For Immediate Release: November 10, 2003
(Note to media organizations: If you are interested in featuring this story, a high-resolution jpeg (300 dpi) image of a manatee can be e-mailed upon request.)

Adopt-A-Manatee for someone special this holiday season and you’ll see that good things DO come in big packages. You can’t bring the manatee home, but Save the Manatee Club (SMC) will send an adoption certificate, a photo and biography of a manatee, and a personalized holiday gift card to someone you love – all for a $25 annual individual membership. Adopting a manatee is the gift that keeps on giving. Adoptive “parents” receive a newsletter throughout the year that features updates on their manatee as well as additional manatee photos and information. Furthermore, proceeds from the adoption program go toward conservation efforts to protect endangered manatees and their habitat.

It's hard to resist the charm of these huge, slow-moving marine mammals with the whiskered snouts. Although they average about 10 feet in length and weigh between 800 – 1,200 pounds, manatees are gentle animals. Avid eaters of aquatic plants, they spend much of their time traveling, exploring, and basking in warm waters. Manatees can be found in shallow, slow-moving rivers, estuaries, saltwater bays, canals, and coastal areas. A migrating species, manatees are concentrated primarily in Florida in the winter, but they can be found as far west as Texas and as far north as Virginia in the summer months. Unfortunately, manatees are listed as endangered by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and only about 3,000 remain in the U.S. today. Many manatee mortalities are human-related, and most human-related manatee mortalities occur from collisions with watercraft.

SMC has three manatee adoption programs located in Florida. Nineteen manatees who regularly winter at Blue Spring State Park in Orange City, FL, have been chosen as adoptees. Blue Spring maintains a year-round temperature of 72 degrees and is an attractive winter refuge for manatees who need warm water to survive. Some of the manatees featured in the Blue Spring program include Whiskers, Dana, Howie, and Phyllis. Whiskers is a relative youngster and is one of the newest additions to the adoption program. He is known for being both curious and playful. He is the son of another Blue Spring adoptee named Dana. Howie is a very gregarious manatee. He is known for tipping over the research canoe with the researcher in it! Phyllis is a frequent visitor to Blue Spring and recently brought a new calf on her latest stopover at the park.

Five manatees are also available for adoption at Homosassa Springs Wildlife State Park in Homosassa, FL and include Amanda, Ariel, Betsy, Rosie, and Lorelei. Amanda was rescued on Christmas Day in 1973 after she had suffered severe injuries from a boat propeller. She is the mother of Ariel and Betsy. Rosie is very gentle, and the rangers believe she looks after the younger manatees at the park. Lorelei is quite social and is often seen resting in the company of other manatees.

In addition, five manatees frequently seen in the Tampa Bay area and along the west coast of Florida are up for adoption. These manatees have been tracked by researchers from the Florida Marine Research Institute and include Elsie, Jemp, Vector, Ginger, and Flicker. Elsie is easily identified because her tail has been mutilated from an encounter with a boat propeller. Ragtail is also known for her disfigured tail and has wintered in Tampa Bay since 1993. Flicker was named for the many, small propeller scars across her back that researchers thought looked like “flickering flames.” Jemp and Vector are traveling manatees. Jemp has explored a wide range along Florida’s west coast, and Vector has been tracked as far north as the Suwannee River. Ginger frequents areas near Marco Island and Ft. Myers.

The Adopt-A-Manatee program is the primary source of funding for Save the Manatee Club, a nonprofit organization established in 1981 by U.S. Senator Bob Graham and singer Jimmy Buffett. Funds from the Adopt-A-Manatee program go toward education and public awareness programs, manatee research and rescue, and advocacy efforts to help protect manatees and their habitat.

For more information on manatees, contact Save the Manatee Club at 500 N. Maitland Ave., Maitland, FL 32751 or call 1-800-432-JOIN (5646).

Get more information about manatees or the Adopt-A-Manatee program.