Manatees On Brink Of Desertion

By SHERRI ACKERMAN The Tampa Tribune

Published: Aug 30, 2007

TAMPA - Texas twirls beneath the water, touches his flat nose to the sandy bottom of the aquarium and floats back to the top in a ballet that belies his 870-pound frame.

Rescuers in Houston recovered the 7- to 8-year-old male manatee in January and sent him back to Florida, where he has spent seven months at the David A. Straz Jr. Manatee Hospital at Lowry Park Zoo.

There, Texas has received such top-notch treatment for cold stress that zookeepers plan to release him into the wild next month. Without this hospital, the manatee - and nine others who came into the zoo's care sick or injured - probably would die.

That's what the population faces as Florida braces for more budget cuts.

On the chopping block during next month's special session of the Legislature is a $2 million program that has helped pay for the rescue, rehabilitation and release of dozens of manatees since 1991.

The Oceanaria Reimbursement Assistance Program is managed statewide by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission and funded with general revenue dollars.

In June, Gov. Charlie Crist and legislators sounded the alarm for a projected budget shortfall, directing all state agencies to come up with a list of programs that will equal 10 percent of recurring appropriations.

The Legislature will review the proposed cuts and make selections across the board during the special session beginning Sept. 18.

"We don't want to have to eliminate any of our programs," said Henry Cabbage, spokesman for the conservation commission, which listed 13 programs facing cuts.

Among those are $850,000 in grants for red tide control and mitigation; $400,000 in boating safety education grants; and $4 million in lake restoration projects.

Cuts to the manatee program will have a devastating effect on Lowry Park Zoo's hospital - one of three in the state that provide acute care for manatees and the only one that is nonprofit, zoo curator LeeAnn Rottman said.

"If we lose our funding, we'll have to look at how we can continue - if we are to continue," she said.

SeaWorld in Orlando and Miami's Seaquarium house the other two manatee hospitals. A SeaWorld spokeswoman said any funding cuts would limit the park's manatee program, but that it remains committed to helping the mammals.

The zoo's hospital, which opened in 1991, spends $700,000 to $800,000 a year for a staff of six to treat about 25 injured and sick manatees. In the past two years, 22 manatees from the zoo have returned to native waters, Rottman said.

The state reimburses the zoo for only about $350,000 annually, she said.

Officials are worried about the future but hopeful that state leaders will see the importance of preserving the funding.

"We're very committed to the program," Rottman said, "but can we cover the whole cost? I don't think we can answer that yet."

Shutting down the hospital would be a huge loss for the community and the country, Rottman said.

"These are national treasures," she said of the manatees.

At the very least, manatees have become a symbol of Florida much like flamingoes and panthers, said Ann Greene, a resident of Chicago who brought her 8-year-old daughter, Ciara, to see the gentle giants Wednesday.

"That's what Florida is - manatees," Greene said.

Pat Rose agrees. As executive director of the Save the Manatee Club, he is appalled that Florida would even consider cutting funding to manatee hospitals. Especially now, when the state is downgrading the mammals from an endangered species to threatened.

"It couldn't come at a worse time," Rose said.

The commission will meet Sept. 12 in St. Petersburg to adopt a new management plan that changes manatees' status, Rose said. It's a worry, he said, because legislators might see that as a sign manatees don't need as much state support.

Although there are positive signs that the manatee population is growing in some areas of the state - Rose estimates there are about 3,000 statewide - there also is evidence of a decline, he said, especially in Southwest Florida where boating and development have grown significantly.

Manatees still need our help to survive, Rose said. "They're still endangered on the federal level."

Reporter Sherri Ackerman can be reached at (813) 259-7144 or sackerman@tampatrib.com.