Five conservation groups petitioned the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service on Nov. 21 to reclassify the manatee from threatened to endangered status because the mammal’s population is rapidly declining, largely due to starvation. Save the Manatee Club, Miami Waterkeeper, Harvard Animal Law and Policy Clinic, the Center for Biological Diversity, and [engineer] Frank S. González Garcia,…

PUNTA GORDA, Fla.–Gov. Ron DeSantis pledged $30 million toward the rescue, rehabilitation, and habitat restoration of Florida manatees. The Republican governor made the announcement on May 2 at the Jacksonville Zoo and Gardens. The funding represents a $17 million increase over last year. “We are putting our money where our mouth is with this record funding,”…

PUNTA GORDA, Florida–The program to feed lettuce to starving manatees is scaling down as the weather gets warmer, The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) said on March 23. “Efforts are being made now to sort of scale down some of the operations,” Scott Calleson, an Ecological Services officer in the Florida office of the…