The Gentle Giant - Manatee

According to Florida Today and Tampa Bay Times, in late 2012, the Pacific Legal Foundation (PLF) and Save Crystal River submitted a petition for the down listing of the manatee from “endangered” to “threatened”. However, as the federal officials’ failure to act on their petition, PLF sued the wildlife service in May 2014. PLF argued that “While there have been news reports about a high number of manatee deaths last year, the government has still reported that the species' population is significantly higher than a decade ago.” On 1 July 2014, the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced it would conduct the status review, and said that the manatees, which have been on the list since it was created in 1967, may belong in the less protective "threatened" category; even though the number of manatees killed last year set a new record. But before deciding what to do, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is inviting public input on the idea by Sept 2.

Manatees, also known as sea cows, are large yet graceful swimmers. An adult manatee can weigh up to 590 kg and they are generally solitary animals. Humans play an important role in the destruction of manatees and one of the leading causes of manatee deaths is their collision with boats and ships. As manatees are slow-moving and dark-coloured, they are difficult to identify in water, and collisions with boats cause life-threatening internal injuries that are often hard to locate and treat. The engine propellers are also dangerous to the manatees as they could suffer serious cuts and hence, leading to the deaths of manatees.

Furthermore, manatees cannot survive in water below 15 °C. The Crystal River National Wildlife Refuge was established specifically for the protection of the endangered West Indian Manatee. The refuge preserves the warm water spring havens, which provide critical habitat for the manatee populations that migrate here each winter. If there is a change in the manatee's status from “endangered” to “threatened”, boats will be able to move at a much greater speed, putting these manatees at a much greater risk of collision with boats. I feel that exposing manatees to a greater risk so as to allow boats to move faster for materialistic gains is a very self-centered act which put humans at a more superior position than animals.

Besides, manatees were originally included on the federal endangered species list in 1967 as they faced dire threats from pollution, the loss of habitat and speeding boats (all of which remain threats today), and not due to their population size. Hence, even though studies show that manatees are unlikely to go extinct in the next century, there is still a pressing need to protect these vulnerable sea creatures that are easily affected by human activities. I hope that the public can be more aware of the threats our gentle giants faced and that the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service will not change the status of the manatees.