Manatee appointee

I have been asked by Save the Manatee Club (SMC) to help spread the word that November is Manatee Awareness Month. This is the time of year when manatees travel close to shore and into warm springs and inner waterways, where they feed primarily on seagrass.

Recently, due of decades of human-produced pollution, seagrass beds have been choked out by algae blooms leading to a massive loss of seagrass. This has lead to a horrific loss of manatees from starvation. Those that have ventured out of their winter safe havens risked cold stress and boat strikes. It’s not an easy time to be a manatee.

When SMC reaches out
I will say yes without a doubt
To raise a bit for the manatee
(You know they are my cup of tea!)

So I am doing this all November
Sharing that we must remember
The gentle giant of the sea
Otherwise known as the manatee

With boating dangers and pollution
We must provide a real solution
The many insults that they face
From the reckless human race

Entanglements with fishing line
The lack of veggies where they dine
Endangerment from climate change
Risks across their watery range

Thirty million years they’ve been around
Perfecting the art of slowing down
The manatee is ancient stuff
Although that hasn’t made her tough

The sea cow is a gentle sort
Not prone to take us into court
That’s why she needs an advocate
A helping hand that will not quit

So I support the SMC
Because they help the manatee
They clearly made the admirable choice
To be the sea cow’s human voice

All this month please help by giving
To keep the manatee simply living
To prevent her progress from regressing
—Even five bucks is a blessing!

All year round, I give 10% of my earnings from the small business of selling vintage clothing at denisebrain on Etsy. This November it is my ambitious goal to raise an additional $500 for Save the Manatee Club. You can find my JustGiving page here: https://www.justgiving.com/page/margaret-wilds-1699293737104 Thank you for your support!!

It's Manatee Awareness Month!

For the 43rd year, November is Manatee Awareness Month

November is Manatee Awareness Month, an annual month-long dedication to manatees and their conservation in Florida and beyond. Former Florida Governor Bob Graham first declared November as Manatee Awareness Month in 1979, when the state began designating manatee protection zones in areas where manatees gather during the winter. November is typically when manatees return to Florida’s warmer waters from their summer migratory routes.

(from the Save the Manatee Club website)

It is estimated that in the late 1960s the Florida manatee population was just several hundred. In 1973, the year the federal Endangered Species Act was passed, manatees became charter members of the endangered species list. 

Jimmy Buffet and Patrick Rose, SMC Executive Director, at the time of the founding of the Save the Manatee Club in 1981.

At the time of the awareness month designation there were 800 to 1,000 manatees. Two years later, Save the Manatee Club was founded by Jimmy Buffet (yes, Mr. Margaritaville) and the then-governor of Florida, Bob Graham.

Save the Manatee Club’s efforts have been critical to the recovery of the manatee. The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission recorded as many as 6,620 manatees in its 2017 aerial survey. Since then the population has dropped, with last year the deadliest on record. The FFWCC recorded 1,101 manatee deaths. In 2022 so far, 718 animals have been found dead along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts.

This horrific mortality rate was precipitated by fertilizer runoff which created an algae bloom that devastated the seagrass beds that are the staples of the manatee’s diet. Many animals are perishing from starvation. If manatees venture out from their usual winter zones in search of food they risk deadly cold stress and boat strikes.

This is not an easy time to be a manatee.

How can we help?

Save the Manatee Club has a list. Of course.

If you are in Florida, there are many things you can do, from reporting sick and injured animals to simply respecting boat speed limits in manatee zones. However if you, like me, live far from Florida, you can still help. The Adopt-A-Manatee program is a classic.

I work to raise awareness of these wonderful animals and their plight, donating 10% of my vintage fashion sales earnings to Save the Manatee Club. This year, in honor of Manatee Awareness Month, I am dedicating 25% of my earnings to SMC. Some of the items to be listed through the rest of the month will be entirely for the manatees. Your purchases will help now more than ever!

Vintage items from my shop in manatee-approved shades of blue (Manatee photo by Koji Kamei from Pexels.)

Manatees need our help

Please help me raise money for the Save the Manatee Club. The cause is urgent right now.

I imagine many of you know that I give 10% of my denisebrain sales to Save the Manatee Club—manatees are a year-round cause for me. Their survival is precarious because of the things we as humans do that cause manatees harm. But there is a special urgency this year.

This winter season has been devastating for manatees, with more than 430 dying since the beginning of the year. Many appear to have starved to death. Their winter safe havens are so polluted that their food sources have been choked off.

I have set up a Go Fund Me page to raise emergency rescue funds for the Save the Manatee Club. If you go to that page, you can read more about this issue, and find more ways to help. Please, if you can, make a donation. If you are not able, please share the page: Manatees: Unprecedented Need.

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.