Endangered Manatees

The manatee population has suffered a devastating blow so far this year. About 221 manatees have been found dead already. Out of those 221, 128 have no obvious cause of death. Marine biologists have been unable to find the cause of these deaths. They suspect that the Red Tide off of the coast of southwest Florida has some connection with these mysterious deaths. A red tide is a bloom of flagellates which are deadly to marine life, but cause no harm to the human population. Another possible cause is a virus that is unknown to scientists. Many people believe that this problem will eventually stop an the manatee population will flourish, but others are rather pessimistic. Ecological Problem: The manatee population is quickly dying off and unless they make an astonishing comeback, they will soon be extinct. Ecological Solution: A possible solution to this problem is to move the manatees from their current habitat into a similar habitat, away from the "source" of the problem. If the manatees survive there, that tells scientists that the problem was in their habitat. If the still die at their current rate, that would tell the scientists that the manatees have a deadly unknown virus. If it is a virus, the scientists can devise some sort of medicine to defeat this virus.