November: the Month of the Manatee!

November is Manatee awareness month and that makes me smile! If you are not aware of what a manatee is, let me enlighten you. They are gentle cows of the sea. They are fat, sweet in nature, with a snout to love. They are vegetarians and do not prey on anyone. They are sweet and should be cherished and protected. Many are run over by boats and some will die while others are lucky to be rescued by groups who will nurse them back to health. Once healed, they are tagged and returned to their natural habitat in the hopes they will be safe.

The most famous manatee of them all is Snooty who was born in 1945, in captivity. He is the only manatee that has never lived in the wild. A few years ago they tried to prepare him to transition into his natural habitat and he would not have it. For most of his life he has been hand fed lettuce during each feeding, and suddenly after 80+ years his humans thought he would go fetch his salad on his own? No, he did not. In fact, he went an entire week without eating and that breaks my heart. He was starving and probably confused as to why no hand out was offered to him like all the days before his week of punishment. Shame on you Florida, shame on you! However, they, as a whole, have done right by manatees. Snooty has welcomed many injured calfs and befriended them during recovery.

Love a manatee today, it is their month!