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Last month’s unseasonably cold temperatures caused the deaths of 35 manatees across Florida, five times as many as last January, according to the Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. Total manatee deaths, including those killed by boats, was 87, more than double last January.
January was the deadliest first month of any of the previous five years, the Miami Herald reported. The next highest month for cold stress deaths was January 2013, when 12 manatees died.
Four deaths were reported in Palm Beach County, according to the conservation commission’s “manatee mortality table.” On Jan. 11, a manatee was found dead in Lake Worth Lagoon in Boynton Beach as the result of a collision with a watercraft. On Jan. 17, a manatee died of cold stress in the Lake Worth Lagoon near Palm Beach Shores.
There were two Palm Beach County deaths on Jan. 23. A manatee died in a watercraft collision in the Intracoastal Waterway in Delray Beach, while a death in the Lake Worth Lagoon in North Palm Beach was considered “human related.”
There were also three reported deaths in Martin and one in St. Lucie in January, according to the conservation commission.
Most of the cold-releated deaths were in mid-January, when temperatures dropped into the 30s in some areas. Manatees can die if water temperatures fall below 68 for extended periods of time.
Courtesy of palmbeachpost.com
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