TAMPA, FLORIDA – For the second year in a row, Florida manatees are dying at an alarming rate. A new report shows that 800 manatees died in 2022, and many environmental groups are now calling for threatened species to be relisted as endangered.
“For the last two years. It’s been a pretty deadly year for manatees, with over a thousand deaths every year,” said Molly Lippincott, Florida manatee curator at the Tampa Zoo. “There are only about 7,000 of them, so you think about 1,000 dying every year. That’s pretty detrimental to the species.”
Zoo Tampa serves as a critical trauma center for injured manatees throughout the region. The zoo is one of four rehabilitation facilities in Florida fighting to save the dwindling manatee population.
“It’s very disturbing. We all feel very bad about what’s happening with manatees right now,” said Cynthia Stringfield, senior vice president of animal health and conservation at the Tampa Zoo. “We’re doing everything we can here at Zoo Tampa to be part of the solution. Educating people on what the problem is and what everyone can do to try to help so we don’t have another year like last year.” “
MANATEE DEATHS DECLINED IN 2022, BUT CHRONIC HUNGER CAUSED BY WATER POLLUTION REMAINS A GREAT CONCERN
An unprecedented arctic cold snap during the holiday season only compounded the problems.
(Tampa Zoo)
In 2021, manatee deaths reached a 50-year record of 1,100. The numbers decreased in 2022, but the death toll is still above average.
“We’ve had some really tough cases, some that you know, we’ve worked really hard on and couldn’t save, but some that we really never thought would come around the corner and have been released.” Lippincott said.
A rescued baby manatee was cared for in 2021 at SeaWorld Orlando. For decades, manatees have flocked to the Florida Power & Light Co. power plant south of Titusville by the hundreds to take refuge in the warm waters.
(Joe Burbank/Orlando Sentinel/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)
The biggest threats facing manatees in the wild are food shortages, boat strikes, and low water temperatures. Biologists have previously blamed a giant seagrass die-off for causing famine among threatened species, mainly along Florida’s east coast.
FLORIDA BREAKS ANNUAL RECORD FOR MANATEE DEATHS IN THE FIRST 6 MONTHS:
After the record year, state and federal agencies established a supplemental feeding program in a Central Florida lagoon, where many of the giant sea cows migrate for the winter.
Biologists distributed more than 200,000 pounds of leafy greens to the Indian River Lagoon with the intention of doubling the amount during the current cold season.
Manatees at the Tampa Zoo receive treatment for cold stress syndrome.
(Tampa Zoo)
“When we have fertilizer runoff in certain areas where manatees go to eat during the winter, and it creates an algae bloom that blocks the sun from the food, the seagrass needs it,” Lippincott said. “So that’s been the big cause behind the mortality event is everyone is scheduled to go to certain places during the winter to eat, and then they get there and there’s no food.”
SEA OTTERS REQUESTED TO BE REINTRODUCTED ALONG THE WEST COAST
The most serious cases that come up involve boating collisions. The annual report showed that boating and childbirth led the way in known causes of death in 34 counties in the state of Florida.
“Many animals are struck and killed by boats every year. We really try to spread awareness here at the zoo where we can teach people how to safely use boats around manatees,” Lippincott said.
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Florida’s budget includes $30 million that will go toward saving manatees. The money will go toward expanding the state’s network of acute care centers, supportive habitats and pilot programs.
