Wednesday, March 27, 2024
Saving the giants
A new stamp calls for greater vigilance in protecting manatees
The Postal Service will release a stamp Wednesday, March 27, to raise awareness of the threats posed to the West Indian manatee, a beloved marine mammal.
Manatees inhabit Florida’s inland waterways and warm areas of the coastal Atlantic, Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico. They have no natural predators in the wild, but humans have put them at risk of extinction.
Although manatees have rebounded from low numbers in the 1970s, recent die-offs have raised alarm. Threats to manatees include speed-boat collisions, red tides and toxic algae blooms that kill seagrass, an important food source.
Every day, a West Indian manatee eats up to 10 percent of its weight in aquatic plants. Adults can reach 11 feet long and 1,500 pounds. Manatees are slow swimmers and slow to reproduce — a female has one calf at a time and may tend to it for two years.
On the stamp, a manatee placidly lolls underwater, just beneath ripples on the surface. Many types of hungry freshwater fish clean algae off a manatee’s skin, and the West Indian manatee on the stamp is accompanied by two such fish.
Derry Noyes, an art director for USPS, designed the stamp using a digital illustration by Nancy Stahl.
The Forever stamp will be available in booklets of 20 at Post Offices and usps.com.
The stamp will be dedicated in Silver Springs, FL, on March 27, which is Manatee Appreciation Day, observed annually on the last Wednesday in March.
Heroes
Looking over his shoulder
This carrier came to the rescue of a customer who fell in his home
Letter Carrier Kelli Reed was recently making deliveries in Lincoln, NE, when she discovered a customer had fallen inside his residence.
The Postal Service employee called 911 and sought help from a neighbor who has keys to the man’s home.
Reed and the neighbor entered the residence and comforted the customer, who had been stranded for eight hours on the floor, until paramedics arrived.
The man was taken to a hospital and treated for a broken shoulder.
“Without Kelli’s help and reaction, this could have been tragic,” said local Customer Services Manager Trenton Bogenreif.
Employees featured in “Heroes” receive letters of commendation through the Postmaster General Heroes’ Program. The nomination form is available on Blue.
Milestones
Appointments, awards and more
Here’s a look at recent USPS announcements
• Frankie D. Bunch-Bauldrick was named equal employment opportunity compliance and appeals manager. She previously served as a dispute resolution manager.
• Catina R. Ellis was named a dispute resolution manager. She previously served as an equal employment opportunity alternative dispute resolution specialist.
• Lillian D. Guyton was named an equal employment opportunity dispute resolution manager. She previously served as an equal employment opportunity specialist.
• Robert S. Hanlon was named sorting and delivery centers planning and implementation director. He previously served as Atlantic Area’s retail and Post Office operations support manager.
• Kamesha S. Hawkins was named a dispute resolution manager. She previously served as an equal employment opportunity alternative dispute resolution specialist.
• Karen R. Shugart was named sorting and delivery centers strategy, process and design director. She previously served as Post Office operations, processing and logistics integration manager.
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