West Indian Manatee
Trichechus Manatus
Where can they be found in North Carolina?
West Indian manatee's can be found in waters all over North Carolina. Salt water and fresh water. They'e most commonly found in saltwater bays and estuaries but they can also be found in canals and rivers.
Why are they endangered?
There are lots of reasons as to why manatees are going extinct. Ranging from natural things like cold stress, to human-relate things such as hitting watercraft. Along those two things many other things are endangering manatees. Some other natural reasons include, pneumonia, diseases and cold stress. Human-related causes include drowning in canal locks, swallowing fish hooks, getting caught in litter and many more. All of these in mind, the most serious threat facing the manatees is Habitat loss.
What's doing done to protect them?
There are many laws in place to protect these cute little creatures. Such as the Marine Mammal Protection act of 1972 and the Endangered Species Act of 1973 passed by the federal government. These laws state that harassing, hunting, capturing and killing marine mammals is illegal. If you do so you could be fined and possibly imprisoned. Some things that you could do to help is try and make sure you recycle as much as you can, that way not as much litter will be leaked into their habitats.