Beyond Minnesota: Manatee winter feeding discontinued as seagrass conditions improve

St. Petersburg, Fla. (AP) — A two-year experimental feeding program for starving Florida manatees will not resume this winter as conditions have improved for the threatened marine mammals and the seagrass upon which they depend.

Thousands of pounds of lettuce were fed to manatees that typically gather in winter months near the warm-water discharge of a power plant on Florida’s east coast. State and federal wildlife officials launched the program after pollution killed off vast seagrass beds, leading to a record of more than 1,100 manatee deaths in 2021.

This season, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service determined the seagrass has started to recover in key winter foraging areas on the east coast, and that there appear to be fewer manatees in poor physical condition going into winter.

Last year, more than 400,000 pounds of lettuce, most of it donated, was fed to manatees near the power plant in Cocoa, Fla.

Manatees are Florida’s official state marine mammal but are listed as a threatened species, also facing peril from boat strikes and toxic red tide algae outbreaks along the state’s Gulf coast.

The starvation problem has been traced to nitrogen, phosphorus, and sewage from agriculture, urban runoff, and other sources that trigger algal blooms, which kill off the seagrass that manatees and other sea creatures rely upon.

ARIZONA

Endangered Red Squirrel’s Numbers Show Decreases

Phoenix (AP) — The endangered Mount Graham red squirrel showed a decrease in the latest population estimate in the Pinaleño Mountains of southeastern Arizona, authorities say.

The annual survey conducted jointly by the Arizona Game and Fish Department, Coronado National Forest and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service showed an estimate of 144 squirrels. That’s an increase from the 109 squirrels estimated in 2021 but lower than the 156 squirrels estimated after a new survey method was implemented last year.

The squirrels live only in the upper-elevation conifer forests of the Pinaleño Mountains and feed primarily on conifer seeds. The subspecies is highly territorial and has lower reproductive rates than red squirrels in other locations.

The Mount Graham red squirrel population peaked at about 550 animals in the late 1990s. It typically ranged between 200 and 300 until a 2017 wildfire devastated much of the squirrel’s habitat.

MEXICO

Advocates: Startup Illegally Selling a Health Drink from an Endangered Fish

Mexico City (AP) — Environmental groups accused a Mexico-based startup last week of violating international trade law by selling a health supplement made from endangered totoaba fish to several countries including the U.S. and China.

Advocates told the AP they also have concerns that the company, The Blue Formula, could be selling fish that is illegally caught in the wild. The product, which the company describes as “nature’s best kept secret,” is a small sachet of powder containing collagen taken from the fish that is designed to be mixed into a drink.

Under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, to which Mexico and the U.S. are both signatories, any export for sale of totoaba fish is illegal, unless bred in captivity with a particular permit. As a listed protected species, commercial import is also illegal under U.S. trade law.

The Blue Formula did not immediately respond to an AP request for comment.

NEW YORK

ACLU Defending NRA in SCOTUS Free Speech Case

New York (AP) — The National Rifle Association will be represented by the American Civil Liberties Union in an appeal before the U.S. Supreme Court.

The New York-based civil liberties group confirmed last week that it would provide legal representation for the gun-rights group in its First Amendment case against New York’s Department of Financial Services even as it “vigorously” opposes nearly everything it stands for.

“We don’t support the NRA’s mission or its viewpoints on gun rights, and we don’t agree with their goals, strategies, or tactics,” the ACLU in a statement posted on Twitter. “But we both know that government officials can’t punish organizations because they disapprove of their views.”

The NRA, which reshared the ACLU’s statement on its social media account, wrote in a follow-up post that it was “proud” to stand with the ACLU and others who recognize that “regulatory authority cannot be used to silence political speech.”

The nation’s highest court is set to hear arguments early next year in the case.