USFWS Recommends Status Change
from “Endangered” to “Threatened”
The Issue:
Manatees are facing their biggest threat ever. The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service (USFWS), after conducting a 5-year review of the manatee’s federal imperiled status, recently recommended the manatee for downlisting from “endangered” to “threatened.”
This recommendation comes ten months after the Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission voted to take the same action under Florida’s imperiled species law using listing/delisting criteria that set the bar way too high for manatees and other rare species to retain their state “endangered” status.
Why, you ask, aren’t we celebrating the news we have fought for so many years to hear? Because these actions are politically driven. With the price of coastal land skyrocketing, powerful groups like the homebuilder’s association and the marine industries have been lobbying for a long time to get the manatee’s imperiled status changed in order to gut protective regulations and increase their profit margins. This is what it’s always been about, no matter how they or the government wildlife agencies try to portray it.
Please click or copy and paste the following link to voice your opposition to this action ASAP!
http://www.savethemanatee.org/actionalert.cfm?id=14
Please Help... Thank you! These magnificent creatures bring me such joy and I have to do my very best for my friendly visitors!
