(Animals) Lettuces and cabbages, emergency foods to combat the decline of manatees

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As manatees begin their annual migration to canals, coastal lagoons and other places with warmer waters than marine ones, those responsible for the conservation of this species in Florida are considering for the first time the possibility of feeding them to prevent them from dying of hunger. .

Lettuces, cabbages and other vegetables are the foods that could supplement the grasses of the underwater prairies that this iconic Florida species thrives on and that are disappearing due to human activity, like manatees.

According to the latest tally by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC), 1,017 manatees had died from January 1 to November 19, 2021, far exceeding the previous record of 830 deaths. , registered in 2013.

Although it is not known exactly how many of that more than a thousand have died from hunger, Patrick Rose, executive director of the Save the Manatee organization, does not hesitate to point out to EFEverde that there are "hundreds" due to the loss of sea grasses, due, among other factors, to the proliferation of harmful algae in rivers and lagoons

“We lost hundreds of manatees last winter. Desperate situations call for desperate measures, "said this specialist with more than 40 years of experience about this" strategic effort ", unprecedented and with" scientific scrutiny "to replace" in a focused way "the diet of some manatees.

Rose stressed that the plan is in no way intended to replace all the diet consumed by manatees, which can eat up to 90 kilos of seagrass every day, but rather to focus on specific cases of malnourished or sick individuals, and then see how they respond to the supplements from your regular diet.

Feeding wild manatees is illegal and violators can be punished with fines, which is why the initiative requires the approval of the US Fish and Animal Life Service, a federal agency that in 2017 removed this species from its list of “ endangered ”to reclassify it as“ threatened ”.

"It is an effort that we hope will be a kind of exception," said the specialist, who stressed that the restoration of seaweed must be on the horizon, whose decline is extremely pronounced in areas such as Indian River Lagoon, in the center of the state. a common area where these mammals go during the winter.

News brought by

https://www.efeverde.com/

Edited December 2, 2021 by Damuc