Florida wildlife officials say manatees (海牛) facing starvation are benefitting from a program that feeds them on tons of donated lettuce (生菜). The program aims to save as many of the large animals as possible as water pollution has led to shortages of their favorite food, seagrass.
The effort has provided the manatees with more than 25 tons of lettuce. The feedings usually draw about 300 to 350 manatees per day. Sometimes, there are as many as 800 manatees. Normally, wildlife experts advise against people feeding wild animals. This is because it can lead the animals to make an unhealthy connection between humans and food. It is a crime in Florida for a person to feed manatees on their own, even though officials say many people want to do so. Experts believe the best way people can help is to donate money through an official institution (机构).
In 2021, 1101 manatee deaths were reported, largely from starvation. The normal five-year average is about 625 deaths. State wildlife officials say that so far this year, 164 manatee deaths have been recorded. Tom Reinert, the local director of state’s Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, said the feeding program has helped to reduce the rising death rates. Officials estimate there are about 8,800 manatees in Florida waters. That is a big improvement from about 2,000 that existed in the 1990s. The increased numbers were responsible for manatees being removed from the endangered species list.
The most important element for supporting the remaining population will be restoring seagrass beds. So far, Florida has set aside $8 million to deal with that problem. “You can’t just go out and plant a bunch of seagrass,” Reinert said. But he added, “Projects are getting started and are in the planning stages.”
【小题1】What is the program intended to do?| A．To reduce food waste. | B．To study manatees’ eating habits. |
| C．To rescue large animals from starvation. | D．To solve the problem of water pollution. |
| A．Feed healthy food to them. | B．Set up special rescue groups. |
| C．Pay more visits to wildlife reserves. | D．Offer financial aid to official organizations. |
| A．Impractical. | B．Significant. |
| C．Complicated. | D．Time-consuming. |
| A．Manatee Saving Program | B．Ocean Protecting Program |
| C．Manatee Feeding Program | D．Seagrass Beds Restoring Program |
