Manatees

raven said: "I think manatees are so cute. I'd never really heard about them until last year. I'd love to swim with them some day. Do you ever see them, BigTony? I heard 276 of them died last year from old age and/or boating accidents. :("

Heather said: "I saw them at Sea World in Orlando. They seem pretty graceful under water for being such big animals. The underwater world fascinates me. There are so many unique little creatures that live under the sea. Sea Horses, Coral, Starfish.. the list is too long to even start!"

edwin said: "i've seen them. they are some huge critters. they look sort of huge and harmless."

AngelaCea said: "They have protected canals and rivers they live in down here in Florida where boaters have to slow down since they are slow moving animals and the slower speeds give them a chance to avoid getting hit. But many of them get chopped up by boats, just like many of us are killed on the roads. This is the cost of putting machines in with flesh and blood or flesh and blood in with machines. Really nothing we can do to stop any of it since money is more important than life in the modern world and boating is a major industry down here."

edwin said: "thanks for the cheery post, bigt!"

Heather said: "I hope it isn't all gloom and doom for the manatees as well as BigT. I thought that the sunshine state was supposed to be sunnier than that?"

AngelaCea said: "What is more important, the pleasure of boaters or nature :confused: Oil or the environment :confused: Your big home on the beach or the shoreline (concrete condos to make bankers and developers rich) :confused: Clean air or industrial progress? George Bush foundation or the health and welfare of the people :eek:"

Heather said: "Mother earth is angry. No one can save us from that. The environment has been getting wrecked for decades, I don't think W had anything to do with changes that were made in the 60's and 70's. There seems to be no simple solution to getting generations of cars off of fuel tanks. Cars that can be fueled by electricity can cause electrocution, so that poses a problem to bring mainstream. You could save millions of trees by eliminating grocery store sales circulars addressed to "resident" every 2 days.. I hate them and there seems to be no way to "opt-out" of that junk!"