record manatee deaths in Florida due to weather

H

Hunkydory

New member
The Weather Channel just reported this year to be a record high for hypothermia deaths to the manatee population in Florida. 659 have died so far. Seemed odd with the hyped reporting of polar bears dying up north from global warming. Have not heard about this from any other media or scientific source.

Jay
 
There were a lot of deaths last year, and in fact I came on the carcass of a young manatee floating in the river. You can see photos here:

http://smittypaddler.com/cds/cdn/fl10/Feb/d100218p.htm

I would've thought it was too early, even if it's been exceptionally cold, for the water temp to get down to the point where it's killed that many manatee. A biologist at Blue Springs told me a water temp of 50 would kill the manatee. If it's near that cold already it doesn't bode well for the manatee over the rest of the winter. An interesting fact that surprised me: The manatee aren't indigenous to Florida. They were imported by the railroad tycoon Henry Flagler to feed his workers. Even so, manatees are gentle and friendly, and I like to see them along the rivers when I'm paddling.
 
The 09 winter was cold and fish kills were reported. Unfortunately FL is having a cold spell and winter has not begun but we saw one manatee in the Charlotte Harbor canals on Halloween and we named him "Lucky". He looked healthy and was eating well What a beautiful animal
:D
 
Smitty, that is a "persistent myth" as the FWS puts it. See this link

http://www.fws.gov/northflorida/manatee/manatee-native-facts.htm

I think some of the developers and other people for whom the manatee is a hinderance to their economic gain have tried to get this going from time to time. I know when I lived in Bradenton Beach in Manatee County and in Flagler Beach in Flagler County there were always developers or industry that fought the extreme protection the manatees were granted.
 
Thanks for the correction. It irks me that I was helping to propagate another myth produced by the people interested in commercial gain instead of natural beauty.
 
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