24/7 Biohazard and Crime Scene Cleanup in Big Pine Key, FL

Big Pine Key is an island and census-designated place in Monroe County in the Lower Florida Keys, about 30 miles from Key West along the Overseas Highway.

Big Pine Key is home to the National Key Deer Refuge, established in 1957 to protect the endangered Key deer and some 9,200 acres of their habitat.

The Key deer that roam Big Pine Key are the smallest subspecies of white-tailed deer in North America, and they live nowhere else in the world.

Key deer were hunted down to as few as 25 to 50 animals by the 1950s; the deer was listed as federally endangered in 1967, and the herd has since recovered to roughly 800 to 1,000 animals.

Big Pine Key and neighboring No Name Key support more than two-thirds of the entire Key deer population, and about two-thirds of the land on the two islands is held in conservation.

Big Pine Key was one of the last Florida Keys to be settled — the 1870 census recorded only a single family living on the island.

About 4,500 people live on Big Pine Key, in small households averaging roughly 2.3 people, sharing the island with deer that wander freely through residential neighborhoods.

Visitors to the National Key Deer Refuge watch for deer, alligators and birds at the Blue Hole, a well-known wildlife-viewing spot inside the refuge.

Big Pine Key is extremely low-lying — its highest point is only about 8 feet above sea level, leaving both the community and the deer herd exposed to sea-level rise.

In 2016, Big Pine Key's deer herd was hit by a New World screwworm infestation, and wildlife officials eradicated the pest by releasing millions of sterile flies over the island.