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there. I just knew.”
Maldonado first became involved with area waters in 2010,
when the polluted discharges were being dumped from Lake
Okeechobee. She stepped up her activism when her son, Jack,
became the first boy to join River Kidz, a children’s group
that advocated for local rivers. The group, including Jack,
has spoken twice to Congress to raise awareness about the
hazardous conditions of the Indian River Lagoon.
After the dogs were poisoned by the blue-green algae in
2018, Maldonado became a media spokesperson getting the
word out about what was happening with the animals. She
also appeared before the Stuart City Commission informing
them about the dangers.
“I felt that as a veterinarian and as a river activist, it became
a position that I didn’t ask for. It just felt natural,” she
notes. “I got really furious about it because I’ve lived here
long enough to have lived through the algae blooms and seen
how devastating they are. It was one of those things where it
finally climaxed with a dead dog. It was horrible.”
Lab results later showed that all six dogs had been poisoned
by the cyanobacteria. Of those that survived, one was
a tiny Pomeranian and the others were retrievers that each
weighed 60 to 70 pounds — about the same size as a small
child.
“It’s kind of extrapolating, because sometimes a child is
hard to control, just like a dog,” she explains. “So your kid
could run out to the beach, stick his hands in the water and
not know that it’s green, because he’s just a kid. To me, if it’s
bad enough to kill a dog, then it’s bad enough to kill a child.
And therefore, we need to take this more seriously before it is
a child.”
When Maldonado isn’t treating animals, she enjoys walks
on the beach with her dogs. Several years ago while on one
of those walks, she began cleaning the beach, collecting an
assortment of plastics and other trash. It became her regular
custom. Then one day she found a T-shirt in her collection
pile and was inspired to make something with it.
“I looked at it and thought, ‘I’m going to make a little guy
out of this trash,’ ” she recalls. “I made a smiley face, gave
him two arms and two legs, took a picture of it and put it on
Facebook.”
Her friend, Rebecca Fatzinger, saw Maldonado’s post and
was inspired to do the same with the beach recyclables she
had collected. She took a picture of her creation, tagged Maldonado
on Facebook and commented, “I made a friend for
your trash man.”
The two friends began creating what they dubbed trash art
from the beach junk they collected and it soon evolved into a
fun, crazy and creative hobby. They formed TC Trash Art and
have displayed their work at select art shows in Fort Lauderdale.
They also developed quite a global fan base with almost
2,000 followers on Instagram.
“We have contacts in England, Germany, Thailand, Hawaii
and Australia,” she points out.
This past year, Maldonado and Fatzinger took their trash
art to a whole new level when they entered a float in Stuart’s
annual Christmas parade.
“We built an entire Christmas float,” Maldonado says
proudly with a smile. “Every last item on there was beach
trash and we won!”
Whether she’s cleaning the local beaches to make a healthier
environment, or tirelessly treating animals at the Monterey
Animal Clinic, and speaking out to give them a voice — Mal-
CRISTINA MALDONADO
Age: 52
Occupation: Veterinarian at
Monterey Animal Clinic in
People
Stuart
Lives in: Stuart
Family: son, Jack, 14
Education: Bachelor’s degree
in biology from Boston College;
Doctor of Veterinary Medicine from Cornell University
Hobbies: Activism, cleaning the beaches, walking my dog
Who inspires you: “Of people I know, Rebecca Fatzinger, my
trash-artist friend, who is the kindest human that you’ll ever
meet. Aside from being talented, she loves animals more than
me and I didn’t think that was doable. Also, Jacqui Lippisch
for what she has done for the area’s environment. She’s an
example that women can do anything, and they don’t need
to be held back if they believe passionately enough in it. One
of my all-time heroes is Jane Goodall for what she has done
for animals and the planet. She’s kind and soft spoken, and
everything that she accomplishes is done in a gentle way.”
donado remains true to her convictions. And she hopes she
inspires everyone to fight to keep Treasure Coast waterways
clean and beautiful.
“I think the main thing to do is to educate yourself,” she
says. “And then you need to speak up and write letters to
all government officials from the bottom up. The more you
learn, the more you realize that you need to learn. You have
to stay in the know, so that you can share information with
others and keep people aware.”
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