SAVE THE CHUBBY MERMAIDS! There's no body-shaming here: we LOVE manatees and their big, round bodies swimming around every day, but especially today on #ManateeAppreciationDay. Sadly these animals are in dire straits: Manatee deaths have spiked since 2017 when the USFWS prematurely reduced protections and downlisted #manatees to threatened. So just last week, the Center and our allies launched a new lawsuit over the agency's failure to protect manatees. The Service had 12 months to decide whether uplisting the manatee under the federal #EndangeredSpeciesAct was warranted, but after 16 months the agency has yet to issue a decision. Meanwhile, manatees have been experiencing an an extreme mortality event which led to nearly 2,000 deaths in 2021 and 2022 combined. Re-listing the West Indian manatee as an endangered species would provide greater protections for them that these animals desperately need. #savethechubbymermaids #floridamanatee #endangeredspecies