Here's the Thanksgiving Manatee Blog post.
Again for those of you who don't like to "click" I'll paste the text below as best I can, but here is the link on my site: Mom/Baby Manatee
Happy Thanksgiving, Carol
On this Thanksgiving I’m thankful that we still share this planet with the captivating Florida Manatee and its relatives. And I’m especially thankful when I see a little manatee like this one, peeking in on the far left, in a safe nook near mom’s tail.
Last week I posted a compelling photograph of a very little baby manatee, about three to three and one-half feet long and its mother. This photograph above is of a different mother and child I encountered four days ago. Baby above is not as small as the one listed here in my previous post (To see that post click here); but still young enough to never have seen these particular clear water springs. It was fascinating to watch “mom†as she actually gave her little one a “grand tourâ€. Most manatee moms show their offspring around but this mother was very into repetition. She would take her calf from the warm shallow areas out front to all the areas of the warm, blue springs in the back; this route was repeated about four times in a row. There was no feeding or anything, just showing her baby the “route†while this particular spring area was not crowded yet with manatee. I actually think that the moms with little ones will arrive to the springs earlier than others just for this purpose of showing their calves around.
So I was really thankful and overjoyed actually to see another little manatee being meticulously guided around by mom! :-)
But unfortunately there is something I’m not thankful for at all, in fact deeply disturbed by and I’m sorry to bring it up on Thanksgiving but it shows we do need to be thankful for life, those close to us, and all the wonderful things on this planet; but I think it is also a chance to reflect and take note of issues that must be dealt with - things that need to change.
If you look at the photo above you might notice that on the mother’s back is a slightly raised area that is lit up by sun-rays. Yes, tragically like my post from last week this mother manatee has been horribly scarred by a boat propeller and the collision with the boat hull is what has caused that raised wound on her back. This boat collision and propeller scars are much worse than the mother manatee from last week, although this mother manatee seems to be healing. I’d estimate these propeller scars to be very fresh, a few days old probably. I surmise that this manatee probably collided with a boat/prop a short distance up from the Gulf into the waterway that leads up to Crystal River. It is about 7 miles from the Gulf up to King’s Bay, Crystal River and it is a very busy waterway. Yes there are manatee slow zones but not enough of them the nearer you are to the Gulf of Mexico. Plus too many boats do not go slow enough in shallow areas where manatee travel and this wound was inflicted by a big motor - these cuts were two and one-half inches deep and sometimes even deeper. But manatee do have thick skin and layers of fat so it looks like this mother manatee escaped more serious injury by a hair. Thing is would her calf have survived if she had been more severely injured? Probably not.
So we can be thankful this mother is so tough and resilient and she was able - even with her injuries - to show her darling calf the “ropesâ€.
But I’m not at all, in any way OK with the photograph below of this mother manatee’s deep scars. The problem with manatee/boat propellers/boat hull strikes has been going on for years and while inventive people have come up with and offered various “solutions†to the problem for some reason it is hugely, almost impossible to implement any of the solutions as boating is a huge business in Florida. Yes some of the solutions like cages around propellers, sonic devices under boats designed to give manatee more warning, etc., do have their drawbacks but at least it would help some. Plus boats just going slower in shallow areas and boaters wearing polarized sunglasses and looking out for manatee to avoid is the best solution.
Also seeing within a 10 day time period I saw the mother with the very tiny baby manatee scarred in my previous post; and then this mother very badly scarred......, well it seems to me that mother manatee with young calves may be even more susceptible to injuries from boats due to the shallow and safe path they choose to travel to the winter, warm-water spring sites. This is disturbing because these mother manatee are the guardians of the manatee population’s future.
But the first step to solving any problem is acknowledging that one does exist and it is my Thanksgiving wish that additional steps can be taken by organizations working together to solve these pointless injuries as they are one of the major factors in manatee deaths in Florida.
Oh yes, lots of people ask me how they can help the Florida Manatee. I say educate yourself about the manatee as a first step; then any action helps - even just making others aware that there is a problem that needs to be solved. If you like to donate money to help causes then my manatee charity of choice is the “Friends of the Chassahowitzka’s Manatee Protection Fund†- it is a non-profit organization where the funds go directly and promptly to help the manatee that winter around Crystal and Homosassa Rivers (like this scarred mother manatee). Plus as I’ve said before the best book about the Florida Manatee is Bob Bonde and Roger Reep’s book “The Florida Manatee - Biology and Conservationâ€. Click on either name for more info.
One last note. A manatee, especially an injured one should not be swam over as it might disturb it. Might be hard to get the perspective but I’m kind of nestled amongst some rocks and quietly leaning over. This mother manatee swam under me and I got this close-up of her deep scars; she was also very used to my presence by then as I had been around awhile with hardly any other people around, so I didn’t bother her. I do not bother manatee for a photograph - that is a firm policy of mine. But I’m glad I did get this perspective because I hope that this “reality check†can help affect change for the better. Carol
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