(1) Donating
Wildlife Reserves Singapore welcomes all donations as it channels it toward ensuring the animals in the parks feel as comfortable as if they were in their natural habitat in the wild. This support also helps ensure that our future generations will still have well-maintained parks to enjoy and encounter wildlife. Such experiences are a meaningful and more holistic method of education that will teach them values that they will only be able to learn outside of the classroom. Furthermore, this is also done in high hopes that they too will pay it forward and preserve the beauty of the natural environment for the generations after them. More importantly, the contributions will go toward Wildlife Reserves’ international and regional efforts in protecting wildlife. Besides donations, Wildlife Reserves Singapore ensures that 50 cents from every purchased ticket goes toward wildlife conservation in the region. The more tickets purchased, the more will be donated to protecting wildlife!
(2) Cut down on your water activities.
This is a major reason for the extinction of manatees as such equipment tend to collide with manatees causing harm and injury to them. This is especially so when a baby manatee is born in the wild and orphaned by its mother or forcefully separated due to human disturbance. It has caused many to be left to defend themselves without the proper abilities to do so.
Manatees cannot be found Singapore’s waters besides in Singapore’s River Safari. Nevertheless, we can do our part to protect these animals through our own recreational water activities, specifically in our usage of watercrafts, boats etc. If you travel overseas, please refrain from participating in the water activities in that country, especially in countries where manatees are more commonly found in the wild e.g. Florida, Texas, Massachusetts. Despite there being laws in place that make it illegal for people to injure and kill, provoke or even touch a manatee, these are insufficient to completely provide the safety nets that these manatees need. In 2009, there was a shockingly high number of boat collision deaths of 97 manatees, excluding those that were injured gravely but were unreported. However, if you do engage in such water activities, it is important to constantly be on watch if there are any incoming manatees, while maintaining the speed of your watercraft within the speed limit provided in that area.
(3) Be more environmentally-friendly
Every little action counts. Even cutting down on the amount of plastic bags you dispose of matters to the manatees. There was a case in Lowry Park Zoo in Tampa, Florida, where the workers managed to rescue a young manatee who had been orphaned. Unfortunately, the calf’s stomach was filled with so much plastic bags and other debris that it was even visible from its rectum. Despite being rescued, this manatee died 3 months later. These animals may not possess the same skills we have in differentiating real food from plastic trash, therefore they may ingest any item they come across when they source for food. In order to prevent poisoning from human waste, we should discard all the waste material responsibly. Alternatively, we can cut down our usage of plastic items and use recyclable materials such as metal or bamboo straws, bringing your own bag when grocery shopping etc. For more information on what you can do to live a more sustainable life, click here.