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Hi John,
This year has been a disaster for manatees.
With their habitat polluted and their food supply vanishing, 749 manatees have died so far.
These gentle, playful ocean mammals are in crisis, which is why we took legal action to fully protect them under the Endangered Species Act.
Please support our fight for manatees and all species. Gifts to the Saving Life on Earth Fund will be doubled through Dec. 31.
What's happening to manatees is ecocide.
This year could wind up worse than 2021, when more than 10% of Florida manatees perished.
Agricultural chemicals and runoff from sewage plants is killing the seagrass they need to eat. There's simply not enough food left for them to survive.
So we petitioned the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to restore their full federal protection, which it downgraded five years ago.
Their population has dramatically declined since the agency moved them from "endangered" to "threatened" status.
With nutrient pollution poisoning much of their habitat and creating harmful algal blooms, the ecosystems they depend on are being thrown out of whack.
There's no time to lose.
This is a fight we can win. The Fish and Wildlife Service agreed to strengthen protection of manatees' habitat. And we helped push through changes to reduce boat strikes, another leading cause of their deaths.
With the population so perilously low, we must fight for each manatee. Every one lost is a heartbreaking blow.
We've been defending these slow-moving, peaceful marine mammals for decade — and we won't stop.
Give today to the Saving Life on Earth Fund, and your donation to help manatees will be matched.
For the wild,
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