The Thought That Counts —
Adopt-A-Manatee® this Mother’s Day!
For further information, contact:
Janice Nearing,
Director of Public Relations
Save the Manatee Club
Phone: (407) 539-0990
E-mail: jnearing@savethemanatee.org
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For Immediate Release
Note: A high resolution jpeg (300 dpi) of a manatee image is available upon request.
Mother’s Day is a time to celebrate moms – to thank them, to honor them, to show them how much they’re loved and appreciated. A manatee gift adoption from Save the Manatee Club can show mom that an extra level of care and thought went into choosing her special present.
Meredith Kroll from southeast Florida adopted Georgia last Mother’s Day for her mom, Connie Alsbrook, also from Florida. “I decided to adopt a manatee for mom because, in our family, we all appreciate the wildlife of our state,” said Meredith. “Mom’s a Master Naturalist, and we are Florida natives for multiple generations. We know manatees are special and we’ve enjoyed seeing them in our area for years. I was embarrassed that I had not adopted a manatee for mom before. I like to think it was her favorite gift, one that keeps on giving.”
Manatee gift adoptions cost $25, and are tax-deductible. The adoption package includes a manatee adoption certificate with a full-color photo of a real endangered Florida manatee, a biography, a fact-filled handbook and subscriptions to the official Club newsletter, The Manatee Zone, and to Paddle Tales, the Club’s e-newsletter. Plus a personal message from the person adopting will be included. Or for a $35 tax-deductible donation, each new member who joins the Adopt-A-Manatee program online also receives a colorful beaded bracelet with manatee charm, along with a plush 8-inch manatee. Give both to mom or keep one! Shipping is free in the United States. Funds from the adoption program help Save the Manatee Club sustain its long-standing commitments to improve the lives of manatees through education and public awareness endeavors; research, rescue, rehabilitation, and release projects; and advocacy efforts. The Club is a national, nonprofit organization, co-founded by singer-songwriter, Jimmy Buffett, in 1981.
Across the globe, people are sympathetic to the manatee’s plight, more so now than ever. Through March 26th, 448 manatees have died from all causes. Of these, more than 220 have been attributed to cold stress. Another 170+ deaths have been labeled as undetermined/unrecovered, but many of these manatee deaths were likely caused by cold stress because of their location and timing.
Manatee deaths in the first three months of 2010 have already exceeded the number of deaths recorded for all of 2009, which itself was a record-breaking year. The population is estimated to be about 5,000 concentrated year-round in Florida.
“The high number of manatees who died, and are still dying from the effects of Florida’s prolonged cold weather, underscores how imperative it is to protect winter warm-water habitat,” said Patrick Rose, aquatic biologist and Executive Director of the Club. “It could be even more devastating to have another record year for deaths from boat strikes like we had in 2009, and if there’s a red tide outbreak on Florida’s coasts, hundreds more manatees could be lost.”
“Save the Manatee Club’s conservation work is indeed vital to the manatee’s survival,” said Meredith. “We must help to protect the manatee’s natural habitat, and we must be concerned boaters.”
There are 33 real manatees to choose from for Mother’s Day in the Club’s three Florida adoption programs, including new East Coast adoptee, Ilya, rescued from cold waters near New Jersey in October 2009.
For more information about manatees and to adopt one for Mother’s Day – contact Save the Manatee Club at 500 N. Maitland Ave., Maitland, FL 32751, call 1-800-432-JOIN (5646), or click here to get more information online.
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