As the United States continues to feel the effects of global warming and rising sea levels, there is renewed concern for the Key deer, a species native to the Florida Keys who could be pushed to cataclysmic levels by environmental change. The animal is the smallest deer species in North America — adults stand at just 30 inches tall.
Key deer have been dwindling in numbers throughout the 2010s. There has been a push by conservationists to promote the deer and grow their numbers; but with continued habitat loss from climate change — a factor that is unlikely to improve — some experts are wondering whether the so-called ‘real-life Bambi’ can be saved at all.
Why are Key deer so threatened?
It is mainly due to rising sea levels from climate change, which are “already altering the landscape of Big Pine Key and at least 20 smaller islands the deer call home,” said The Associated Press. By 2100, sea levels in portions of the Florida Keys will rise from 1.5 feet to 7 feet, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). This means that on the islands inhabited by the deer, sea level increases “will continue to shrink freshwater and food sources Key deer need to survive,” said the AP.
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If scientists can’t stop rising sea levels, freshwater will continue to turn to saltwater, and increasingly powerful storms will keep pushing this saltwater inland. Once it’s there, it “can be tough for that water to drain with roads and other human development,” said CBS News. With no “fresh water to drink or to grow food for the deer and other animals that call Big Pine Key home, it leaves them with a bleak future.” The Key deer “won’t have habitat and will become extinct,” Chris Bergh, the program field director for the Nature Conservancy, said to CBS.
The possible extinction of the Key deer could also affect other species in the Florida Keys. The Key deer is an “umbrella species that is helping all the other animals that need this habitat as well,” wildlife biologist Christina Wilson said to CBS. The animals “play a huge role in the Florida Keys, they are always eating something constantly.” This makes them an important part of the Keys’ overall ecosystem, which could be in flux if the deer disappear.
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What is being done to help the species?
Legislation such as the Endangered Species Act has been passed to help save animals at risk — but it appears to be an uphill battle. If you “move the Key deer to a series of zoos like people have done with pandas and other endangered species,” you can “keep them going, but at what cost and to what end?” Bergh said to NPR. “Is that really a future for the species?”
Even in the “best case scenario for sea-level rise, we’re going to lose habitat for all of these species,” Nikki Colangelo, the endangered species manager for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in South Florida, said to NPR. That is why conservationists “need to be considering some of these other strategies,” such as relocating the deer to other habitats.
But that brings about another problem: “If you take them any other place with deer, they’re going to interbreed and then you’ve lost the Key deer,” former Texas A&M University professor Nova Silvy said to the AP.
A Florida couple who claimed a fertility clinic error led the woman giving birth to a “non-Caucasian child” who was not related to them said they have identified their child’s biological parents, according to reports.
“The results of testing delivered to us today confirm that our baby’s genetic parents have been identified,” Tiffany Score and Steven Mills said in a statement obtained by People on Wednesday.
A Florida couple who claimed a fertility clinic error led to the birth of a “non-Caucasian child” who was not related to them said they have identified their child’s biological parents. Mara Hatfield
Score and Mills filed a lawsuit in January against Fertility Center of Orlando and its head reproductive endocrinologist, Dr. Milton McNichol, alleging that another patient’s embryo was implanted in Score’s uterus in April 2025.
The mix-up led to the birth of their now 4-month-old daughter, Shea, who is not biologically related to them, the filing alleged.
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“This ends one chapter in our heartbreaking journey, but it raises new issues that will have to be resolved,” the statement continued. “In addition, questions about the disposition of our own embryos are still unanswered and are even more unlikely to ever be answered.”
“Only one thing is as absolutely certain today as it was on the day our daughter was born —we will love and will be this child’s parents forever.”
The couple added that they will respect the privacy of Shea’s biological parents and will keep their identities “confidential.”
Score and Mills filed a lawsuit in January against Fertility Center of Orlando and its head reproductive endocrinologist, Dr. Milton McNichol, alleging that another patient’s embryo was implanted in Score’s uterus. WESH2
Score and Mills, who are both white, stored three viable embryos at the Longwood clinic in 2020 for in vitro fertilization, a process that creates embryos and stores them until pregnancy.
Five years later, after an embryo was implanted, the couple gave birth to a “beautiful, healthy female child” on Dec. 11, 2025, according to the lawsuit filed Jan. 22 in Orange County Circuit Court and obtained by Law & Crime.
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“Tragically, while both Jane Doe and John Doe are racially Caucasian, Baby Doe displayed the physical appearance of a racially non-Caucasian child,” the lawsuit said.
Further genetic testing confirmed that baby Shea had no biological relationship to either parent — raising questions about where their embryos had gone or whether another woman was impregnated with their biological child.
The new parents had an “intensely strong emotional bond” with their child during pregnancy and wished to keep the girl, but recognized she “should legally and morally be united with her genetic parents so long as they are fit, able and willing to take her,” the lawsuit stated.
The Fertility Clinic of Orlando announced earlier this month that it would close by May 20. WESH2
Scarola told People, following Wednesday’s development, that Shea’s biological parents have not made any requests to take her into custody.
“Remaining questions about the fate of Tiffany and Steven’s unaccounted for embryos…are still pending,” Scarola said.
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“The current legal proceeding will remain open to address those matters,” the attorney added. “However, we expect that we will now also begin to focus on the need for our clients to be compensated for the expenses they have incurred and the severe emotional trauma that they endured and will continue to experience.”
The Fertility Clinic of Orlando announced earlier this month that it would close by May 20 — a decision leadership said was made after “thoughtful consideration.”
Neither Scarola nor the clinic immediately responded to The Post’s request for comment.
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Florida on Tuesday announced a criminal probe into whether artificial intelligence played a role in a deadly mass shooting at a university in the US state.
The decision to launch an investigation came after prosecutors reviewed exchanges between OpenAI chatbot ChatGPT and the suspected gunman, who opened fire at Florida State University last year, according to state Attorney General James Uthmeier.
“If ChatGPT were a person, it would be facing charges for murder,” Uthmeier said.
Florida law allows anyone who assists or counsels someone in the commission of a crime to be treated as an “aider and abettor” bearing the same responsibility as the perpetrator, according to Uthmeier.
In exchanges with ChatGPT, the accused shooter sought advice on what type of gun and ammunition to use, as well as where and when on campus a lot of people would likely be found, the state attorney general said during a press briefing.
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“Last year’s mass shooting at Florida State University was a tragedy, but ChatGPT is not responsible for this terrible crime,” an OpenAI spokesperson said.