Help Protect the Florida Manatee

Posted by Dawn M. Smith Dec 3, 2007

The slow moving, coastal dwelling manatee has come up against the powerful boating and development lobbies, both in Florida and nationally. On December 5th, 2007 the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWCC) meets to vote on downlisting the Florida manatee from Endangered to Threatened.

Whether the Commission will spend the time at the December meeting in review of their questionable listing categories or go ahead and downlist the Florida manatee remains to be seen. What happens will tell a great deal about Florida’s commitment to protecting wildlife.

Meanwhile there is pressure at the federal level to for the US Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) to downlist the Florida manatee as well, despite the fact that there were record numbers of deaths of this endangered species in 2006.

Let the FWS and the FWCC know that you want the Florida manatee properly protected. Your message will be most effective if you add a personal note or, better yet, if you take the information and use it to create your own message.