Save a life and adopt a real manatee. Manatees travel freely around Florida.  Manatees can be spotted throughout Southeast Florida’s rivers and coastal waters.  Manatees are Florida’s official state marine mammal. Save the Manatee Organization is an award-winning national nonprofit 501(c)(3) and membership-based organization established in 1981 by singer/songwriter, Jimmy Buffett, and former U.S. Senator, Bob Graham, when he was governor of Florida. Funds from the Club’s Adopt-A-Manatee program go toward efforts to help protect manatees and their habitat. Unlike other animal adoption programs, the manatees in our adoption programs are real, living manatees with known histories. The Save the Manatee Organizations mission is to protect manatees and their aquatic habitat for future generations.

They are listed as vulnerable at the international level by the IUCN World Conservation Union. They are listed as threatened at the federal level by the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service and at the state level by the Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC). Their listing status is largely due to human activity.  The Adopt-A-Manatee program goes toward efforts to help protect manatees and their habitat. Unlike other animal adoption programs, the manatees in our adoption programs are real, living manatees with known histories. 

In the summer, when water temperatures are warmer, manatees travel freely around Southeast Florida’s rivers and coastal waters. Some manatees travel outside of Florida, and one manatee gained fame when he was documented as having traveled to the northeastern part of the United States. His name is Chessie, and his movements are followed by the U.S. Geological Survey’s Sirenia Project, an agency that tracks manatees along the U.S. East Coast.

Check out the live Manatee Webcams.