. You were extremely good and solid when it came to teaching me how to SCUBA dive (something I'm still very afraid of to this day).
I know we talked about being out to sea for the Sand Dollars when you were young with your brother. When did your SCUBA adventure begin? Where has it taken you thus far and where would you like to go with it?
Scott Vogel (49:45): You were easy. Well, ten years after my adventure as a kid with the Sand Dollars, I took a course in Queens College with Professor Harry Hoehn, who ran the SCUBA ski and wilderness survival programs. For the next 40 years, I dove, skied, and camped with him and students. These are courses for credit all over. That was all volunteer work. It was a lot of hard work, too. You remember lugging tanks around?
(Continued)
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Turtles as well as other marine animals, including jellyfish and seahorses, find home at Loggerhead Marinelife Center.
(Continued)
Jackie Morreale (50:11): Yes, absolutely. There was nothing glamorous in learning to dive. But it's a lot of fun. It gives you access to this underwater world that's just incredible. If you haven't gone underwater, it's just eye-opening how many animals are living down there and how beautiful the colors are and nature and harmony.
I can only imagine the things that you saw for 40 years with Dr. Hoehn, who was an incredible soul.
Scott Vogel (50:29): It was a lot of fun, but we did a lot of work. I did 40 years with him, 45 since he's gone, five years now. It's taken me all over the world. I have a little list here because I would forget places.
- All over the eastern coast of the US
- Florida
- Gulf of Mexico
- Cuba
- Many islands in the Caribbean
- Mexico, both Gulf and Pacific side, including Cabo
- Panama
- Costa Rica
- The Galapagos Islands
- Southeast Asia
- Thailand
- Cambodia and Laos
- Greece
You're diving with them, but you're also hanging out with them. You're swimming with them in the pool. We're influencing them. That influence is important because people may think the ocean's great, but once they start diving in it, a lot of them develop this new appreciation, this respect, desire to get involved, and a passion gets created.
A lot of people think that divers may be doing harm to the ocean and there are some who do. Harvesting things they shouldn't harvest, but for the most part, people who learn recreational diving, they're passionate about the ocean and they're helping.
If you're a recreational diver and you're going out on dive boats, well, you're not bringing up stuff you shouldn't bring up anyway. Captains aren't allowing that. So, for the most part, the positives by far outweigh the negatives.
You create passionate advocates for the ocean. I realized that early on. That was one of my goals. They're asking us tons of things about what we're seeing down there.
We’re putting it all in such a positive way. It's the only way we don't look at it.
Jackie Morreale (52:32): Wow, you are really the right guy to be receiving questions about animals on a dive boat.
Scott Vogel (52:45): The strange thing is, I did this for over 30 years diving with all these turtles before I knew much about them. I didn't learn anything about them until I started working at the Marinelife Center. That's when I just accumulated the turtle knowledge. I didn't know one species from another my first thousand turtle encounters while doing 40 years of diving off the Florida coast.
Jackie Morreale (53:03): Do you appreciate them differently now when you dive, having that knowledge of working at Loggerhead?
Scott Vogel (53:11): Sure, because I do like the fact that I can't answer every question about them. I do get stumped, which is a cool thing, but I like being a legitimate sea turtle expert. I enjoy when people ask me after a tour, where did you study marine biology? Never did. Picked it all up because I wanted to.
Jackie Morreale (53:29): Just like how you taught yourself how to swim, you have this timeline and this goal and you did it. Here you are, you're diving a thousand times, encountering sea turtles, and making the connection to then volunteer at this wonderful organization that conserves wildlife.
It's a journey, Scott, and you're living it, you're living the dream.
Scott Vogel (53:46): I'm not a marine biology expert, but I am a turtle expert, and I do like knowing a lot about what goes on down there. I know a lot about the local wildlife.
I also like that when medical professionals come into the Loggerhead Marinelife Center, I like that because I make sure I talk to our veterinary staff that I can talk to them about the treatments at a level that they can grasp and they'll understand that I want to know that stuff.
I like the fact that I opened up myself as a sponge and it was so easy. It came naturally. That was all pretty much a surprise to me. A pleasant surprise.
Jackie Morreale (54:22): What is your greatest learning from your deep sea adventures, Scott?
Scott Vogel (54:26): The discovery in me is how much I enjoyed and how good I am, which was a surprise, at teaching it. I worked at the college for 35 years and I helped out a lot with students, did checkout dives, did a little bit of classroom work, would work at the pool, one-on-one with any students who were slower. I never really considered that teaching. I considered that more being a helping hand, although it was teaching too.
It was only later on that I took it to a much higher level, starting with the zoo, that it surprised me how good I am and how much I enjoy it. So that self-discovery about me was really fulfilling. Also, I told you I had a wildness in me when I was younger. That wildness was dangerous, needed direction. In many ways it was self-destructive because there was no channeling, and I didn't understand what it was.
It didn't happen when I was little, it happened later. I developed good, productive ways to channel it in ways that made me happy and was productive out there too.
That was a long journey with a lot of business along the way, a lot of hospital room visits and emergency room visits, and burning bridges.
Jackie Morreale (55:45): I'm so happy that you found your path and you found your passion. Seems you found yourself, really, in all these adventures and animals.
I don't know how you remember it all. I would like to hear on a future interview the questions that stumped you because I've seen a few kids ask you some ‘out there’ questions live, and you don't hesitate to at least attempt to give them an answer.
It's funny to hear that you had a wild side growing up because you've really channeled it so well into your passions in life.
Scott Vogel (56:18): You're going to make my head too big. I don't consider great things I'm doing. I'm doing things that make me happy and I know make a difference. I guess in its way it's great. I'm pleased with myself for figuring that out.
Getting here and knowing these two facilities over here, which I did not know before we checked out this area. Thank God for that.
The network of people I get to have and make lifelong friends with and connections with. One of them, who I love and miss, is your dad. I met him 41 years ago.
Part of getting to know your dad was also bringing me skiing all over the world, too. Doing that and also influencing people on those trails.
Jackie Morreale (57:01): You've been there all along the way, skiing, SCUBA diving, adventure. Both of us happen to be from New York and now in South Florida and Palm Beach County. Now I can take my kids to go see their animal conservation guru, and learn all about these important things that we can do to help.
Scott Vogel (57:17): I look forward to our future adventures!
Jackie Morreale (57:20): Absolutely! Thank you so much, Scott, for your time today. I look forward to chapter two! We'll talk soon. Thank you so much, have a wonderful day. Bye.
Scott Vogel (57:29): Thank you for having me. You too!
More photos of Scott Vogel, Ambassador Animal Handler and Wildlife Conservation Advocate, in action!
Scott Vogel handling a snake at Busch Wildlife Sanctuary.
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Scott Vogel giving a turtle talk at Loggerhead Marinelife Center in June 2025.
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Scott Vogel volunteering to teach SCUBA diving to Queens College undergraduate students.
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Scott Vogel volunteering to teach SCUBA diving to Queens College undergraduate students. This shot was taken at Loggerhead Marinelife Center, which Scott initiated taking the students on location to learn more from the turtle hospital for extra credit in their course.
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Underwater photo taken by Scott Vogel, off the coast of Riviera Beach, Florida, while volunteering to teach Queens College students how to SCUBA dive.
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Scott Vogel volunteering to teach SCUBA diving to college students with QC SCUBA.
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Scott Vogel in SCUBA diving gear.
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Scott Vogel underwater, volunteering to teach SCUBA diving, demonstrating how to use a mask and BC.
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Scott Vogel underwater, volunteering to teach SCUBA diving, swimming alongside a partner over a coral reef.
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Scott Vogel underwater, volunteering to teach SCUBA diving, demonstrating how to use SCUBA equipment.
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Scott Vogel wrote articles on SCUBA Diving for the Daily News newspaper, with exposure to 2.6 million readers, about his adventures in SCUBA Diving in Curacao. This article, "Dutch Treat: Curacao's depths hold undersea marvels", written by Scott Vogel, was published in the "Sand and Sea" section of the Daily News on January 20, 2008.
What can I do to help animals in Palm Beach County?
Here's a great place to start:
To learn more about opportunities at Loggerhead Marinelife Center, visit:
Loggerhead Marinelife Center - Ocean & Sea Turtle Conservation in Juno Beach, FL
To learn more about Busch Wildlife Sanctuary, visit:
Busch Wildlife Sanctuary
Loggerhead Marinelife Center - Ocean & Sea Turtle Conservation in Juno Beach, FL
To learn more about Busch Wildlife Sanctuary, visit:
Busch Wildlife Sanctuary
Scott Vogel with Jackie Morreale and her children at Loggerhead Marinelife Center in June 2025.
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