26 Facts About Jack Rudloe

Jack Rudloe is a writer, naturalist, and environmental activist from Panacea, Florida, United States, who co-founded Gulf Specimen Marine Laboratory.

Jack Rudloe was born in Brooklyn, New York on February 17,1943.

Jack Rudloe later enrolled in Florida State University, but left after only two months.

In spite of his premature departure from FSU, Rudloe was hired by marine biologist Dexter M Easton of Harvard University to collect striped burrfish and bat fish.

Jack Rudloe was mentored in the early days by John Steinbeck.

In 1971, Jack Rudloe married marine biologist Anne Jack Rudloe, and together they founded Gulf Specimen Marine Laboratory in 1980.

Jack Rudloe has two sons, Sky and Cypress and a grandson Kai.

Jack Rudloe has multiple acknowledgements from scientists about his personal contributions to and support of their research efforts in the marine science literature.

Jack Rudloe has written numerous scientific articles, and technical publications himself.

Jack Rudloe was involved in early efforts to establish the now successful jellyfish export industry on the East Coast of the US.

Jack Rudloe continues to work to find natural medicines from other sea organisms.

Jack Rudloe provides marine specimens to scientists worldwide, including some that were the first specimen known to science, such as Chiropsella rudloei.

Jack Rudloe has developed live culture techniques for food for captive animals otherwise considered difficult to raise in captivity including sea horses and the lesser electric ray.

Jack Rudloe is noted for two particular areas of effort in environmentalism.

Jack Rudloe was a strong proponent and advocate of turtle exclusion devices and his work is widely cited in efforts to introduce and later to enforce their use and his interest in general sea turtle welfare which were the subject of two of his books.

Jack Rudloe wrote about shrimp and their contributions to the economy and to the environment.

Jack Rudloe published numerous popular articles on environmental topics including several in Sports Illustrated, National Geographic and Audubon.

Jack Rudloe opposed Florida's commercial net fishing ban because he was concerned about the impact on small town fisheries and fishermen placing him at odds with many large environmental groups.

Jack Rudloe has been raising awareness of the issue of plastic and waste dumping into the ocean since at least 1992.

Jack Rudloe began his career as an environmental activist at age 8 by biting the leg of a camp counsellor who was about to kill a turtle with a sledge hammer.

In 1972 Jack Rudloe sued financier Edward Ball to try to force him to remove a fence across the Wakulla River, lost and was almost bankrupted by the resulting legal costs.

Jack Rudloe was arrested for cruelty to animals in the same period, a charge which was dismissed.

In 1988 Jack Rudloe organized a campaign to have people return their Exxon credit cards in a sealed bag of used motor oil to protest the Exxon Valdez's Prince William Sound oil spill.

Jack Rudloe submitted an article to Sports Illustrated describing how an alligator attacked and ate his dog in 1981.

Jack Rudloe described the alligator as rearing to an upright position with front arms apart and fingers spread, he described vapour from the alligator's nostrils and how the alligator puffed up when Jack Rudloe leaped on it and wrestled it in a vain attempt to save the dog.

Jack Rudloe eventually published the account in Audubon and Reader's Digest.