With more chilly days ahead this winter, Florida wildlife officials continue to keep a close, worried watch over the struggling sea cows.
The need for the feeding follows the dramatic loss seagrass along the Space Coast that led to a famine that killed hundreds of local manateesin the whole state last year, happened in Brevard, where typically a third of the sea cow's population resides.
As a result, the manatee death toll got so bad that in April 2021, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration declared the die-off an Unusual Mortality Event. In a first-of-its kind pilot project to try to stave off further starvation, state and federal biologists fed manatees at the FPL plant last winter and through the end of March.
FWC takes special precautions to hide behind barriers as they feed them, to prevent manatees from associating humans with the lettuce they toss them. The agency says doing so can create other long-term behavior problems for manatees by conditioning them to expect food handouts from humans.
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