DELAND, Fla - If you need your weekly fill of adorable, the West Volusia Tourism Advertising Authority has you covered. The group recently adopted Gator, a West Indian Manatee who frequents Blue Springs State Park in Orange City.
The adoption was facilitated through the Save the Manatee Club, which has a program called Adopt-A-Manatee to sponsor conservation efforts. The donation made by the Advertising Authority will go toward protecting manatee habitats and staving off their population decline in the state of Florida.
Gator is easily identifiable by his distinct back scars, caused by collissions with boat propellers. He has nine cuts down his back, which are believed to have been from two separate incidents.
You may be wondering, why exactly is a manatee called Gator? The reason is, of course, precious. In the below photo, Gator was photographer curiously swimming alongside an American alligator, another common species to Florida's coastal waterways.
“We are truly grateful and honored to be able to adopt gator and do everything we can to help save our precious manatees,” said Georgia Turner, the WTVAA's Executive Director. “The manatees are an integral part of our West Volusia community and partnering once again with Save the Manatee Club to help protect their habitat is one of the most important things we can do.”
Prior to Gator, the WTVAA had another adopted manatee, who they named Volusia. A frequent inhabitant of Lake Dexter, Volusia passed away in April of 2020.
The Save the Manatee Club is the world's leading organization striving for manatee conservation. More information on the club, including how to adopt a manatee of your own, is available at their website.
