Spread The Joy!
Adopt-A-Manatee This Holiday Season
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Kristy Mitchell is a Save the Manatee Club member
and volunteer who lives near Philadelphia, PA.
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For further information, contact:
Janice Nearing,
Director of Public Relations
Phone: (407) 539-0990
E-mail: jnearing@
savethemanatee.org
Note: A high resolution jpeg (300 dpi) of a manatee image as well as a photo of Kristy Mitchell are available upon request.
For Immediate Release
This year, adopt a manatee for all the wonderful people who are at the top of your holiday list. They won’t actually get a real 10- foot, 1,000-pound manatee delivered to their door, but for $25, Save the Manatee Club, a 25-year-old nonprofit organization, will send those special people an adoption certificate, a photo and life history of a manatee, plus a fact-filled membership handbook. Four printed newsletters and six e-newsletters will also be sent to the gift recipients throughout the year. Or for $35, each new member who adopts a manatee will get the adoption packet as well as a 24” x 12” full-color 2007 wall calendar featuring beautiful manatee photos (while supplies last). A personalized holiday message can be included with each adoption to anywhere in the world!
Kristy Mitchell, a Save the Manatee Club member who lives near Philadelphia, adopted a manatee for her mom last Christmas. “My mom, like me, is an animal lover,” says Kristy. “She was the one who originally adopted a manatee for me, so I wanted to provide her with the same experience.”
There are 30 manatees to choose from in the Club’s three Florida adoption programs at Blue Spring State Park near Orange City, Homosassa Springs Wildlife State Park in Homosassa, and in the Tampa Bay area. Kristy decided on Elaine, a manatee from the Blue Spring program, for her mom. Elaine, who has been known to get into her fair share of mischief at the park, had her first calf in 1990 when she was five years old. Manatees can live up to sixty years of age, but hundreds are injured or killed by boats every year, which are the leading known cause of their mortality. In fact, Elaine’s mother, Emma, and two of her brothers were all killed by boats. Both Boomer and Shane were Save the Manatee Club adoptees, leaving Elaine and her offspring as the only known surviving members of their family.
Patrick Rose, Executive Director of Save the Manatee Club says, “Sometimes we have to share the hard facts about the number of manatees killed each year by boats. Even though we don’t like to talk about it, we hope it will help people understand how important it is to support our conservation efforts and save other manatees from a similar fate.”
Kristy, who loves to scuba dive, hike and ride horses, is more than a little concerned about the future of Florida’s manatees. “These beautiful creatures may become extinct,” she explains. “I worry because these gentle animals are constantly being brutally hurt and worse. I can only hope that others will see them for the amazing creatures that they are and will try to help protect them.”
Around 3,000 manatees exist in Florida waters today, and they are listed as endangered by the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service. Funds from Save the Manatee Club’s adoption programs go toward education and conservation efforts.
“I think the Club is a wonderful group working hard to save these magnificent animals,” adds Kristy. “They need all the support they can get. I hope to raise support and awareness for the organization by spreading the word to friends and family in the northeast. This will ultimately help the manatees that I and many others truly care about.”
For a variety of information on manatees, and to adopt one, contact Save the Manatee Club at 500 N. Maitland Ave., Maitland, FL 32751, call 1-800-432-JOIN (5646), or click on the links below.
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