The original Hugh T. Manatee, a regular member of the Funday PawPet Show cast, is up for auction.

Funds will be used to purchase new equipment for Poinkcast, HughTube and video archive digitization.

Update: The auction raised $102.50, just 43% of the winning bid for Poink T. Ferret in June 2007.

Puppeteer JR explained the sale [tip: BabsBunny]:

A few weeks ago, I started thinking, I'd love to have a YouTube channel focusing on stuff I've done and Hugh and Poink; [...] So, I created HughTube. [...] I decided I really wanted to build this up, film stuff with Poink and Hugh that hasn't been seen anywhere, and really build up the PoinkCast brand. I put together a list of stuff I'd need, and realized that if I did it all out of pocket it was going to take a while. So I posted it on FA and asked for donations.

BBC online reports the birth of twin manatees at the Beauval Zoo in France. The Zoo is participating in an program aimed at saving the endangered species.