Suffolk County closed Long Island beaches because basking sharks were sighted. They’re big tourist draws in the UK–like manatees but with a scary name.
Keep reading Did Hamptons beaches close for basking sharks’ scary name?
 The extent of our adventure was to spend an hour snorkeling off somebody’s backyard, hovering over a single sleeping manatee, touching it as it came up for air. Keep reading American Pro: A tour that practically guarantees you’ll touch a manatee–but neither of you will enjoy it  A couple bridges and a wildlife center are your best shot around Homosassa. Otherwise head 1 hour to Tampa Electric or 2 hours to Blue Springs Keep reading Nobody makes it easy to see manatees from shore in Homosassa, but you can  Renting a boat–even a canoe or kayak–is probably the easiest way to go see manatees in Homosassa and Crystal River. Keep reading Renting a boat to see manatees in Homosassa – Crystal River, FL  Captain Mike’s is the swim with manatee tour you want to go on in Homosassa to get close to manatees, but not bother them. Keep reading Snorkeling with manatees the right way in Homosassa  Crystal River Manatee Probably the easiest and most reliable way to see manatees on the Nature Coast in northeast Florida is at the Ellie Schiller Homosassa Springs Wildlife State Park, right off the main drag, route 19. You can see female manatees that can’t leave and young manatees that will be released someday getting fed at the Manatee Care Center. Plus, it’s one of the very few places in the area you might get to see wild manatees from the shore (easier on you and the manatees)–provided you show up in January or early February. Like pretty much all the Homosassa manatee attractions, it’s hard to get your head around where the logistics. The wildlife park used to be a private zoo in Florida’s roadside zoo attraction heyday; the lone hold-over is the hippo, Lu, now 51. Otherwise, it now only takes native wildlife that can’t live in the wild because they were injured, sick or raised in captivity. The park has a big parking lot and outpost on route 19 but the real action is closer to the shore. You either take a pontoon boat (they leave about every 15 minutes) or you walk. Or, you can just drive there. The park really begins deep in the pretty, winding Spanish moss covered roads of old Homosassa. Captive manatees getting fed at Homosassa Wildlife Park Some people will tell you the park only has captive manatees. Not true. Wild manatees visit the area. I heard varying accounts of Keep reading Homosassa Wildlife Park: Manatees in rehab and wild in the river  Last week I went go see Florida manatees by snorkeling, canoeing, by land, by power plant, at a rehab center. This week I’ll review the options for tourists. Keep reading Manatee Week at Animaltourism.com  Nova Scotia is going back to barbaric bounties, offering trappers $20 per coyote pelt. They hope to kill 4,000 that way. Finland wolves and ND coyotes also under attack from poachers and snowmobiles. Keep reading Nova Scotia still paying $20 coyote bounty; Wild bald eagle courts one at zoo  Manatee, by Florida Fish and Wildlife Research Institute So far no manatee has turned up oiled after the BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill earlier this year. But 656 of the goofy, endangered marine mammals have turned up dead, according to the latest statistics from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission. That’s a devastating 13% of the population. The biggest problem was a cold spell last winter, but we may never know if or what role the oil had. Cathy Beck, who manages the Manatee Individual Photo-identification System (MIPS), says the oil spill was “extremely worrisome,” but so far no oiled manatees in the area where the oil spread. Their next concern is that the remaining oil will seep into the seagrass manatees eat. They’ll be on the lookout for any oil or dispersant residue this winter when they capture 10 or so (as they do each year) and give them a physical, including testing blood and tissue samples. Defenders of Wildlife, Save the Manatees and other wildlife groups sued BP saying they violated the Endangered Species Act by harming the 27 threatened or endangered species that live in the gulf. Save the Manatees says that the big problem was the cold weather at the beginning of the year, which also lead to spectacular photos and record manatees counts (5,076) as the manatees crowded around natural springs and power plants to stay warm. “In total, more than 300 manatees are believed to have died from this lingering event, shattering the previous Keep reading Manatees Not Showing Oil, But Dying a Lot  How does the Deepwater Horizon oil spill compare to the historical monster of Exxon Valdez, by which we judge all oil disasters? How long will this go on? We went back to the records of Valdez to look at its size and what we might lay ahead. In the Valdez spill Scientific American reports that 2,000 sea otters, 302 harbor seals and about 250,000 seabirds died in the first few days. So far we have only 2 birds in care that I know of. Rescuers retrieved a total of 36,471 carcasses and captured 1,630 live birds, the IBRRC reports. The Valdez spill was March 24, 1989. The last wildlife rehab center closed September 6 of that year. The Deepwater Horizon spill was on April 22, 2009. By that measure, rehabbers will be on the scene until early October. By the 10th day of the Valdez oil spill, rescuers were finding 180 oiled birds per square mile, the Coast Guard reported. The oil spread so far in Prince William Sound that rescuers had to set up four wildlife care centers. They’ve already set up three down south. There are Oiled Bird Rescue Centers in Fort Jackson, Louisiana, Theodore, Alabama and Pensacola, Florida. How long will it take the wildlife to recover? Here’s the really scary part. They’re still digging up oil in Valdez and some species are still recovering. Where to Go to See Wildlife Where to Go See Wildlife Down South RESCUE GROUPS International Bird Rescue Research Center, based in Keep reading Valdez: A Comparison for Wildlife |
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