manatees

More than 2,000 of the gentle sea cows have died in Florida in the last two years, mainly from algae blooms that smothers the sea grasses they need to survive.

The Brevard Zoo is breaking ground on a new manatee rehabilitation center after receiving a state grant and individual donations.

The effort to feed thousands of pounds of lettuce to starving manatees in Florida manatees has officially ended for the winter season, as deaths of the marine mammals appear to be slowing despite the long-term threat of pollution to their main food source, seagrass.

Bianca was a mere calf when she was rescued in 2021 from Florida’s ailing Indian River Lagoon. After a long recovery at SeaWorld she finally swam back into the wild.

State wildlife officials approved a seasonal no-entry zone in an area of Brevard County waters where manatees gather in effort to provide more protections to the sea cows.

Three adult male manatees rescued from waters in the Keys earlier this year were returned to a canal after being treated and rehabilitated at SeaWorld Orlando.

Environmental groups are asking U.S. wildlife officials to return manatees to the endangered species list four years after they were downlisted to threatened, as hundreds continue to die mainly from pollution-caused starvation.

Lettuce will be on the menu again this year for Florida manatees as part of an effort to slow the starvation deaths of the beloved marine mammals.

Hoping to protect manatees as they congregate this winter, state wildlife officials Tuesday issued an emergency rule that will temporarily prevent boating in an area of the Indian River Lagoon near a Florida Power & Light power plant.

A record number of manatees died in Florida last year. Now an environmental group has filed a federal lawsuit charging that the state is violating the Endangered Species Act due to septic tanks and sewage-treatment plants discharging into the Indian River Lagoon in Brevard County.

An ailing manatee that was found and rehabilitated in Texas late last year was flown to Florida on a cargo plane and released into a bay near a wildlife refuge along the Gulf Coast this week.

Fewer manatee deaths have been recorded so far this year in Florida compared to the record-setting numbers in 2021, but wildlife officials cautioned Wednesday that chronic starvation remains a dire and ongoing threat to the marine mammals.