Baby Emoji was found with plastic bags in his stomach. The Lowry Park Zoo staff did all they could to help the baby manatee eat, but it wasn't enough and the little guy passed away around 2 a.m. on January 30. The autopsy confirmed that the trash in his stomach was causing him to be sick. Now there is a question of what is it that we can do so we can laugh and see more little baby manatees happy and healthy? What can we do about our environment?
Humans helping
There are wildlife organizations in Florida and within the United States that allows people to sign up and volunteer their time to clean up the garbage on beaches, rivers, ponds, and even within the marinas along Florida's coast.
Many people who felt upset about little Emoji dying can do something in his name by just picking up the trash and making sure what is nature is pristine.
The orphaned manatee was only 66 pounds, well under its normal weight, when the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission picked up the little guy swimming around. Manatees not only come to the Lowry Park Zoo with plastic bags in their stomach but also fishing line and other garbage that floats on the top of the water. Saint Pete resident Raymond Fagnon was so fed up with the trash on the water each time he took his boat out for a drive that he made a personalized trash scoop to pick up plastic bags and cans and uses a pool net to pick up the smaller items such as cigarette butts.
But while the garbage can be fixed, human behavior takes the time to change. "Now more than ever, we must hold ourselves accountable," said Dr. Ray Ball, the senior vet at Lowry Park Zoo.
Habits take time
While most people can pop a lid on a garbage can and throw away their trash, sometimes others do not respond to proper ways of trash disposal.
Saint Pete has trash cans along the waterway, but many times the trash inside the cans are often blown out onto the water because there isn't a proper lid. The director of many of Saint Pete's parks says they are trying domed trash cans in one park, but no one is bothering to push their garbage through and leaves it around the basin.
But while some people don't toss away their trash, you can always do something about it the first time. It takes 21 days to change a habit or create a new one so why not start at the source, the garbage can.
