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Floridians are killing the state’s beloved manatees
The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette ^ | November 26, 2021 | Tampa Bay Times

Posted on 11/27/2021 4:05:58 AM PST by Tolerance Sucks Rocks

What a bad year to be a Florida manatee. For the first time on record, more than 1,000 of the sea mammals have died in a calendar year — and it’s not even December yet. That could amount to 1 in every 7 of the state’s manatees gone in less than 11 months. Many of them starved, thanks to a die-off of seagrass, a problem worsened by human-made pollution. In the short run, Florida owes it to this iconic mammal to find ways to mitigate the damage. It’s also time to put the manatees back on the endangered species list, which would help their long-term prospects.

In recent years, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission has estimated the state’s total manatee population at a minimum of 7,250. Through Nov. 12, the commission has recorded 1,003 deaths, smashing the previous record of 830 set in 2013. As the Tampa Bay Times reported, the year got off to a bad start when manatees returned to one of their typical wintering spots near a power plant in the Indian River Lagoon off Brevard County. Manatees often seek the warmer waters near power plants during cold winter months. But algal blooms in recent years killed tens of thousands of acres of seagrass, a primary food source for the voracious eaters. A 1,000-pound manatee can eat 100 pounds of food in a day, according to the University of Florida. Without enough seagrass, many of the manatees starved.

(Excerpt) Read more at post-gazette.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Culture/Society; Editorial; Government; News/Current Events; US: Florida
KEYWORDS: agriculture; algae; banned; boaters; chat; chatforum; endangered; esa; fakenews; fertilizer; florida; hillsborough; hyperbole; manatees; mediawingofthednc; partisanmediashill; partisanmediashills; pinellas; redtide; rondesantis; runoff; seagrass; tampabaytimes; threatened
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To: FreedomPoster

I took my scouts to Florida. We were swimming in the Sewanee River. The boys were diving into the river from a large tree that grew out over the water.

One of the boys raised the hue and cry.......manatee, manatee!!

Oops....false alarm. It’s only Mr bert


41 posted on 11/27/2021 5:57:34 AM PST by bert ( (KE. NP. N.C. +12) Free Republic has gone to hell is a Covid handbasket)
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To: Roccus

Effective air conditioning that became available in the 1950’s has been the reason for the influx of 20 million new residents in Florida.


42 posted on 11/27/2021 5:58:13 AM PST by Presbyterian Reporter
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To: Tolerance Sucks Rocks

You forgot about the brain eating amoebas. The ones found in water, not the political kind.


43 posted on 11/27/2021 6:02:29 AM PST by lastchance (Credo.)
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To: Presbyterian Reporter

The whole country is being destroyed by to many people...immigration should have been cut to lower levels fifty years ago and Army troops on the border like the 1930s


44 posted on 11/27/2021 6:06:02 AM PST by Hojczyk
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To: HighSierra5

“I think Florida is a beautiful state. I’d like to visit when it’s not so humid though”. “Not so humid”, I don’t understand. Is this a thing? Why have I not heard that this happens? I mean I know about places like Arizona and Vegas and the idea of a dry heat and bags of chips that stay crisp even when left open. “Legend”, we are told. “Not for the likes of you. Now go grab a moldy towel and wipe the sweat from your brow.”

Yet you write as though such a thing is not only possible but people have experienced it first hand. I will keep a look out for sure now. Maybe like Spring I missed it by staying indoors 5 minutes longer than I should have.


45 posted on 11/27/2021 6:10:41 AM PST by lastchance (Credo.)
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To: Clemenza

Ha! I am not sure just what you mean by landscape which is usually a term for parcels of land that are designed and planted in a certain way. There is xeriscaping here which is the use of native flora in landscaping. If you mean actual natural habitat Florida is full of such way beyond mangroves and beaches.


46 posted on 11/27/2021 6:15:05 AM PST by lastchance (Credo.)
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To: Tolerance Sucks Rocks

Manatees are not native to Florida, so the leftists would want them all to die if they were consistent in wanting everything to return to a natural state.


47 posted on 11/27/2021 6:16:59 AM PST by EastTexasTraveler
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To: Bringbackthedraft
And now we are being invaded by a west coast critter named Pelosi.

FYI - that is fake news

48 posted on 11/27/2021 6:19:14 AM PST by Erik Latranyi (We are being played by forces most do not understand)
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To: USAF1985

Nah, they’re more like spotted oil or eagle


49 posted on 11/27/2021 6:20:36 AM PST by Keyhopper (Indians had bad immigration laws)
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To: lastchance

Liberals are immune to brain-eating amoeba.


50 posted on 11/27/2021 6:23:17 AM PST by I-ambush (If we make it we’ll all sit back and laugh, but I fear tomorrow I’ll be crying )
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To: Hojczyk

“””The whole country is being destroyed by to many people...immigration should have been cut to lower levels fifty years ago and Army troops on the border like the 1930s”””


I am in your camp. We currently have 335 million people living in the USA and there are 350 million people who would like to live in the USA.

Do we want the USA to look like China with a billion or more people living here? I think not.

Also, technology is increasingly replacing human labor. So what work are the millions of new illegal immigrants going to do?

We also have millions of ‘unemployable’ people sitting around and living off of government handouts.


51 posted on 11/27/2021 6:30:48 AM PST by Presbyterian Reporter
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To: chiller

There are manatees in the St John’s River outside of Jacksonville.


52 posted on 11/27/2021 6:38:13 AM PST by EEGator
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To: Tolerance Sucks Rocks

What animals have Pennsylvanians killed off in their state?


53 posted on 11/27/2021 6:57:05 AM PST by Ge0ffrey
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To: Tolerance Sucks Rocks

More than a thousand (perhaps more) killed by evil pleasure seeking boaters and in the next breath they are all STARVING from lack of seagrass? How are they reproducing? We all want to know how the Pittsburgh-whatever press is so knowledgeable. Are they a northern haven for manatees or something?


54 posted on 11/27/2021 6:59:55 AM PST by Gaffer
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To: HighSierra5

The humidity is there to keep the yankees away. Keep it.


55 posted on 11/27/2021 7:00:55 AM PST by Gaffer
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To: Tolerance Sucks Rocks

LOL!


56 posted on 11/27/2021 7:01:41 AM PST by Carriage Hill (A society grows great when old men plant trees, in whose shade they know they will never sit.)
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To: Tolerance Sucks Rocks

Many years ago a manatee was found in Buffalo Bayou on the far west side of Houston. It had crossed the Gulf, entered Galveston Bay, the Houston Ship Channel and up the bayou. It was air-lifted back home to Florida.


57 posted on 11/27/2021 7:02:57 AM PST by MisterArtery
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To: lgjhn23

You also have Africanized honeybees that love to sting liberals to death for a pastime.


58 posted on 11/27/2021 7:05:55 AM PST by Tolerance Sucks Rocks (Florida: America's new free zone.)
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To: NautiNurse

But the hook, according to the Tampa Bay Goth-like Misery Times, is that our fertilizer runoff is aiding the toxic blooms.


59 posted on 11/27/2021 7:07:05 AM PST by Tolerance Sucks Rocks (Florida: America's new free zone.)
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To: Dusty Road

They mentioned the boating accidents, but not any record cold snaps.


60 posted on 11/27/2021 7:08:57 AM PST by Tolerance Sucks Rocks (Florida: America's new free zone.)
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