Florida Manatees Facing Starvation to Be Fed in Trial Program (wsj.com) 59
Wildlife officials in Florida are preparing to feed manatees in the wild, an unprecedented response to the animals' mass starvation caused by the loss of seagrasses they normally eat. From a report: So far this year, 1,056 manatees have died in Florida, nearly double the average for the same period of the past five years, according to state data. While the record tally includes those killed by watercraft and other causes, malnourishment is the main reason propelling the increase, researchers say. The state's total manatee population numbered at least 5,733 in 2019, the most recent year in which officials conducted a count. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service declared an "unusual mortality event" along Florida's Atlantic coast this year -- a designation indicating a significant die-off that demands an immediate response. The problem can worsen in the winter when the animals congregate in warmer waters that have become devoid of food, researchers say.
"The status of manatees going into this winter is so poor that without this supplemental feeding to help get them through, we're going to have hundreds and hundreds of [them] dying," said Patrick Rose, executive director of the advocacy group Save the Manatee Club. Seagrasses are disappearing because of deteriorating water quality caused by improperly treated sewage, leaking septic tanks and runoff containing fertilizer used for lawns and agriculture, researchers say. It's part of a broader threat to other marine species, they say, and to Florida's economy, which relies heavily on visitors drawn to the state's coastline.
"The status of manatees going into this winter is so poor that without this supplemental feeding to help get them through, we're going to have hundreds and hundreds of [them] dying," said Patrick Rose, executive director of the advocacy group Save the Manatee Club. Seagrasses are disappearing because of deteriorating water quality caused by improperly treated sewage, leaking septic tanks and runoff containing fertilizer used for lawns and agriculture, researchers say. It's part of a broader threat to other marine species, they say, and to Florida's economy, which relies heavily on visitors drawn to the state's coastline.
Will be forced to work for family guy (Score:2)
Will be forced to work for family guy
Re: Will be forced to work for family guy (Score:2)
Can't get that friggen meme out of my head (Score:1)
https://knowyourmeme.com/memes... [knowyourmeme.com]
right on schedule: (Score:2)
Surprising for a red state (Score:5, Funny)
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If you get these fat lazy beasts dependent on government handouts, they'll never fend for themselves.
You joke, but the consequences are obvious. Feed them in low season => too many manatees => eat too much grass in summer in grass breeding seasion => not enough grass => Manatees need to be fed => Feed them in low and mid season => loop. I mean, I assume the scientists thought of this, but then I guess they assumed the scientists had checked cane toads before bringing them to Australia and I certainly haven't read the article to check. Anyone want to reassure us?
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It depends how fast sea levels rise and create new habitat.
If they can supplement their diets for a few decades, they might be rebounding by then! They can tolerate brackish water.
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The problem exists because of water quality. The goal is to feed them in this way to keep populations stable until water quality improves. It's worth noting that water quality declined to a problem level fairly quickly in just a few short years. It's likely that with sufficient action to control fertiliser and waste runoff into the water that it could recover in a similarly short timeframe as the outflow of water happens at a reasonable pace, and underwater plantlife on which manatees feed that has suffered
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As someone whos worked on species rescue programs I can tell you flat out they wouldn't be dreaming of doing this unless theres a very real risk we could lose the species without it.
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The problem with the twin curve model (Food vs Feeder populations slightly out of phase) with endangered populations is they dont account for genetic diversity. As species hit really low numbers, the amount of genetic diversity goes up in smoke and it takes a really long time to recover, if at all, and non universal genes to h
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Mod parent funny, though it needs a sarcasm tag. Some folks are going to Poe's Law it...
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Yeah, but if they can get the numbers back up, the government will allow manatee hunting again.
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Why not? Worried that Florida might run out of rednecks?
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I hope not. Manatees are magnificent creatures. They really are a wonder of the natural world. Big friendly and ponderously slow sea cows really.
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If you get these fat lazy beasts dependent on government handouts, they'll never fend for themselves.
Wow, I didn't know Democrats could hold their breath that long!
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They can just run for Congress.
Government handouts... (Score:1)
Joe Manchin said the manatees will barter the treats for opioids. Which might actually work in Florida.
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And that's a solution how? (Score:2)
So the manatees' food is disappearing due to pollution, and the solution is to feed them? For how long? If you feed them enough they will have lots of cubs, that will want to eat too. Their cousins will also come to visit and never leave. In some years that will be unsustainable. The whole idea is nuts, the ocean is not some aquatic park you can control. If you destroy a habitat, you cannot save the inhabitants of that habitat, except some of them to put in a zoo, perhaps.
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It's not disappearing due to pollution, it disappeared due to the reduction in warm water power plant runoff. It was known this was going to happen back in 2005. The shut down of the plants with warm water discharges caused overpopulation in the remaining warm water basins, leading to not enough food.
https://www.mmc.gov/wp-content... [mmc.gov]
Governor DeSantis said: (Score:4, Insightful)
"Florida's manatees receiving food benefits will be required to log into the state's CONNECT system biweekly and report five work searches for each week they've received food. The manatees must to return to work, which will ease the labor shortage and stimulate Florida’s economic recovery."
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Better joke, but sadder. So here's my sad joke on the topic of feeding couch potatoes.
https://wt.social/post/the-fut... [wt.social]
Need to end the pollution before you stop feeding (Score:2)
Obviously we need to end the pollution. We will have to keep feeding them until we do that.
The question is, will the politicians care enough do enforce the laws.
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Their caring might not be the only route to action; we already have laws on the books about water pollution.
https://www.commondreams.org/n... [commondreams.org]
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Old news (Score:2)
Non-paywall link: https://www.tampabay.com/news/... [tampabay.com]
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Where do you live that you don't feed the homeless? I mean here in the sensible middle part of the united states we have layers and layers of overlapping programs to feed them not to mention personal kindness. Hell, the last one I offered to buy a happy meal for turned me down as they were only looking for cash.
Lets see obesity up to over half with chronic homeless
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/p... [nih.gov]
Causes of death tend to be Drugs and standard Overweight problems
http://www.nyc.gov/html/record... [nyc.gov]
It actually lo
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Well, lets see.
First, they are herbivores (that means plant eaters kid) so while I might not be toxic to them they probably wouldn't eat me even if I was offered. So at best your little death fetish of an offering would be wasted.
Second, "church parking lot quality speech"? I mean I will admit I haven't been in may church parking lots but when a casual search of the internet can't even give me a hint on what you are talking about... That is pretty bad. Care to decode it or is it just random bigotry you like
Unchecked development, amirite ? (Score:2)
Manatee are notoriously difficult to count (Score:2)
Manatee population surveys are created by human "spotters" counting manatees. It is an incredibly imprecise way to count populations of these animals. No one knows how many manatees there really are.
Only four years ago, the West Indian Manatee was removed from the Endangered Species List [cnn.com] because they had improved so much. They didn't lose any protections at that time (meaning, you can't hunt or kill them even though they're not on the list anymore).
Also note that the idea of manatee starvation in Florid
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Please inform the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service of your findings since you seem to understand the situation more than their so called professionals who have been doing this for years.
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If there ever was a prime example of an oxymoron, "government expert" would be it.
Re: Manatee are notoriously difficult to count (Score:2)
The only the the F&WS did was declare an unusual mortality event. The rest of the information comes from activist groups.
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Manatee population surveys are created by human "spotters" counting manatees. It is an incredibly imprecise
27% of manatee sightings were really Cowboy Neal. Things are worse than the we thought! They're going to have to add donuts to the supplement list.
Itâ(TM)s great (Score:2)
It is great we are doing this, I fully support it. But since we are on the topic of helping sentient beings, I gotta ask what about homelessness in the US? A section of the so called infrastructure bill was supposed to address it, but instead makes the problem
much worse by not requiring a single new housing unit to be built. Instead it allocated the money in such a manner that most if not all of it will be used to upgrade existing units so that higher rents can be charged. How does that address the housing
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The real issue is that it costs more, a lot more, to build public housing than it does to build private housing. A small crap apartment costs as much to construct as a single family home, its crazy. All before anyone manages that apartment or anyone can live in that apartment.
Yo Dawg, I heard you like red tape, so I put some red tape on your red tape.
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> forcibly move everyone from block B to block A, then tear down block B
Hell, just blow it all up, move no one and do the demo all in one. https://www.vox.com/the-highli... [vox.com]
I don't have all of the answers but cities making it easier to do projects for the homeless would be a start.
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If you try to rehabilitate run-down housing, the NIMBYs immediately declare that all such construction has "insufficient" or "outdated" parking and will stop any such project. This is despite their endless complaints that "affordable housing is being destroyed" when any building is replaced with a new one. The idea that they want affordable housing is a lie, mostly a lie they tell themselves to try to make their opinions more palatable.
Feeding etc. (Score:1)
Is it too early for "Oh, the huge manatee!!" ?