Photo: GettyFlorida wildlife officials are touting the success of anexperimental feeding programlaunched to help save starving manatees in December.For the program, officials visited the warm waters around Florida power plants — where the marine mammals like to rest in the colder months — to feed the manatees lettuce throughout the winter, according to theAssociated Press.“They’ve eaten every scrap of food we’ve put out,” Scott Calleson of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service told the outlet.The manatees have already consumed almost all of the 160,000 pounds of lettuce reserved for the program, according to Calleson. He added they will likely eat another 40,000 pounds before the warm summer months.After the program concludes, the marine mammals will move to warmer climates.“As spring brings warmer air and water temps across much of the state, manatees are naturally dispersing from their winter warm-water sites,” according to aFacebook postfrom the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.The rare conservation decision to use direct human intervention to assist a species comes after a record number of Florida manatees died in 2021.“Unified Command does have approval to move forward on a limited feeding trial,” Carly Jones of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission shared in a statement to Reuters at the time of plan’s launch in December. “Details are still being worked out.“Last year, 1,100 manateesdied from starvationand about 420 manatee deaths have been confirmed this year, as of March 11, according to theAP.The loss of the animals' seagrass habit and food supply have caused them to die off from starvation at analarming, record-breaking rate, according toTC Palm.The majority of the 2021 manatee deaths occurred between Florida’s Brevard and Broward counties, most notably in the Indian River Lagoon, areport from the FWC noted.Currently, manatees are considered a “vulnerable” species, according tothe IUCN Red List, which last assessed the species in 2008. TheFWC’s website estimatesless than 7,520 wild manatees remain in Florida waters.
Photo: Getty
Florida wildlife officials are touting the success of anexperimental feeding programlaunched to help save starving manatees in December.For the program, officials visited the warm waters around Florida power plants — where the marine mammals like to rest in the colder months — to feed the manatees lettuce throughout the winter, according to theAssociated Press.“They’ve eaten every scrap of food we’ve put out,” Scott Calleson of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service told the outlet.The manatees have already consumed almost all of the 160,000 pounds of lettuce reserved for the program, according to Calleson. He added they will likely eat another 40,000 pounds before the warm summer months.After the program concludes, the marine mammals will move to warmer climates.“As spring brings warmer air and water temps across much of the state, manatees are naturally dispersing from their winter warm-water sites,” according to aFacebook postfrom the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.The rare conservation decision to use direct human intervention to assist a species comes after a record number of Florida manatees died in 2021.“Unified Command does have approval to move forward on a limited feeding trial,” Carly Jones of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission shared in a statement to Reuters at the time of plan’s launch in December. “Details are still being worked out.“Last year, 1,100 manateesdied from starvationand about 420 manatee deaths have been confirmed this year, as of March 11, according to theAP.The loss of the animals' seagrass habit and food supply have caused them to die off from starvation at analarming, record-breaking rate, according toTC Palm.The majority of the 2021 manatee deaths occurred between Florida’s Brevard and Broward counties, most notably in the Indian River Lagoon, areport from the FWC noted.Currently, manatees are considered a “vulnerable” species, according tothe IUCN Red List, which last assessed the species in 2008. TheFWC’s website estimatesless than 7,520 wild manatees remain in Florida waters.
Florida wildlife officials are touting the success of anexperimental feeding programlaunched to help save starving manatees in December.
For the program, officials visited the warm waters around Florida power plants — where the marine mammals like to rest in the colder months — to feed the manatees lettuce throughout the winter, according to theAssociated Press.
“They’ve eaten every scrap of food we’ve put out,” Scott Calleson of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service told the outlet.
The manatees have already consumed almost all of the 160,000 pounds of lettuce reserved for the program, according to Calleson. He added they will likely eat another 40,000 pounds before the warm summer months.
After the program concludes, the marine mammals will move to warmer climates.
“As spring brings warmer air and water temps across much of the state, manatees are naturally dispersing from their winter warm-water sites,” according to aFacebook postfrom the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.
The rare conservation decision to use direct human intervention to assist a species comes after a record number of Florida manatees died in 2021.
“Unified Command does have approval to move forward on a limited feeding trial,” Carly Jones of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission shared in a statement to Reuters at the time of plan’s launch in December. “Details are still being worked out.”
Last year, 1,100 manateesdied from starvationand about 420 manatee deaths have been confirmed this year, as of March 11, according to theAP.
The loss of the animals' seagrass habit and food supply have caused them to die off from starvation at analarming, record-breaking rate, according toTC Palm.
The majority of the 2021 manatee deaths occurred between Florida’s Brevard and Broward counties, most notably in the Indian River Lagoon, areport from the FWC noted.
Currently, manatees are considered a “vulnerable” species, according tothe IUCN Red List, which last assessed the species in 2008. TheFWC’s website estimatesless than 7,520 wild manatees remain in Florida waters.
source: people.com
