Manatees

Officials in Florida say an injured mother manatee and her calf have been rescued from a river and taken to SeaWorld Orlando for rehabilitation. The Lee County Sheriff's Office shared video on social media showing Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission staffers netting the pair on Wednesday. Drone video shows the rescue boat circling around the manatees to corral them in what looks like a fishing net before the crew hauls the sea cows aboard. Officials didn't have details about how the mother manatee was injured or their current conditions. The mother and calf are among at least six manatees rescued in the county since Feb. 19 because of cold stress, watercraft injuries and malnutrition.

Fifty-Eight manatee deaths have been recorded in Lee County since Jan. 1 this year, the majority of those coming since the period of frigid weather hit Southwest Florida according to the final report regarding the recent mass death of manatees in Lee County and made Wednesday by the Florida Fish & Wildlife Commission.

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission examination of recent large-scale manatee deaths in Lee County said a shutdown of a power plant near the canal the animals use for warmth could be a mitigating factor in the deaths.

Reports of at least 25 dead manatees in Lee County have been received by Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission officials. A statement from the FWC says that they recently received an increase in reports of deceased manatees in the Orange River and surrounding areas of Fort Myers.

A new report from the Florida Fish & Wildlife Commission shows that 407 manatees have died this year in Florida as of last week. Brevard County on the east coast and Lee County on the west have been the hot spots so far this year for manatee deaths, according to FWC figures.

Manatees in the Indian River Lagoon and other places around Florida are starving to death due to pollution killing seagrass meadows

Pointing to ongoing threats to manatees, a U.S. district judge Friday said the state has violated the federal Endangered Species Act in its regulation of wastewater discharges into the Indian River Lagoon.Orlando-based Judge Carlos Mendoza issued a 21-page decision that sided with the environmental group Bear Warriors United, which argued discharges into the waterway along the East Coast led to the demise of seagrass and, as a result, deaths and other harm to manatees.

A pair of environmental groups concerned about 11 Florida species have sued the Trump administration

The firing of the only two park rangers to watch over manatees at a federal reserve incensed Kieran Suckling of the Center for Biological Diversity, so he sued.

Lee, Charlotte and Manatee counties are in the top 10 Florida counties for manatee deaths so far in 2025, a new report from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission shows.The report shows that of the 148 manatees that have died this year in Florida as of Feb. 14, Lee County has had the most with 31 deaths.