On January 7, #MissEarth 2021 Destiny Wagner, Miss Earth 2020 Lindsey Coffey and Miss Earth Air 2021 Marisa Paige Butler experienced a manatee sighting kayaking excursion at Blue Spring Park, Florida. This event was held in partnership with the Miss Earth USA organization's charity gala fundraiser to support Save the Manatee. While the three Miss Earth representatives were only allowed a distanced view of the manatees swimming and feeding in their natural habitat, they learned some important facts about these gentle creatures that frequent the southeast United States waters.
West Indian manatees are large, gray aquatic mammals measuring on average 10 feet long and weighing up to 1,200 pounds. The manatee’s closest relatives are the elephant and the hyrax (a small, gopher-sized mammal). Manatees can be found in shallow, slow-moving rivers, estuaries, saltwater bays, canals, and coastal areas, particularly where seagrass beds or freshwater vegetation flourish. Listed as threatened at the federal level by the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service and at the state level by the Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission, Florida has declared manatees as the official state marine mammal. More than 41% of manatee deaths are human-related and increasingly they are suffering starvation due to changes in climate killing off their main source of food.
The Miss Earth USA organization will be contributing $1,000 to Save the Manatee and adopting three manatees each in the name of Destiny, Marisa and Lindsey.