Program seeks to stop the unprecedented deaths of manatees in Florida

The cause? The pollution of the sea caused by human activity is causing the disappearance of marine food for manatees.

Patrick Roise , Executive Director of Save The Manatee Club, explained in a statement: “Manatees are herbivores, and seaweed is a mainstay of their diet. But excess pollution has caused the loss of more than 90% of the seagrass biomass in that area. Most of the waterways are essentially devoid of seagrasses. ”

Feed them from others Vegetables

The plan that environmental officials have designed focuses on that these mammalian animals receive a diet based on lettuce and other vegetables .

And although the c conservationists emphasize that it is not advisable to feed any wild animal, this situation is considered an emergency that has forced us to consider this alternative.

“It is the entire ecosystem that is affected by this, and it will be affected for the next decade. This is a necessary interim measure; it’s a man-made problem and man is going to have to fix it, ”Rose said.

They will start by providing these foods to manatees in a Florida plant Power & Light at Cape Canaveral, on the Indian River Lagoon . This is the meeting point for manatees during the winter cold.

The experiment will provide lettuce, cabbage and other vegetables to the animals in a controlled manner through a conveyor belt. However, authorities note that is still generally prohibited from feeding manatees without authorization , so they made an attentive call to people “not to feed them on your own, and share this message.”