Former President Flt. Lt. Jerry John Rawlings has called on the Department of Wildlife, Ghana Wildlife Society and other relevant conservation authorities to employ a more vigorous effort at educating Ghanaians about endangered animal species. The former president said a lot of endangered species are becoming extinct locally because some persons, possibly due to ignorance, still hunt them for food. His comments follow the killing of a rare African Manatee by fisherman on the Volta River recently. The former President noted that sea cows used to be hunted for food but it stopped when people were becoming more and more aware of the fact that they were endangered species. “It is, however, disturbing that some of our hunters and fisherman are so ill-informed they kill rarely sighted animals anytime they encounter them. It is important that we educate them about potential sightings of some of these rare species so they do not ignorantly help in making them extinct,” President Rawlings said. Manatees are large, fully aquatic and herbivorous marine mammals sometimes known as sea cows. They are grass eating, harmless, noted for their friendly nature and paddle-like flippers, which are mistaken for breasts. The West African Manatee is the least studied of the different types of Manatees across the world. Very rarely sighted, the Trichechus senegalenses as they are scientifically known are found in coastal marine and estuarine habitats and in fresh water river systems along the west coast of Africa from the Senegal River south to the Kwanza River in Angola, including areas in Gambia, Liberia, Guinea-Bissau, Guinea, Sierra Leone, Cote D’Ivoire, Ghana, Mali, Nigeria, Cameroon, Chad, Gabon, Republic of Congo, and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Although crocodiles and sharks occasionally kill manatees in Africa, their significant threats especially in Ghana, are from humankind, such as poaching, habitat loss, and other environmental impacts. Former President Rawlings who has recently been involved in efforts to rid the lower Volta Basin of weeds that have stagnated its flow and causing river diseases, said a lot of education should be done on these species so local folk can help to prevent their indiscriminate killing. The manatee or sea cow breeds once every two years and has a 12-month gestation period, taking about 12 to 18 months to wean the calf. With only one calf born at a time, conservation is key to the survival of the sea mammal. Visit Former President Rawlings’ blog site - http://jjrawlings.wordpress.com/