User:Emcam03/Manatee conservation

Lead:
The conservation of manatees is not only an issue in the US, as anthropogenic actions have caused the decline of this species world wide. In order to curve the decline of these animals, more conservation efforts have sprouted in other nations.

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For example, Belize houses some of the largest populations of the Antillean manatees in the Caribbean, and so their influence on these animals is fairly large. Initially monitoring of the animals showed that the manatee population size was stagnant, so there was no loss in numbers, but also no increase, and with the increase of human influence, the populations were likely to suffer in the future. In order to combat and prevent the loss of these animals, the Belize government has created special laws to protect the manatees. One example would be the Manatee Protection Ordinances, which prohibit any human interactions that could be harmful to these animals, like feeding them, hunting them or chasing them. Belize also has the Wildlife Protection Act, which was established in 1981, and calls for the protection of the manatees under section 4. This protection of the manatees and their lands has allowed for their populations to be sustained.

In other countries, the focus has been more on the repopulation side of conservation. For example, in Mexico, zoos and parks have taken injured and dying manatees in and rehabilitated them. These parks have taken in manatees from around the Caribbean and helped them to heal from the injuries they sustained. While in captivity, a captive breeding program was started to try and encourage the growth of these populations. Some have been successful but due to the nature of the manatee reproduction process, it is not the most sustainable way to increase the population size. Because of this, they are also enacting laws to try and protect the manatees and their habitats so less animals will need to be rehabilitated to recover from injuries sustained from humans.

Another example of some manatee conservation efforts in the Atlantic can be seen in Brazil with their Manatee Reintroduction Programme. For this project, the Brazilian government rehabilitated six manatees and then released them with trackers. These trackers allowed the scientists to see where the manatees spent most of their time. This allowed the government officials to plan out conservation areas that would be most beneficial to these species and enact laws to protect them.

More laws and programs like these can be seen throughout the Caribbean and the oceans the manatees inhabit, as these species are endangered and need to be protected in order to guarantee their survival.