MIAMI, Fla. – Manatees and the current unusual mortality rate in 2021 is a pressing issue on Earth Day.
Miami Seaquarium’s Animal Care Supervisor Julie Heyde told Local 10 News that this year there were more manatees coming into its Rescue and Rehabilitation Program than she has seen before.
“The manatees that are being rescued, that are being brought in some of them, many of them are suffering from things like starvation, organ atrophy and a lot of them are swimming completely on their sides,” Heyde said.
Florida Fish and Wildlife reports 649 manatee deaths so far in 2021. Heyde said that’s more than all manatee deaths in 2020.
She said this is happening because of the depletion of many of the sea grass beds.
“The southern east coast of Florida is seeing some degradation of the sea grass beds.”
Many of the manatees that they are rescuing are orphans, Heyde said, because so many of the reported manatee deaths are lactating females.
The goal of the Seaquarium’s program is to get the manatees rehabilitated and back into the ocean.