© 2024 All Rights reserved WUSF
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Florida Matters: Studying Cuba’s Manatees

Lottie Watts
/
WUSF News
Florida Matters host Carson Cooper with Dr. James "Buddy" Powell and WUSF news director Steve Newborn at the Donis Studio at WUSF Public Media.

Florida's population of the iconic manatee has risen in recent years, so much so that federal  wildlife officials say they're no longer endangered, and could be down-listed to threatened by next year. 

Public comment on the status change is now under way. 

"When a species is endangered, it often means that it’s in the intensive care unit. It is really the last hope to save the species,” said Mike Oetker with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. “By moving to a threatened status, what we recognize is it’s no longer in that intensive care status."

Cuba has an extensive population of manatees, making it the perfect place to study them.

Last spring, we sat down with WUSF's Steve Newborn and manatee researcher Dr. James "Buddy" Powell (with Sarasota-based conservation group Sea To Shore Alliance), just after they returned from an expedition to Cuba.  We're taking another listen to that conversation this week on Florida Matters (Tuesday, Jan. 26 at 6:30 p.m. and Sunday, Jan. 31 at 7:30 a.m.). 

Lottie Watts was our Florida Matters producer from 2012 to 2016. She also covers health and health policy for WUSF's Health News Florida .
Carson Cooper served as host of WUSF’s "Morning Edition" for 18 years. He took the job in 2000, after working in Tampa Bay radio for decades. He was a fan favorite of our listeners, bringing his friendly and familiar voice to listeners as they started their weekday mornings.