Officials: Florida manatees eating lettuce in pilot program

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) — Manatees susceptible to hunger as a result of native seagrass is dying resulting from water air pollution have for the primary time began consuming lettuce below an experimental feeding program, Florida wildlife officers mentioned Friday.

The take a look at facility on the east coast’s Indian River Lagoon had its first takers of romaine lettuce Thursday, main extra manatees to affix in, mentioned Ron Mezich, chief of the hassle’s provisioning department on the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Fee.

“We expect it’s vital,” Mezich mentioned in a distant information convention. “When the animals are there, we'll proceed to supply meals and hope they make the most of that.”

This system is including cabbage and a second sort of lettuce to entice the manatees, also called sea cows. All of those are frequent meals given to manatees at rehabilitation amenities.

The unprecedented feeding program is a state and federal response to final yr’s document variety of 1,101 documented manatee deaths. Many are ravenous to dying as a result of air pollution from agricultural, city and different sources has triggered algae blooms which have decimated seagrass beds on which manatees rely — particularly throughout chilly winter months.

About 25 to 35 manatees had been seen Friday close to the feeding website at a Florida Energy & Mild plant that discharges heat water the animals favor when water temperatures cool. A number of hundred had been noticed from the air in close by areas, mentioned Tom Reinert, south regional director for the FWC.

There are not any rapid plans to increase the feeding program past Brevard County, officers mentioned. It stays unlawful for folks to feed wild manatees on their very own.

“It is a pilot program and we’re attempting to study as a lot as we are able to,” Reinert mentioned. However he added that seagrass restoration and a discount in water air pollution are the long-term solutions to the hunger downside.

“We'd like a wholesome lagoon to assist the seagrass,” he mentioned. “We will’t feed all of them.”

Along with the feeding experiment, officers are working with various amenities to rehabilitate distressed manatees which are discovered alive. These embrace Florida zoos, the SeaWorld theme park and marine aquariums. There have been 159 rescued manatees in 2021, a few of which require prolonged care and a few which have been returned to the wild, officers mentioned.

There are about 7,520 wild manatees in Florida waters at the moment, in accordance with state statistics. The slow-moving, round-tailed mammals have rebounded sufficient to record them as a threatened species slightly than endangered, though a push is on to revive the endangered tag given the hunger deaths.