Stop scrolling if you love animals—especially Florida manatees. 🥹💙 Second trip to Tampa Electric’s Manatee Viewing Center in Apollo Beach: first visit, zero manatees…today, the canal was full of gentle giants. Let’s protect them and their Florida home. #FloridaManatees #conserve #protect

Florida manatee Gentle and playful marine mammals, Florida manatees have come to represent the amazing biodiversity of Florida. We're working to save them.

SAVING THE FLORIDA MANATEE
www.biologicaldiversity.org/species/mamm...

#Animals #Wildlife #Climate #Environment #Manatees #FloridaManatees #AnimalRescues #SaveTheManatee

Florida Manatees --

#Photography #Photographs #Pictures #Photos #PhotoJournalism #PhotoJournalismPhotography #Animals #Wildlife #WildlifePhotography #Manatees #FloridaManatees

Petition Urges U.S. Fish and Wildlife to List Manatees as Endangered After Massive Declines - Beyond Pesticides Daily News Blog (Beyond Pesticides, November, 30, 2022) A petition filed last week with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) urges increased protections for the West Indian manatee after dramatic declines in its population over the last several years. In 2017, the USFWS downgraded protections for the manatee, a move that was widely criticized by conservation groups as premature. That sentiment has become a reality, with nearly 2,000 manatees dying over the last two years from a range of preventable factors. West Indian manatees, a species of manatee that includes the Florida and Antillean Manatee subspecies, were first listed under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) in 1973, at a time when there were less than 1,000 individual animals in the United States. By 2017, the number of manatees had increased to over 6,000, leading then-Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke to downlist (downgrade) the animals from endangered to threatened under ESA. ESA works to protect species by listing them as either threatened or endangered. A species classified as endangered is in danger of extinction throughout all or a significant a portion of its range and a threatened classification means the species is likely to be endangered within the foreseeable future.  Endangered species are given […]

In 2017 #USFWS downgraded protections for #manatees. Nearly 2,000 have died in the last two years from various preventable factors.#protectmanatees #pesticides #EPAfail #extinction #endangeredspecies #FloridaManatees #marinemammals #glyphosate

beyondpesticides.org/dailynewsblog/…

Manatees in Florida Seriously Threatened from Pollution, Pesticides, and Other Human-Induced Stressors - Beyond Pesticides Daily News Blog (Beyond Pesticides, January 27, 2022) Wildlife officials in Florida have resorted to supplementing starving manatees with cabbage and lettuce in an attempt to keep their rapidly dwindling populations alive. Massive Red Tides exacerbated by runoff from urban and agricultural pollution have directly killed off dozens of manatees over the last several years, but the indirect effects of these harmful algae blooms have been most catastrophic, resulting in significant loss of the seagrass beds upon which manatees rely. While Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has announced plans to spend $481 million on water quality improvement projects, conservationists note that the funds are primarily directed toward point source wastewater treatment, and more is needed to address nonpoint source herbicide and fertilizer runoff from agricultural, and urban and suburban yards. Florida manatees, a subspecies of the West Indian manatee, can live as long as 60 years old, weigh up to 1,200 lbs, and have no natural predators within their range. The biggest threat to these peaceful marine mammals is human activity and environmental stressors. Unfortunately, the former is well-known to exacerbate the latter. Humans harm manatees primarily through boat strikes, but the animals can also die from eating or becoming entangled in fishing equipment, […]

#Redtides exacerbated by runoff from urban & #agricultural #pollution are killing #manatees in #Florida.#florida #floridamanatees #pesticides #wildlife #algaebloom #waterpollution #glyphosate #herbicides #environment #environmentalprotection #toxicrunoff

beyondpesticides.org/dailynewsblog/…