MASH star checks out Mote Marine
Jul 02, 2012 11:13 PM EDT
SARASOTA COUNTY -
Plans for an aquarium in downtown Punta Gorda are still moving forward. With enough community support, the Mote Marine Laboratory hopes to open a facility on the Charlotte Harbor.
A new destination in town could put Punta Gorda on the map and attract stars like the one who toured the Sarasota facility Monday.
"I call them my children, the sharks and dolphins," said actress Loretta Swit.
As a sick dolphin named Edna swam in her pool while recovering from pneumonia Monday, Swit admired the work being done at the Mote Marine aquarium.
"It's wonderful, inspiring," she said.
The MASH star and animal advocate is in Sarasota performing a play and wanted to tour the laboratory.
"This is, for me, the essence of what we do - rescue, rehab and release," said Swit.
It's a mission the laboratory has followed since its early days in Placida. Now officials are reaching back out to the Charlotte Harbor as a way to expand.
"It needs to be a community effort," said Kumar Mahadevan, Mote President and CEO.
After starting marine education in the local school districts, leaders want to expand the laboratory's presence in Charlotte Harbor with an aquarium in Punta Gorda - but officials warn it won't happen overnight.
"The aquarium would be a public outreach, the outcrop of all of this and it really depends on whether the community can support it," said Mahadevan.
But with interest from celebrities and promotion from county and city leaders - support seems to be gaining for the project.
NBC News
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