Effort To Save The Manatees From Starvation Underway In Indian River Lagoon

Photo: Barcroft Media via Getty Images

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission has set up a feeding area for manatees in the Indian River Lagoon, as a record number of the mammals have died in Florida waterways this year.

The latest from the FWC shows the fatalities at 1,017, with a majority of them starving to death.

"They've got to survive. They've got to eat something. It's heartwrenching. It's sad."

Paul Fafeita with the Clean Water Coalition of Indian River County says 90-percent of the seagrass in the Lagoon has died off. More than half of all of Florida's manatee deaths in 2021 have happened in the Lagoon.

The Save the Manatee Club President Patrick Rose says this is a first.

"Having lost hundreds of manatees to starvation, that's never happened before."

Pollution is being blamed for killing off the seagrass, which is the primary source of nutrition for the manatees.

State and federal wildlife officials approved a joint plan to move forward with supplementing the diet of malnourished manatees.

But while he's hopeful the feedings help save manatee lives, Rose reminds Floridians that it's illegal for the public to feed the mammals.


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