Reported By Greg Pallone
MERRITT ISLAND -- The unusually cold winter is taking its toll on the east Central Florida manatee population.
So far, 50 manatees have died in the first two and half months of this year, which is more than half the total of 93 in all of last year.
On Tuesday, officers from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, along with a Sea World rescue team, helped a sick male manatee that swam into an Indian River canal near Hall Road searching for warmer waters.
Neighbors spotted the sick sea cow three days ago, and officers had been checking on it over the past two days.
The dehydrated manatee was cold stressed, meaning the cold waters caused its metabolic system to shut down and starve.
“The canal that it found was 26 degrees Celsius. That's in the upper 70s, so it was finding warm water,” said Anne Spellman, a FWC marine biologist. “The problem is this animal is past the point where just warming up is going to help it. It's going to need antibiotics, tube feeding to get it over the hump. This animal is basically in critical shape.”
Officers have made five rescues like this in the southern Volusia, Brevard, Lake, Marion, Seminole and Indian River counties, with four alone in Brevard alone.
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