The Florida Aquarium brought an interesting lobbying group to the Capitol on Wednesday.
Four African penguins from the Tampa institution waddled the hallways: Archi, Enzi, Nuri and Pebbles. They attracted a lot of attention — to themselves, and to the aquarium’s budget priorities.
“We like to spread joy as well as awareness,” said Katrina Cox, the aquarium’s senior director of grants and government affairs, as Enzi and Nuri honked at visitors behind her.
Her team is urging lawmakers to continue funding Florida’s coral reef restoration efforts. The Florida Aquarium and other groups have applied for and gotten money from a $9.5 million annual fund.
Florida’s reef has been damaged by increasing water temperatures, as well as disease, storms and pollution.
The aquarium itself has been hit by storms — a couple of hurricanes in the last couple of years — and it wants to prevent risk to its animals. It’s also requesting $1 million for a hurricane resiliency project.
Last year, Gov. Ron DeSantis vetoed $1 million the Legislature appropriated for the purpose.
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This story was produced by WUSF as part of a statewide journalism initiative funded by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
