Not since I was invited to swim with manatees at the age of seven but rejected the offer because they were big and scary and yes they ate only seagrass and moved so slowly they were often hit by boats but did I know that? No! have I been this emotional about the best creature on Earth.
BuzzFeed notes that The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has suggested that the West Indian manatee be moved from the “endangered” species list to the “threatened” list because humans—the manatee’s only predator, and a pathetically accidental one at that—have stopped being so shitty to it. Manatees have been on the endangered species list since 1973, but it’s only in the past several decades that conservation groups and the government have actively worked to stop them from running into motorboats and getting killed by other human-created water contraptions. This downgrade would not remove those protections, but give them more flexibility.