Manatee Mania

Here on the Nature Coast, we take our manatees pretty seriously….

 

 

So why can’t we save them?

According to the most recent report that I could find for 2013, as of Dec. 13, 2013,  the Florida Fish and Wildlife Research Institute shows we lost 803 manatees.  16 percent of the state’s population.  The most since the state started keeping records in the 70’s.

But according to the same source, the good news was that only 71 were killed by boats.  Well below the record of 95 in 2012.

So sad.