Can you help manatees with a $5 donation? Please visit my GoFundMe page.
Updated for 2022—with manatees in even greater need.
Last year my friends, colleagues and customers helped me raise a bit over $1000. Please help me raise an additional $1500 for the Save the Manatee Club for 2022. The cause has never been more urgent.
The fact that March is Seagrass Awareness month has never been more vitally appropriate.
Manatees are creatures of habit, returning to their limited safe havens during the cooler part of the year. In these spots, they rely principally on seagrass to eat and warmer waters to protect them from deadly cold stress. Manatees have very little protective fat—their round shape is due to the bulk of their digestive tract.
The safe havens, because of decades of human-produced pollution, are being choked out by algae blooms leading to a massive loss of seagrass. Marine biologists state that the current tragic die-off of manatees is due to starvation.
More than 1,100 manatees died in 2021. Most of these starved to death. Those that venture along the coast in search of food may die of cold stress or boat strike. This year so far, more than 270 manatees have perished, trending the same as last year, which was the deadliest year on record for these beloved animals.
Rescue crews have been rushing to save as many manatees as they can, but this loss can't be sustained. Manatees were prematurely removed from the Endangered Species List in 2017—prematurely because all the threats that could lead to extinction of this iconic species are still present. This recent death count is proving that.
Manatees have been around for between 30 and 60 million years. We can't let human carelessness and selfishness wipe this gentle and intelligent species off the face of the earth.
Save the Manatee Club has a page showing ways to take action:
https://www.savethemanatee.org/how-to-help/take-action/floridas-algae-blooms/
More information about Save the Manatee Club, Inc.: To protect imperiled manatees and their aquatic habitat for future generations by raising public awareness; fostering education; sponsoring research and rescue, rehabilitation, and release efforts; supporting land acquisition; promoting aquatic habitat protection; advocating for improved protection measures, and funding education and conservation efforts in other countries.