November is Manatee Awareness Month.
Wait—MONTH? Why should the manatee get an entire month for awareness?
I can tell you that even though I loved animals as a child, I didn’t know of the manatee’s existence. When I finally came around to finding out about them as a teenager, I was shocked that such an endearing animal had slipped by me. You will be forgiven if you too didn’t know that manatees have barely any fat on them, that they are related not to seals or walruses but to elephants, that they can’t turn their necks, that their tails are called paddles, that the species is between 30 and 60 million years old, that they have flipper nails, and that they are absolutely gentle. Hardly anyone lives near manatees and sees them in the wild.
Photo courtesy of Save the Manatee Club
One thing I can say about this manatee awareness stuff: Once you know them, you love them. So it is of vital importance that people learn about manatees, and how to protect them from our boat propellers along with other encroachments on their environment. With no natural predators, man is the manatees only “enemy,” and the toll we take is pretty terrible.
In honor of 2019’s Manatee Awareness Month, I’ve made another donation of 10% of my earnings to Save the Manatee Club, bringing the total to over $1200 this year. I trust SMC (THE human voice of the manatee since 1981) to get the word out about this wonderful species, to advocate for their protection, and to help rescue them when they are injured or sick.
To all my customers who appreciate my donations of earnings to manatees—Thank you for caring right along with me! You keep me afloat!!