"Starving manatees will soon be fed by hand in Florida, a rare wildfire intervention to save the marine mammals whose natural food is vanishing from the effects of pollution, state officials told Reuters.

“Unified Command does have approval to move forward on a limited feeding trial,” said Carly Jones of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, in an email to Reuters ahead of a formal announcement later this week. “Details are still being worked out.”

The move, authorized by the federal government, is highly unusual in conservation, which tends to favor leaving wild animals to their own foraging and hunting lest they become dependent on human handouts."

Julio-Cesar Chavez reports for Reuters December 7, 2021. [2]