The Miami Herald | 11/16/2003 | Manatees remain threatened: "But listen to this: ``The reality is the manatees are flourishing. They're doing great.''
This sunny and surprising announcement comes from a fellow named John Rood, quoted in the Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel. Rood is not a biologist; he's a developer and broker of apartment buildings in Jacksonville.
And his definition of ''flourishing'' is somewhat peculiar. Last year, 95 manatees in Florida were killed by watercraft -- the most ever, and the toll is rising proportionally faster than the mammals' population."