January a deadly month for manatees - 48 deaths statewide [Florida] surprise scientists
Hoodoo
48 deaths of endangered species statewide surprise scientists since
weather was mild during month; deaths up 12 from 2005
February 15, 2006
http://www.naplesnews.com/news/2006/feb/15/january_deadly_month_manatees/
From the moment the gray blob emerged from the Orange River’s
tea-colored water last month, David Tinder could tell the manatee calf
was a goner.
“Everybody knew it was a hopeless case,” said Tinder, president of
Manatee World Inc., a tour boat company in Fort Myers. “It was
severely prop-damaged.”
The calf later died from its injuries.
Despite unseasonable warmth, manatee deaths jumped by a third in
January, compared with the same month last year, according to figures
released Tuesday by state wildlife officials.
Statewide, 48 of the endangered animals died in January, 12 more than
in January 2005. Half of the fatalities stemmed from unknown causes
while six were due to cold stress; over the past five years, an
average of 10 manatees have died from the cold each January, state
records show.
“Since we really haven’t had cold weather and we haven’t had hot
weather,” wildlife officials were surprised by the increase in sea cow
deaths, said Ken Arrison, a biologist with the state’s Marine Mammal
Pathobiology Lab in St. Petersburg.
Lee County, home to the manatee magnet that is Florida Power & Light’s
Orange River power plant in Fort Myers, saw seven deaths last month.
The plant spews warm water into the river, making it a winter refuge
for warmth-seeking manatees.
In Collier, four manatees died last month, two fewer than in January
2005.
The bad start to 2006 for manatees follows a devastating year in which
some 396 sea cows died. The record was set in 1996 with 415
fatalities.
For years, Tinder has helped state biologists pluck ailing sea cows
out of Southwest Florida’s waters.
The winter is a critical time for manatees because, when water
temperature drops below 68 degrees, the animals head for warmer
canals, rivers and bays. That often puts the endangered species in
popular boating areas, raising the likelihood of run-ins.
Tinder predicts an even deadlier February since temperatures have
remained steadily low.
Arrison said so many deaths were listed as unknown because the
manatees’ bodies were too decomposed by the time they were retrieved.
In coming weeks, lab results will show whether red tide, a toxic algae
bloom, was involved in any of those deaths.
Last month, state wildlife scientists proposed weakening the
government’s protection of the manatee by moving the species from the
“endangered” to “threatened” list. Manatee numbers have increased over
the past three decades to a high of about 3,300, the scientists said.
State wildlife officials insist the change, if it happens, won’t
affect existing manatee speed zones. Federal law, which trumps state
law, still considers the species to be endangered.
Comments
- - -
WEBIFIED
* ON THE WEB: Florida Fish and Wildlife manatee report
* ON THE WEB: Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission's
manatee site
--
John Wesley Gilmer
12526 Agatite Road
Jacksonville Beach, Florida
(904) 673-0932
(904) 247-3543
I'm smarter, bigger, stronger, and a lot meaner than you are.
You also won't be the first person that I didn't like who I
had to kill. Legally. -- john wesley gilmer III
john wesley gilmer III is, of course, "el Presidente,
Atlantic Beach Vintage Motorcycle Club, www.ABVMC.com"
<1124981825.1...@g43g2000cwa.googlegroups.com>
Jose
continues his 13 month long pattern of harrassment and stalking, it's
only fair to warn others about who and what he is:
As detailed at http://www.buccaneerpublishing.com/Cmelak.htm William
"Fat Bill" Cmelak of N9340 Pickerel Creek Rd
Pearson, WI 54462-8140 is the Hoodoo Troll (Hoo...@Spamcop.net, or more
acurately hiding behind a Frontiernet.net account for those of you who
want to complain about him). Fat, stupid, an avowed white supremacist,
Cmelak lives a lonely existence in a dirty mobile home in the woods
that he has difficulty heating in these days of high heating oil
prices.
Cmelak has a history of writing about running over motorcyclists (as
posted in several motorcycling newsgroups warning of this idiot
"Pearson, WI man brags about running over motorcyclists -- "I
occasionally like to play games such as rolling up on them and scaring
them for the fuck-sake. It's funny sometimes how scared to death people
can look when suddenly seeing something they'd never expected.
Priceless! ")
Cmelak has also posted extensively about his desires to rape and murder
other men.
A wannabe outdoorsman and "frugal living" enthusiast, Cmelak's cheap
lifestyle has been encouraged by a series of debts and resulting
lawsuits that he incurred in recent years (go to
http://wcca.wicourts.gov/ and search for "William Cmelak" for a
portion of his legal problems).
Hoodoo
http://www.news-journalonline.com/NewsJournalOnline/News/WestVolusia/wvlWEST01021606.htm
Manatees flock to Blue Spring in record numbers
ORANGE CITY -- Manatee numbers at Blue Spring State Park soared to the
highest ever after freezing temperatures this week.
Park officials said they counted and identified 190 sea cows Tuesday,
60 more newcomers than last year and an all-time record for the park.
Manatees, which seek warmer waters during cold snaps, have been
arriving in droves at Blue Spring all week.
But there's not much food in Blue Spring -- the seagrass beds they
feed on are well outside the spring run.
It's not unusual in such cases, said Chip Deutsch, a manatee biologist
with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission in Gainesville, for a
manatee to hoist itself out of the water for a snack.
"Manatees do pull themselves on pectoral flippers to reach bank
vegetation -- mangrove leaves, grass. If they have something to munch
on, they'll munch," Deutsch said.
While Tuesday's Blue Spring numbers are cause for celebration, state
wildlife officials revealed Wednesday that manatee deaths jumped by a
third in January compared with the year earlier. Last month, 48
manatees died statewide, 12 more than in January 2005.
Dougla...@hushmail.com
of harrassment, it's only fair to warn other innocent potential victims
who this fool is:
~~~
Family portrait of the Cmelak Family: http://www.mytrailerpark.com/
As detailed at http://www.buccaneerpublishing.com/Cmelak.htm William
"Fat Bill" Cmelak of N9340 Pickerel Creek Rd., Pearson, WI 54462-8140
is the Hoodoo Troll (Hoo...@Spamcop.net, or more acurately hiding
behind a Frontiernet.net account for those of you who want to complain
about him) who also posts as Caltrops.
Fat, stupid, bisexual, with a mental health diagnosis of being a
psychopathic personality who is unable to control his rage, and an
avowed white supremacist, Cmelak lives a lonely existence in a dirty
mobile home in the woods that he has
difficulty heating in these days of high heating oil prices.
Cmelak has a history of writing about running over motorcyclists (as
posted in several motorcycling newsgroups warning of this idiot
"Pearson, WI man brags about running over motorcyclists -- "I
occasionally like to play games such as rolling up on them and scaring
them for the fuck-sake. It's funny sometimes how scared to death people
can look when suddenly seeing something they'd never expected.
Priceless! ")
Cmelak has also posted extensively about his desires to rape and murder
other men. A law enforcement officer described Cmelak as a "sick fuck."
Cmelak hid, presumably underneath his mobile home, for a month in order
to avoid being interviewed by the police.