Florida Eager to House Manatees as New Rehab Nears Completion, First Feeding Trial Launched

Once construction is finished, Florida wildlife officials are eager to welcome Manatees to their new rehabilitation facility. Their ongoing efforts while they wait include the sea cows' first feeding trial.

It is not simple to care for a malnourished manatee; it may need constant monitoring, such as three times a day of tube feeding, to nurse it back to health.

$3000 a Month Per Animal

According to Sandra Torres, a ZooTampa spokeswoman, the entire rehabilitation procedure can take more than a year and can cost about $3,000 per month for each animal. Even with less effort, recovery times can be months long.

Wildlife biologists assert that despite an unprecedented famine event increasing demand for further long-term care for manatees in Florida, there is ample space across the state to house the animals.

2021 Die-Off

More than 260 manatees have required rescue across the state since the die-off started in early 2021, according to the most recent information from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.

The majority of those rescues took place in and around Indian River Lagoon in Brevard County, on Florida's Atlantic coast, which was the die-off focal point. Manatees are unable to find a reliable food source in that area due to the loss of seagrass brought on by pollution. In the past two years, there have been over 700 animal deaths.

Terri Calleson, the leader for Florida's manatee recovery for the US Fish and Wildlife Service, estimates that there are 79 manatees currently being treated in rehabilitation centers in Florida, Georgia, Ohio, and Puerto Rico. 84% of those are discovered. Space is available for more at Florida facilities, ZooTampa, SeaWorld in Orlando, and the Jacksonville Zoo.

According to The Guardian, advocates, led by the nonprofit Center for Biological Diversity, assert that the US Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) committed a serious mistake in 2017 when it downgraded the status of the enormous aquatic mammals from endangered to merely threatened, which has put the sea cows at risk.

New Rehab Center

Biologists are optimistic that they can meet demand as the threat of colder winter water to manatees grows, especially since construction on the new rehabilitation facility is soon to be completed and a large number of sea cows will soon be released. If the water is below 68 degrees Fahrenheit, the manatees can become stressed.

Calleson is positive about the current situation of Florida in terms of intensive care space given that it is winter.

All of this enables biologists to capture an extra 40 to 50 manatees, according to Calleson.

$20 Million Fund for Manatee Care

According to the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, Florida's environmental agency received a $20 million grant last year to increase the number of manatee care facilities and enhance manatee rescue and recovery efforts. According to Calleson, 25 manatees will pass away in rehabilitation centers in 2021, up from 20 last year.

The year 2021 saw a record 1,101 manatee deaths statewide, more than any other year in state history. The most recent data from the Florida Wildlife Commission show that there were nearly 800 more deaths in 2017.

Significant and widespread ecosystem restoration, the ideal solution to the issue, is still years away. However, state and federal wildlife officials decided to feed lettuce to wild manatees last winter in a unique feeding trial to help reduce the unprecedented near-term mortality.

Feeding Trial

During the three-month trial last year, from December to March, wildlife biologists removed about 100 tons of romaine and butterleaf lettuce from the Florida Power & Light Cape Canaveral Clean Energy Center in Brevard County, a popular location for manatees to enjoy the warmer unnatural power plant discharges. Approximately 35,000 pounds of lettuce have already been delivered to biologists this year, according to Thomas Van Trees, the Florida Wildlife Commission incident commander.

Van Trees said that the team is put into full operational mode, especially with the impending cold front that the region is receiving, Tampa Bay Times reports.