Note: A slide or a high resolution jpeg (300 dpi) of a manatee image is available upon request
Looking for a unique gift this Father's Day? Forget the ties and socks – adopt a manatee! For $25, Save the Manatee Club (SMC) will send your dad an adoption certificate, photo, and life history of an endangered manatee. Or for $35, each new member who joins the Adopt-A-Manatee program online will also have a choice of a free T-shirt or a free pair of manatee boxer shorts (while supplies last). The T-shirt has the SMC logo on front and a unique design on back that shows manatees in a "laid-back" Florida setting. The 100% cotton, comfortable boxers feature a front and back design that fades from teal to blue to purple with brown manatees. Either way, a manatee adoption is a perfect gift for a dad who is wild at heart.
Englewood, Florida resident Al Squires, a member and volunteer of Save the Manatee Club since 1993, became interested in manatees when he first visited the Englewood area in 1988. “I kept thinking about how the manatees had no natural enemies until humans came along,” he said. “It really is our responsibility to protect them. And when you adopt a manatee for someone on Father’s Day or any other occasion, you’re helping to protect manatees.”
Manatees are animals your dad might relate to. Large, gentle and slow-moving, manatees spend most of their time eating, sleeping, and traveling. In fact, manatees can consume up to 10-15% of their body weight in vegetation daily. Adult manatees have been known to exceed 13 feet and weigh over 3,500 pounds. However, the average adult manatee is about 10 feet long and weighs between 800 – 1,200 pounds. Manatees are a migrating species and can be found in shallow, slow-moving rivers, bays, estuaries, and coastal water ecosystems of the southeastern United States. Approximately 3,000 manatees remain in the U.S., and they are listed as endangered by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
Twenty-nine manatees are part of SMC's three Adopt-A-Manatee programs. One adoption program is located at Blue Spring State Park in Orange City, FL. Nineteen manatees live in the wild and winter at the park's natural warm water spring. The manatees who have been chosen for the Adopt-A-Manatee program at Blue Spring are adults who have a good history of returning to the park year after year. They include Brutus, one of Blue Spring’s largest manatees. He weighs in at almost 1,800 pounds! Flash is a shy manatee who is known to take off in a “flash” when he is disturbed. Whiskers is one of the youngest adoptees. He was born in 1996 and is exceptionally curious. Lenny is known as the “couch potato” manatee as he prefers rest to all other activities.
SMC's second Adopt-A-Manatee program is located at Homosassa Springs Wildlife State Park (HSWSP) in Homosassa, FL. Five female manatees who cannot be released into the wild make the park their year-round home. HSWSP is also a rehabilitation facility for manatees who are recovering from injuries before being released back into the wild.
Several manatees who are frequently seen in the Tampa Bay area of Florida are also up for adoption. During the winter, they are regular visitors to the warm water discharge area at Tampa Electric Company's power plant. Jemp and Vector are two of the manatees in the Tampa Bay program. Vector has been known to travel from southwest to northwest Florida. Jemp is the manatee Al Squires chose to adopt, and he is also known to travel in a wide range along Florida’s west coast.
The Adopt-A-Manatee program is the primary source of funding for SMC, a nonprofit organization established in 1981 by U.S. Senator Bob Graham and singer/songwriter Jimmy Buffett. Funds raised by the Adopt-A-Manatee program go toward public awareness activities. SMC also distributes free education materials to teachers and students across the U.S. and internationally. The Club helps fund manatee research projects and manatee rescue and rehabilitation efforts. In addition, SMC helps protect manatees and their habitat through conservation, advocacy, and legal and grassroots action, and supports international efforts in South and Central America and the Caribbean.
“Save the Manatee Club focuses on manatee protection – they’re dedicated advocates of the Florida manatee. So am I,” stated Squires.
For more information on manatees or the Adopt-A-Manatee program, or for a free manatee protection tips packet, contact Save the Manatee Club at 500 N. Maitland Ave., Maitland, FL 32751, call 1-800-JOIN (5646) or visit the Adopt-A-Manatee page of the web site. You can also find more gift ideas for dad at the Manatee Gift Items section of the web site.
