Success Story

When a special interest group tried to get endangered manatees prematurely downlisted at the state level, Save the Manatee Club fought back. Leading a coalition of national environmental and animal welfare groups representing millions of Americans, the Club worked for six long years to stop the manatee's scientifically unwarranted downlisting. Ultimately, any change in the manatee's status could have made it easier for special interest groups to weaken manatee protection measures. These protection measures included comprehensive boat speed zones throughout Florida that the Club worked hard to obtain over the course of almost two decades. Backed by science, and through sheer hard work and perseverance, the Club was finally successful, and Florida's wildlife commission deferred the manatee's downlisting indefinitely. What's more, due to the Club's persistent advocacy efforts, the commission directed their staff to undertake a review of the entire flawed state imperiled species classification system. This review created a new opportunity to change the state's listing/delisting process so that all of Florida's at-risk species, including manatees, could be fairly reviewed, classified properly, and protected to sustain and even grow their numbers in the wild.