Here’s a heart-breaking story by John R. Platt and Dipika Kadaba of The Revelator. It turns out that 824 Florida manatees died last year, almost 50% more than in 2017.
Those 824 mortalities (deaths) represent 13% of the Florida manatee population, and many of them were caused by people – either directly or indirectly.
The Revelator released a video that goes into more detail about why so many manatees died last year. Click below to watch it, and be sure to visit this link for the original story.
The Jaguar 
Reblogged this on "OUR WORLD".
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A dead anteater was in the road yesterday, and seeing just one was difficult – one less amazing animal, thanks an accidental collision w/modern man. It’s hard to comprehend so many manatee deaths – so final – and again, because the balance/harmony is no longer healthy. Thanks for sharing this.
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Yes, there certainly were a lot of manatee deaths last year. Very tragic :(
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This is tragic and so very sad dear Josh, and do you know what is so sad too, we watch… we watch… I wished I could ba able to do something with them, with them all… I hope and wish they stop this… Thank you dear Josh, have a nice day and enjoyable weekend, Love, nia
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Thanks Nia, I hope that people will do something now, since people know that so many manatees are dying now.
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I wonder how long Florida will take to do something about this…
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I don’t know…in some regards Florida’s very conservative, but for a conservative state their record on conservation’s pretty good – all things considered. Thus, I’m actually cautiously optimistic.
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They’re a red state, so outside of Miami, Jacksonville and Fort Lauderdale, the state is pretty conservative. I’ve never looked into their conservation efforts though.
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What can be done to save them?
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Hi, and thanks for your concern. The easiest thing we can do is to drive our boats slowly in area where manatees live, to reduce our chances of hitting them. Unfortunately, I’m not sure what causes the toxic algae blooms that are killing manatees, so I’m not sure what to do about those.
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By any chance, can high water temperatures be reason for toxic algae blooms
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Hi Pradish, I’m not entirely sure if high temperatures influence toxic algal blooms in Florida. I’m pretty sure that heat is a factor in the growth of algae in inland lakes, but it might be different in the oceans. Also, nutrient levels in the water likely play a role: more chemicals in the water from runoff and other pollution could potentially spur algal growth. This is a topic I know little about, however!
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Yikes this is sad the number of fatalities is disturbingly high & the toxic algal looks quite nasty, I can’t imagine what it is like for the manatees to try and survive in such horrid conditions.
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I wonder how the manatees feel too, being unable to escape hazards like toxic algae.
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According to data, Cold spells in January and February claimed 51 more deaths
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Oh that’s great, that’s exactly what I wanted to hear…not. A terrible year for manatees :(
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