Club Presents Manatee Sculpture
To Celebrate Crystal River 100th Anniversary

Helen Spivey, Co-Chair of Save the Manatee Club's Board of Directors, with Mayor Ron Kitchen in front of the life-sized sculpture of a manatee presented in honor of Crystal River's 100th Anniversary.

For further information, contact:

Helen Spivey Co-Chair, SMC Board of Directors Phone: 352-257-9080 (cell) E-mail: manatees@habitats.org

For Immediate Release: July 7, 2003

To commemorate the Independence Day holiday and celebrate the 100th Anniversary of the founding of the City of Crystal River, Save the Manatee Club presented a life-sized sculpture of a manatee with a red, white and blue design. The presentation ceremony and picnic took place at 5:00 p.m. on July 3 at the city’s Creative Park, next to City Hall in Crystal River, Florida. Mayor Ron Kitchen was on hand to accept the sculpture on behalf of the city.

Dr. Paresh Desai, owner of The Port Hotel and Restaurant as well as a practicing physician and resident of Crystal River, generously sponsored the manatee sculpture with the specific wish that Save the Manatee Club donate it to the City of Crystal River to honor their many efforts to protect manatees. In addition, Dr. Desai made arrangements to have a plaque prepared that will be attached to the sculpture. The plaque will honor the city’s 100th Anniversary and association with the manatee.

The manatee sculpture was created by local artist Jesse Dobson of Fins Tails & OdySeas, Inc. in Crystal River. Dobson specializes in creating life-size wildlife sculptures and animal skeleton reproductions. His work has been featured at The International Game Fish Association Museum in Ft. Lauderdale, the Long Marine Lab at the University of Santa Cruz, and Lowry Park Zoo in Tampa. He has created manatee sculptures for The Cincinnati Zoo and the Crystal River National Wildlife Refuge, and he recently donated a manatee sculpture to Rock Crusher Elementary School in Citrus County.

"The manatee is a true American treasure and part of our rich, natural heritage,” said Helen Spivey, Co-Chair of Save the Manatee Club’s Board of Directors. “It is fitting, therefore, that the manatee sculpture be painted in our country's colors of red, white, and blue. In addition, manatees are a proud symbol of the Crystal River area. We are grateful to Dr. Desai for sponsoring the sculpture and are pleased to be presenting the manatee sculpture to the city in honor of Crystal River’s 100th Anniversary.”

Currently, there are an estimated 3,000 Florida manatees left in the United States, and they are listed as endangered by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Citrus County was designated as a “key” manatee county in 1989 by Florida’s governor and cabinet, and waterways such as Kings Bay and the Crystal and Homosassa Rivers have been documented as having high manatee use and feature manatee habitat such as seagrasses and fresh water sources.

If you spot an injured, dead, tagged or orphaned manatee, or if you see a manatee who is being harassed, please call 1-888-404-FWCC (3922) or #FWC or *FWC on your cellular phone, or use VHF Channel 16 on your marine radio.

To see manatee protection tips for boaters, go to http://www.savethemanatee.org/boatertips.htm. See manatee protection tips for divers and swimmers at http://www.savethemanatee.org/tips.htm