The manatee hugger is back!

If you know me at all, you know I love manatees.

Humans are the gentle herbivores’ only enemy, with our fishing lines ensnaring them, our pollution poisoning them, our boats striking them and our living space encroaching upon theirs. Heather Sellick of the US Scuba Center wrote “the manatee is one of the most magnificent marine mammals...it is also the one that tugs at our heart strings and reminds us of the great damage humans have inflicted on the creatures with whom we share this planet.”

It has been a very hard year for the manatee, with a deeply troubling number of deaths. Some of you may remember that my customers and I were able to raise $525 for the Emergency Rescue Fund of the Save the Manatee Club in late March/early April of this year, to help with injured and sickened animals.

That brings us to today.

I invited Katie Tripp, Director of Science and Conservation for the Save the Manatee Club to suggest fundraising projects to help manatees. Dr. Tripp asked if I could come up with $795 for a tracking box for the SMC’s Belize colleagues to track tagged manatees that have been rehabilitated and released. These manatees are being monitored after their release to help ensure their acclimation to life in the wild.

You know the Manatee Hugger can’t refuse!

Direct donations to this cause may be made on my YouCaring.com page, and will be greatly appreciated. At the same time, one-third of my vintage clothing sales at denisebrain.com and etsy.com/shop/denisebrain will go toward the monitor until the goal is reached.

I will add the vintage clothing sales tally to the total on YouCaring so you can see where we stand on reaching the goal. The widget at the upper right of this page will take you to the YouCaring page if you’d like. YouCaring does not charge for fundraising...all the money earned will go to the cause of manatee protection.

I was told the monitor is needed ASAP in Belize. The lives of these gentle, intelligent—and endangered—animals are at risk.

Dr. Tripp bottle feeds Twiggy, an orphaned manatee calf, at Wildtracks, a manatee rehabilitation center in Belize. - See more at Save the Manatee Club news