[MARINE_BIOLOGY_INTERNATIONAL] Re: Manatees moving into warmer water of Kings Bay

I don't know if the comment period is still open, but the USFWS is considering making King's Bay a sanctuary according to the latest issue of Sierra magazine. Contacting them might help.
The locals are up in arms of course, the local tea party madhatters are claiming that this is elevating animals above people and violates biblical principles (a bizarre perversion of the bible).
I get frustrated about this one because the manatees don't have any choice, but if the boaters want somewhere to zoom around without restrictions they can move to somewhere like Lake Havasu in Arizona.
Richard

--- In MARINE_BIOLOGY_INTERNATIONAL@yahoogroups.com, "lynnsl1" <lynnl1@...> wrote:
>
> Manatees moving into warmer water of Kings Bay
>
>
> As the Gulf of Mexico gets colder, manatees begin moving into Kings Bay in search of warmer water.
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> By Ferdinand Zagbaum, Reporter
> Bay News 9
>
> Last Updated: Sunday, November 13, 2011
>
> CRYSTAL RIVER --
> Cruising the waters of Kings Bay, we caught a ride with Capt. Paul Cross from the dive shop at Plantation on Crystal River.
>
> Our mission: Find the manatees.
>
> As the Gulf of Mexico gets colder, manatees begin moving into Kings Bay in search of warmer water. Manatees love to hang out near the springs in the Bay, where water stays 72 degrees all year.
>
> Tourists come from all over the U.S. -- and the world -- to get close to the gentle sea cows.
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> Karen McCormick is once such tourist visiting from Tennessee.
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> "They come right up to you," McCormick said. "They like to be scratched. We had one just roll over on his back for us and want his belly rubbed."
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> As it temperatures steadily get colder along the Florida Suncoast, more and more manatees will find their way to springs in the Bay. Starting Monday, U.S. Fish and Wildlife will block off sanctuaries for manatees throughout Kings Bay.
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> "500 yards from our hotel (Plantation Inn) is the largest sanctuary out there and we'll have 200 to 300 manatees resting there every morning," Cross said.
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> The sanctuaries will be in place until temperatures warm this spring when the manatees being to move again.
>