The Most Amazing New Ever!! - Beth Nedelka

In my last current event blog post, I wrote about how pandas moved off the endangered species list. This month's blog post is very near and dear to my heart. Yet another amazing animal has been moved off the endangered species list. Manatees! Commonly referred to as the "sea cow" these gentle giants have fought for their survival.

The events leading up to my discovery of this amazing news are very similar to that of my panda story. As I prepared for bed, I did my rounds through my social media apps to make sure I didn't miss anything. While scrolling through my VSCO feed I was B-L-O-W-N away. My chin dropping to the ground as a huge smile spread across my face.On my screen was a picture of an adorable manatee and below it read "manatees are no longer endangered". This was the most amazing news I had received in a long time. But, once again I wasn't sure how reliable my source was so I went to the internet to do some research, praying this was right.

I came across a Washington Post article that confirmed the post. I also came across a lot of interesting facts on manatee's struggles leading up to this year. They were first put on the endangered species list in 1973 and their population lingered in the hundreds. Many professionals thought the species would die off. There are now about 6,000 manatees in Florida alone! Federal regulations set in place helped to increase this number. One of the main threats to manatee populations are motor boats. The propeller often creates deep cuts and imprints into the backs of manatees that swim underneath a boat. To prevent this from happening, the state of Florida set aside different parts of land as manatee sanctuaries to ensure their safety.

News feeds are blown up by devastating news, and nothing makes me happier than seeing how people have come together to help the planet and species that are at risk of extinction. If manatees were extinct we would never see them again, it would be completely over. But, by being mindful of the creatures we share this planet with, another species was saved from extinction. And I see no reason as to why we can't help other species in the future. :)

This guy was saved from extinction! 

Manatees are often referred to as "gentle giants"