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Hi John,
Florida's manatees are on the front lines of ecocide: More than 1,000 have died so far this year, a horrifying, record-breaking rate.
More than half of them starved.
We have a moral responsibility to protect these iconic marine mammals — so yesterday the Center for Biological Diversity took legal action to save their food supply.
Please donate to the Saving Life on Earth Fund and help us save manatees. All gifts through Dec. 31 will be doubled.
Manatees are starving to death because Florida's water is so polluted.
Thousands of acres of seagrass in the Indian River Lagoon have been destroyed, highlighting the inadequacy of the state's Environmental Protection Agency-approved water-quality standards.
The EPA gave a pass to Florida's weak criteria for water pollution, saying the standards wouldn't hurt the animals.
The result was what's called an "unusual mortality event" — a spike in manatee deaths that pushed them to double the five-year average.
This reflects nearly a 20% loss in the Atlantic population of Florida manatees and a 12% loss of all manatees in Florida in a single year.
And it's why we've launched legal action to force the EPA to work with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to address the clean water standards that are failing manatees so tragically.
If we're going to put these gentle animals back on the path to recovery, it needs to start now — with protecting their habitat.
The Center has fought for years to protect manatees, including lawsuits to secure Endangered Species Act protection for them and to protect them from harmful algal blooms.
To save manatees and stop the extinction crisis, we must take bold steps — and stay in the fight, however long it takes.
Please help our work for manatees and other imperiled species with a gift to the Saving Life on Earth Fund.
For the wild,
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