Here are 33 wild ideas for Easter gift-giving! Doc, Brutus and Howie - Lily, Rosie and Georgia - just a few of the 33 real Florida manatees up for adoption in Save the Manatee Club's popular Adopt-A-Manatee® Program.
Susanne Delong, a registered nurse in upstate New York, adopted Chessie last Easter for her sister Judy of Orlando, Florida. "Judy was very excited to receive Chessie, as we had followed his northern travel stories for years, and my sister also loves to travel," explained Susanne. "I thought that Chessie was a perfect match!"
For a $25 tax-deductible donation, the Club sends a manatee adoption certificate with a full-color photo, a biography, and a fact-filled handbook. Also included in each adoption package is a subscription to the Club's quarterly newsletter, The Manatee Zone, which features updates on the adopted manatees. Or for a $35 tax-deductible donation, each new member who joins the Adopt-A-Manatee® program online also receives a plush manatee toy. Shipping is free in the United States. Funds from the adoption program help protect Florida's endangered, much-loved marine mammals.
Tara Mathes from Wyoming also adopted a manatee for an Easter gift. "I let my five-year-old daughter, Ashlyn, pick who we were going to adopt, and she chose Ariel. I did not tell her that she would be receiving a photo and a plush manatee. She was ecstatic when her adoption package arrived! Every visitor that came to the house was introduced to Ariel and her new stuffed toy friend. Ashlyn's very proud of Ariel."
Manatees have been swimming in Florida's waters for over a million years, but human activities, including the collisions with watercraft and the loss of warm-water habitat, have put them at a high risk of extinction. In 2009, a record number of 429 manatees died, which included record-breaking numbers of watercraft, cold-related, and newborn deaths.
In 2010, biologists with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission documented 171 dead manatees in Florida waters through January 30th, with at least 128 of those deaths caused by cold stress resulting from freezing temperatures that gripped the state for nearly two weeks in January. The number of cold-related deaths recorded in 2010 has far exceeded the previous record of 56 deaths set just last year.
Patrick Rose, Aquatic Biologist and Executive Director of Save the Manatee Club explained the importance of warm-water refuge sites remaining available in Florida for the manatees. "Without them, the population could suffer in catastrophic proportions," Rose cautioned. "We must also work to keep current manatee protections in place and secure the population's future survival by continuing to protect both individual manatees and their habitat."
Save the Manatee Club, the national, nonprofit advocacy organization, co-founded by singer-songwriter, Jimmy Buffett, has been working to protect manatees and their habitat for almost 30 years. The Adopt-A-Manatee® Program helps to fund education and public awareness endeavors; research, rescue, rehabilitation, and release projects; and advocacy efforts.
For more information about manatees and adopting one as an Easter gift, including new East Coast adoptee, Ilya, contact Save the Manatee Club at 500 N. Maitland Ave., Maitland, FL 32751, call (800) 432-JOIN (5646), or savethemanatee.org where you can also sign up for the Club's free E-Newsletter.
Follow the Club using Twitter http://twitter.com/savethe manatee, Facebook http://www.facebook.com/pages/Save-the-Manatee-Club/66640207299 and MySpace http://www.my space.com/savethemanateeclub.
